Alberta K9 headed to Ukraine after initial setback

Torch, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois who was trained by Alberta K9 will soon be deployed to Ukraine. He’s been trained to protect his handler while finding explosive devices.

“He wants to make his handler happy and go to work. This is what he was born to do,” said Kelsey Boettcher, K9 trainer and handler.

Matt Lapointe, co-owner with Alberta K9 added, “He’s going over to make a difference and hopefully save lives and protect the people of Ukraine.”

Torch was supposed to go to Ukraine this past Fall, but before he was deployed, the Ukrainian handler he was meant to protect, died. A casualty of the ongoing Russian invasion.

“Several other members in their unit including the dog trainer were also seriously injured or killed in that attack,” explained Lapointe.

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Originally trained on sniffing for buried odors and landmines, his new job as border security will look a little different.

“We then had to retrain him on vehicle searches, cargo searches, luggage searches, people searches, that sort of stuff,” said Lapointe.

Alberta K9 will travel to Ukraine to hand Torch to his new handler, and fine-tune his training. Edmonton-based charity Firefighter Aid Ukraine is fundraising for transport and equipment.

“They’ve also fundraised to cover the cost of a ballistic vest for Torch, as well as other protective equipment, so goggles, hearing protection, that sort of stuff.”

The need for K9s in Ukraine is dire. For every year of conflict, there are many years of de-mining that will have to be done. Lapointe says they are looking at sending over more dogs in the future.

“Whether we send another explosives dog, or whether we send a human remains detection dog, or whatever they need down there,” said Lapointe.

While he will be missed, Alberta K9 knows just how important of a role Torch will play at his new job.

“There’s no kind of higher job for him than that,” said Lapointe.

Boettcher adding, “I’m very proud of him.”