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On Saturday 31 August 2024, at the Otaniemi campus, you may see rescue dogs and their handlers practicing the search for a person lost in the terrain. The dogs and handlers participating in the exercise, organised by the Espoon Pelastuskoirayhdistys (Search Dog Association), will be searching for individuals in the nearby terrain of Otakaari 8.

Other campus users are expected to behave as they normally would when on campus.

Otaniemi is one of the locations where the participants will visit during the day, as they will visit multiple locations in Espoo. In Otaniemi, the dogs will be practicing between the hours of 9:00-10:00, 10:30-11:30, 14:00-15:00, 15:30-16:30, and 17:00-18:00.

All the dogs participating in the exercise are approved search dogs by the authorities. Search dog training is a hobby that takes several years. The individuals participating in the exercise will be wearing Volunteer Search and Rescue Service vests, and the dogs will have "pelastuskoira" written on their harnesses.

For some participants, Otaniemi is an exotic location for a search, as searches in other parts of Finland are largely conducted in forests. Searches in a location such as Otaniemi are typical exercises for those in the capital region. In a forest, a dog can detect a human scent from several hundred meters away even in good weather or track a human's trail from the ground after hours of walking, but the situation is quite different in urban areas.

More information
(in Finnish)