Estonia expands role of service dogs as security situation grows more complex
The head of the canine training center at Estonia's internal security academy says the scope of service dog duties is widening as the security situation becomes more complex. Standards will stay the same, while the number of handlers has grown over the past decade.
Service dogs are being given a larger role and a wider range of tasks in Estonia as the country's security situation becomes more complex. Lt Col. Rene Radala, head of the canine training center at the Estonian Academy of Security Sciences (Sisekaitseakadeemia), said this in an interview with Raadio 2. The center is located in Meriküla, Harku Municipality, near Tallinn.
Eight handlers have just completed the basic service dog course there. Radala stressed that the growing demand must not come at the expense of standards.
Training and requirements
Training a service dog takes about a year and a half, and a dog's working career usually lasts eight to ten years. A handler must be an official connected to the state and be referred by an agency. The agency buys a puppy depending on whether it will become a patrol dog or a drug detection dog. Training begins when puppies are two to four months old.
Radala said a good service dog is one that is willing to cooperate with its handler and is highly motivated to work. For that reason purebred dogs are used, because when buying a puppy the agency wants to know in advance what kind of dog it may become.
Where the dogs are used
According to Radala, dogs cope with some tasks better than people, and not only because of their far superior sense of smell. Certain parts of the work, such as those involving death, can provoke strong emotions in people, which also makes cadaver dogs useful.
The dogs are deployed by civilian authorities but also work with the military. In spring 2025, a dog handled by Risto Kotkas helped find the body of an American soldier who died when an armored vehicle sank into a swamp in Lithuania. The main operators are the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), the Tax and Customs Board, whose dogs are mostly used to detect narcotics, and the Rescue Board, whose dogs locate explosives.
Radala joined the service in 1993, when Estonia had 8,000 police officers, about double today's number. There are now 3,500 uniformed personnel in total. Even so, the number of dog handlers has risen, and thanks to volunteers there are more than there were ten years ago.
