Ellinor - our own mine detection dog
Meet our newest colleague! Her name is Ellinor and she will work as a mine detection dog with Norwegian People's Aid.
Ellinor was born on 11 October 2023, and is of the Malinois breed - a type of Belgian sheepdog that is very well suited to the work of finding mines and other explosives. These dogs are friendly, tough and hardworking with a great desire to hunt.
Right now, Ellinor is at Norwegian People's Aid's dog training center in Sarajevo, where she is being trained to become a mine detection dog. After completing the training, Ellinor will clear mines in Ukraine, and make everyday life safer for the population. Haakon Ellingsen AS will finance Ellinor's training so that she can contribute to this vital work.
We are so proud to have Ellinor on the team!
Norwegian People's Aid and mine detection dogs
Norwegian People's Aid (Norsk Folkehjelp) is among the world's largest demining organisations, and has removed more than two million landmines in over 40 countries. Now they face one of their biggest tasks – cleaning up Ukraine.
Every single day, Norwegian People's Aid's mine detection dogs sniff out mines around the world. The dogs are real superheroes who save lives by preventing accidents and freeing arable land. For every mine the dog finds, a life is saved. A mine detection dog can find a mine up to 20 times faster than a human using a metal detector.
Norwegian People's Aid has been training mine detection dogs for over 20 years, and during these years there has fortunately never been an accident with the dogs out in the field. The puppies are bred and trained at the Norwegian People's Aid training center for mine detection dogs in Sarajevo before they go on life-saving missions. They are fully trained after between 15-20 months, and then they are sent out for active service. The mining dogs often work until they are 8-9 years old. After this, the dogs retire and are adopted to those who want to take care of a dog that needs to rest after a long and active working life.
