He sat next to the remote-controlled bomb or Improvised Explosive Device (IED) buried in the road. The militants were nearby and realised their game was up. They detonated the bomb and Becker bore the brunt of it. His handler, Ranveer Singh, reached the spot soon, but it was too late. Becker was posthumously awarded the Chief of Army Staff's (COAS) Commendationcard.

Ricky and Becker are just two of several dogs fighting militancy in the Kashmir Valley since 1991. They track them down, hunt out explosives and make roads safe for civilians and security forces. Militants thus have reason to fear them more than soldiers.

The Army's dog units have a great strike record. So far, dogs have played a major part in detecting 225 mines, 880 kg of explosives, 101 IEDs, 30 detonators, three rockets, 90 grenades, 86 weapons, 14,753 rounds of ammunition. They have also helped kill 36 militants and capture 129 militants, recovered 23,503 lost vehicles, and discovered four solar-powered rockets targeted at a division headquarters.

In fact, Rajan, a Labrador, has by itself checked 5,000 vehicles and cleared 2,750 articles for explosives. As recently as July, the detection of two IEDs on the Amarnath Yatra route by Puran Singh and his Labrador averted a major tragedy.

Elaborating on the role of the dog squads, Colonel Ranadhir De, who commands the 54 Advanced FieldVeterinary Hospital, says there are six types of operations dogs undertake in Kashmir and operate under the Remount and Veterinary Corps. While Labradors and German Shepherds were the breeds in use till date, the RVC has introduced the Malanois, who have proved their efficacy to Israeli forces.

``For counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir, dogs and their handlers have been awarded one Sena Medal, 18 COAS cards and 44 GOC-in-C Northern Command cards,'' said Col De. Citing several western studies, he claimed expert dogs succeed where sophisticated machinery fails.

Army dogs undergo a series of stringent tests and training for periods ranging between 9 months and a year at the RVC Centre in Meerut before being sent to Kashmir. A mere footprint of the militant is enough for the tracker dog to pick up a trail.

Dogs are also trained to sniff out micro-pores of different explosives and even chemicals used in explosive formulations -- as did Delta, whose feat led to the discovery of 750 kg of explosive in theTangmarg area, the largest-ever haul.

``Delta was called in after a tip-off that an arms cache was buried somewhere. When Delta approached the spot, the militants, who were in hiding, opened fire on the Army search party but after they retreated, Delta led the soldiers to 500 kg of RDX and 250 kg of plastic explosives buried in crates,'' recounts Major B S Nara, the officer in-charge of a dog unit.

In July, infantry patrol dogs, trained to detect alien sounds and smells within a radius of 250 yards, helped the Dogra Scouts eliminate 11 foreign militants in the Nowgam Line of Control sector. ``It was raining heavily and the patrol party rested awhile. But the handler took Judy, a German Shepherd, 25 yards away and ordered her to smell and seek.

Judy responded immediately, folding her leg, lifting and pointing her nose at a particular elevation to indicate distance. Sure enough, two militants were waiting 120 yards away. They were chased and shot at. ``The area was then cordoned off and nine moremilitants were killed,'' said Maj C M Desai of the Kupwara dog unit.

But it is acts like the detection of three IEDs planted within yards of each other on the Sarkull-Kalaroos road in Kupwara district on Independence Day by sniffer dog Nalini that hold importance in anti-militancy operations, especially when IEDs and landmines are increasingly being used.