Exemplary young change-maker, Josef Marshall, dedicated his high school years toward creating a safer world by raising awareness and support for the landmine issue and completing a four-year campaign to sponsor a mine detection dog! Josef recently visited the Global Training Academy (GTA) in Texas with his dad and MLI Programs Director Indre Sabaliunaite to learn more about the process which prepares working dogs to be trained and deployed.
Josef was able to witness the GTA's working dogs in various stages of their training – from initial scent identification to searching for specific scents outside, using the sit position to alert the handler, and conducting searches around cars and in houses. Josef even got to wear the ‘bite suit’ for police dogs to practice attack!
During the trip, Josef participated in a video conference call that spanned over four time zones and three countries, hearing from representatives from the US Embassy in Azerbaijan and GTA Bosnia. Josef's sponsored dog, MDD Mace, is currently undergoing integration training with the Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA) and once he passes certification to International Mine Action Standards, Mace will start his lifesaving work to "sniff out" mines and save lives! Thank you Josef for dedicating your time to supporting mine clearance operations!
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