Ankara's smallest search and rescue dog 'Leon'
A Jack Russell breed 6-year-old 'Leon', which is one of the 4 search and rescue dogs of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department, saves lives with its small size by entering holes in the wreckage that other dogs cannot enter. Leon, which is 25 centimeters tall and weighs 6 kilograms, is trained and kept ready for duty at any time.
4 dogs under Ankara Metropolitan Municipality Fire Department are trained by expert trainers. Jack Russell breed ‘Leon’, and Belgian malinois dogs named 'Wind' (Ruzgar) and 'Pebble' (Cakıl) search for survivors in natural disasters, on the other hand Belgian malinois cadaver dog 'Boomer’ search for bodies. As being the closest colleagues of the firefighters the dogs save lives in the search and rescue operations they take part in, especially in the wreckage of buildings destroyed after the earthquake.
25 CENTIMETERS TALL AND WEIGHS 6 KILOGRAMS
With a weight of 6 kilograms and a height of 25 centimeters, Leon gets into small holes and gaps in the wreckage that other dogs cannot get into. 'Leon', who was delivered to the fire department at the age of 2 by its owner and become of a search and rescue dog by training, also took part in search and rescue operations in the Elazig earthquake on January 24, 2020. 'Leon' is kept ready for duty at any time through periodical training and exercises with other dogs.
‘LEON IS SMALL BUT THE WORK ITS DONE IS HUGE’
“Everyone knows him as 'Little Uncle'. He is small but the work its done is huge. Because sometimes there are spots that cannot be entered, there are very small spots. Our 'Little Uncle' helps us a lot in navigating around those spots like a mouse and detecting the survivors. 'Leon' has done a lot to make us happy. There is no search and rescue dog like ‘Little Uncle’ (Leon) in Turkey. The only one in Turkey. We are not looking for shape in dogs, we are looking for talent. 'Little Uncle' was a house dog, now it saves human” said Ankara Fire Department search and rescue dogs team chief Dincer Gurbag stating that Leon, nicknamed 'Little Uncle', is a very brave heart, jumping at everything, reckless dog.