20th anniversary of Training centre for official guide dogs

Ceremony marking the anniversary of the Centre was attended by Defence Minister Ante Kotromanović, Deputy Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Slavko Barić, retired Lieutenant General Mate Laušić and retired commanders and members of the Centre.

The official program began with a multimedia presentation about the work of the training centre, including the ceremony of delivering plaques and commendations to deserving members, followed by presentation of guides and service dogs’ skills.

Minister Kotromanović congratulated the service members on 20 years during which they showed perseverance and effort. He said that he was honoured as a former commander to be among people who have been actively involved in the Homeland War, and reminded that he did not see any battlefield were members of the military police were not present. “After the war you were the first members of the Croatian Armed Forces who took part in the ISAF mission and there you have shown your strength and determination”, Minister Kotromanović said.

Speaking about the future of the Centre, the Minister stressed that in the future development we should include the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Finance, to be able all together to contribute to the Centre to become a centre of excellence.

Speaking about the work of the Centre, Deputy Chief of General Staff Slavko Barić said the value of the Centre was recognized and that it could quickly become one of NATO centres of excellence.

As noted at the ceremony by retired Lieutenant General Mate Laušić, Centre is one of the things that he was extremely proud of. He noted that work has begun thanks to the Captain Krešimir Ivošević and Captain Branko Gretić that voluntarily joined the military police together with their two private dogs. “I am confident that this Centre, with the adjustments that must be made in its further development, not only in breeding and training of official dogs, but also in the development of the doctrine of using official dogs in the police and armed forces, will evolve into a national and regional centre”, retired Lieutenant General Mate Laušić said.

Training centre was established in 1992 as part of the Military Police Platoon, and it was reorganized in 1993 to Training Company, which was the forerunner of today’s Centre. Annually between 50 and 60 dogs, which are used to detect drugs and explosives and for the tracking purposes, pass the training in the Centre.