German Shepherd puppy Bayraktar warned cynologists about upcoming shellings. A story of a service dog kennel near Kyiv and its survival through fighting and shelling during the occupation
Russian troops partially occupied Irpin in early March 2022. By March 31, the Ukrainian army had liberated the city. For almost a month, the only service dog kennel in Ukraine in Irpin was in the ‘gray zone’ — an army of occupiers stood 500 meters from the dog center.
When the Russians occupied Bucha in the first half of March 2022, and heavy fighting broke out near Irpin, some of the nursery staff, including women, were evacuated to another dog training center in Vyshneve town. Half of the dogs were transported to a safe place. Only animals trained to search for traces and explosives were left in the center because they could be needed at any time.
Cynologists and their animals lived under constant fire; several shells hit the center. Babel journalist Iryna Lopatina went to Irpin to talk to the kennel staff about how service dogs lived during battles, patrolled the streets, helped evacuate people, and how the centerʼs mascot — a several-month-old German Shepherd puppy nicknamed Bayraktar — warned everyone about the upcoming shelling.
“We, as cynologists, together with dogs, helped to detain looters right after they committed the crime. Investigators worked with them,” the center chief — Police Lieutenant Colonel Maksym Pishchanskyi adds.
When the fighting for Gostomel began in the first days of the full-scale war, many people in a panic tried to leave Irpin and surrounding cities. At the same time, they lost many of their bags. Thatʼs why police service received many calls — people were afraid that the lost backpacks could have explosives in them. When the bridge was blown up, people left cars in addition to their luggage. Cynologists with dogs constantly went on such calls, dogs sniffed things and cars, looked for mines and grenades.
“Since March 7, the surrounding area has become a “gray” area. We guarded the administrative building, and after March 7-8 there were no more police trips. Sometimes people were helped to evacuate on the bridge near Romanivka. But it can be called raids, not full-fledged trips, because there were constant shelling, — says Pishchanskyi.
Locals began to drag their dogs to the center — knocking on the gate and asking specialists to take their animals. One dog was simply tied to a fence.
“The main point of evacuation was across the Irpin River in Romanivka. … many [evacuees] found it difficult to cross to the other side with their pets. Therefore, our cages were filled not only with service dogs. However, for all domestic dogs, their owners returned. Only one dog remained, but it should be taken away soon.”
The dog training center fully resumed its work in April, now almost all the evacuated dogs were returned to Irpin.
A German Shepherd puppy nicknamed Bayraktar was playing outside. His parents are also service dogs. The Kennel Center specially breeds animals to work in various police structures and transfers 15 to 40 puppies annually. Bayraktar was almost two months old when the full-scale invasion began. 10-15 seconds before the shelling began, he began to howl, bark, and run to cover. Eventually, the workers began to focus on his behavior — as soon as Bayraktar began to howl, everyone tried to hide in advance.
