Patron the Bomb-Sniffing Dog

Patron is a Jack Russell Terrier trained to sniff out bombs in Ukraine. I thought I would do a different video as a break from the usual weapons and military movements ones. Hope you like it.

Patron has become a bit of a symbol in Ukraine and around the world. His Instagram page has over 200,000 followers and videos and photos of him often get thousands of likes. We’ve seen him proudly posing over disarmed bombs, being carried in a little bag and stubbornly refusing to let go of a stick.

So, who is Patron?

Patron is Jack Russell trained to sniff out bombs, landmines and unexploded ordnance. As of May, the little guy has detected over 200 explosives, and he clearly loves his job—doing it all with his tail tagging constantly. Patron is deployed in the norththeastern city of Chernihiv, which Russia put under siege for almost six weeks. The city was shelled constantly by Russian forces and before the city can return to normality, these shells need detecting and removing. It is harder than it seems—even today, unexploded WW2 bombs can still occasionally be discovered.

Patron’s name means “ammo” or ‘;cartridge. As well as being the face of Ukraine’s efforts to remove Russian artillery shells and unexploded ordnance, he is also the mascot of the State Emergency Services.

Patron is just two years old, but is proving to be a vital part of the Ukraine Armed Forces. Not only for his bomb-sniffing abilities, but also because he offers a cute side of the conflict to be shared online. Sure, people see these images of a a cute little Jack Russell with a wagging tail, but they also see images of the destruction of Russian towns and the carnage left behind—shells and bombs that could easily detonate and kill or maim innocent people. Using a dog to put a cute face on the war is a great way to raise awareness. While people may gloss over yet another miserable report on unexploded artillery shells being found, they won’t if that same report shows a cute little dog scrambling through the dirt.

For his efforts, Patron has received a medal for dedicated service by President Zelenskyy. His owner and handler, Mykhailo Iliev received the Order for Courage.

Patron was originally intended to be a pet, until his owner, Mykhailo Iliev realized how strong his nose was and how smart he was. So, instead, at the age of six months, Patropnn started his training.

He actually wasn’t intended to be a bomb-sniffing dog. The original intention was for him to demonstrate the skills that dogs could learn. The training that bomb-sniffing dogs receive and the length of time it takes to train varies from country to country. Typically, classixxcal conditioning is used and training takes between 24 to 32 weeks.

An example of a typical training used in the US is laying out 100 identical cans in a grid. Ingredients from various explosives are placed in random cans. These select explosive odors are imprinted on the dogs train by repetition and reward.

When a dog finds a bomb, it won’t dig it up itself. They would usually just sit down, giving a sign to the handler that there is something suspicious. This is also true of drugs dogs at airports. So if you see one of the customs dog sit down in front of someone at the airport—you know they’re likely carrying something they’re not supposed to.

So, why dogs? Well, billions of dollars have been spent trying to design artificial detectors and they’re just not as good. Metal detectors are limited as they only detect metal—dogs can be trained to pick up on non-metallic explosive devices concocted from fertilizer and other items.

Artificial attempts to replicate this have failed. For example, in 2001, artificial machines to detect explosives were outperformed by the dogs—the machine s reacting to plants and soil as well as explosives. A study in 2010 revealed that 80 percent of IEDs detected before exploding were found by dogs. So for all the technology available, a dog is still the best thing to detect bombs.

Dogs aren’t the only animals used. Rats have been used, notably in Cambodia. In 2021, Magawa the bomb-sniffing rat was retired after a five year career in which he found 71 landmines. He got a little gold medal.

Bees too are being used, working in conjunction with drones which track the bees which are trained to associate the smell of explosives with food—a sugar solution.
But, since this video is about Patron, I’ll finish by adding that his favorite food is cheese and that there is a movie planned about him. He continues to be a symbol of the war in Ukraine and a mascot for the country.