OUR MINE DOG

Our commitment to social responsibility extends beyond our innovative products, as we actively seek opportunities to contribute to meaningful causes.

Mine dog looking for mines in a field.

At Squarehead we develop products that help secure assets and livelihoods. We are continuously adding more colleagues who contribute to this important work, and we have topped the team by hiring a mine dog!

Norwegian People’s Aid (Norsk Folkehjelp) is among the world’s largest demining organizations. They have removed more than two million landmines, in over 40 countries. Now they are facing one of their biggest tasks - cleaning up Ukraine.

For every mine the dog finds, a life is saved. A mine dog can find a mine up to 20 times faster than a human using a metal detector can.

Norwegian People’s Aid has been training mine dogs for over 20 years. Over these years there has never been an accident with any of their mine dogs in the field, so these dogs have a long lifespan. They often work until they are 8-9 years old, before they retire and are adopted by those who want to take care of a dog that needs to rest after long and loyal service. Our new furry colleague will surely help save lives.

We invite you to join us on this journey as we provide updates and share the progress of our extraordinary four-legged colleague. Together, we can make a real impact and demonstrate the power of social responsibility in safeguarding lives and securing a brighter future.

Meet Mykola

Squarehead’s furriest employee was born on December 6, 2022. Named Mykola, this puppy has been undergoing extensive training from birth to become a top-performing mine detection dog. Squarehead will fully fund Mykola's training and care until he retires.

Facts

Breed: Belgian Shepard

Gender: Male

Our mine dog, Mykola, as a puppy.

Why Mykola?

We chose a name that resonates in Ukrainian, as he'll be deployed there once he completes his training. Mykola, the Ukrainian form of Nicholas, means 'victory of the people.' Enough said.

Mykola sitting down in a training field.

Latest update on Mykola

Our Mykola is now 15 months old, and is currently working with

  • Imprinting training new odors/mines

  • Field box search

  • Obedience (continue)

  • On ground searching on 20-30m

  • Off ground search (continue)

  • Fitness

In direction training, Mykola is currently working in a 10x10 meter area, covering 100 square meters. The next goal is to increase the working area to 200 square meters. The expected outcome is that Mykola will be able to perform effectively in the expanded searching area. 

For interaction training, the focus is now on working with distractions while maintaining the "lie down" position. The aim is for Mykola to ignore distractions and be able to hold the "lie down" position for a longer period.

During imprinting, Mykola has been successful in finding 1 gram of TNT. The next step is to reduce the TNT to 0.5 grams. The expected outcome is that the dog will be able to locate the reduced amount of TNT with the same accuracy. 

In terms of fitness, the dog has been swimming for 15 minutes. The goal is to increase the swim duration maintaining good physical condition.

Date: 20th of September 2024