Page 2: Kalle trains with service dogs

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Following advice, Bernd Haase and his dog went to a dog sports club where police dog handlers also trained, and where he was able to learn from scratch how to train his dog: "They just teach you that this breed is like that. These dogs snap and are a bit crazy, they're not afraid of cyclists and cars either. You first have to teach them to be calm. Not playing ball, they don't need that. That's breed-specific. You need patience. They also say: 'Dog training is dog owner training'."

Kalle is not the Haase family's first dog. Bernd Haase had also previously wanted to train a dog as a sniffer dog. But he was already quite old, "and then he got sick, so I didn't want to put him through that anymore," he recalls. "After that, I thought about it for years, and when Corona came along, we made the decision in the family to get another dog." Kalle is now one and a half years old, and Haase has been working with him for about a year. Training is a long road, he says: "You have to lead the dog there, you have to give him the joy of finding something."

Kalle is still a trainee

Haase got the idea strictly speaking from Kalle's competitors: Haase's own cable measuring trolley is from BAUR, but one day he got talking to an employee from Megger. This company has been a world leader in electrical testing and measurement technology for 130 years, according to its own information, and the employee told Bernd Haase that in Argentina, dogs are trained to locate cable fires. "That's how I got the idea. I thought: if they can do it, then I can do it too!"

He has the necessary experience with dogs - and with cable fires too: his company - six fitters and one apprentice; the boss does the office work himself - has been carrying out cable measurement services since 2006. "It all started a year before the G8 summit," he recalls, "and we now have over 100 electrical companies as customers, and we provide customer service for DEVI and Danfoss."

Kalle will soon have finished his training and then he will be working "properly". "Meanwhile, he has reached a search depth of 40 centimetres," says Bernd Haase: "This means that Kalle can locate a cable fire in buildings and in the ground at a depth of 40 centimetres. In buildings, for example, he can locate smouldering spots in sockets, ducts, distribution boards and table distributors. Outdoors, he finds charred sockets in the ground.

Currently, Kalle is putting the finishing touches to his training, for example with an "odor differentiation board". This involves attaching identical-looking sterile jars in rows to a board. Odors are hidden in these jars. You "show" him an odor and then the dog has to sniff out the "right" jar in which exactly this odor is hidden. Once he has found it, he has to indicate it: "The indication behavior is essential, he has to stop immediately, 'freeze' and look at me," says Bernd Haase: "It would be fatal if he started scratching."

When Kalle is ready, he will be used for troubleshooting electrically heated floor surfaces, for example. "There are no examination regulations, we have to teach ourselves," says Haase. "We'll soon be going to Doberan Minster, where the seat heaters there sometimes have burnt spots." The electrical system in the cathedral is already old and some of the cables seem to be a bit dilapidated. Of course, the cable test van is out of the question.

Multi-talented Kalle

But searching for cable fires is not everything, reports Haase: he also works with his dog in rescue control and operations control centers. If Kalle could find something there, he could save lives. "At six months old, he has already rescued a person from the cold waters of the Warnow." And "at the same time, he is being trained as a main trailer to make the best use of him." And during this training, the proud owner reports that Kalle skipped the beginner's test and passed his first test straight away.

They have already been to the Doberan town hall, says Haase: "That was a wonderful thing. But then he shat in the ballroom. The mayor said that sometimes more shit is said here than is actually there."

(nie)