Kuvi, the pet dog which helped in tracing the body of little Dhanushka from beneath a bridge about four km away from the site of the Pettymudy landslip, is slowly walking back to life. It has completed the first phase of the heel walk training after it was adopted by the Idukki police dog squad.

Ajith Madhavan, dog squad trainer, on Monday said that Kuvi was being trained on a par with the members of the dog squad and its ability as a tracker was evident.

Tracing body

Dhanushaka’s body was traced away from the accident site lying under a debris. The dog continuously barked and brought the attention of the search team to the spot. It helped in recovering the body of the two-year-old.

“Kuvi was inducted into the dog squad on August 21. There are five tracker and sniffer dogs in the Idukki dog squad, in addition to two others under training. This is for the first time a local dog is being adopted into the squad and being trained,” Mr. Madhavan said.

Special order

Usually, a dog is inducted into the squad at very young age after verifying its parental features. And mostly German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers are the preferred breeds. “It needed special order for inducting Kuvi into the squad,” Mr. Madhavan said

The Police Department decided to adopt and train Kuvi after Mr. Madhavan realised its ability as a tracker.

The training is divided into three phases – heel with tight belt; heel with loose belt; and heel without a belt. “Kuvi successfully completed the first phase of heel walk training within three days,” Mr. Madhavan said.

Dhanushka’s body was recovered on August 14. She was the youngest daughter of Pratheeshkumar whose body was recovered earlier. His wife Kasthuri and elder daughter Priyadarshini were still missing.

The only surviving member of the family was Dhanushka’s grandmother Karuppayi who had identified the body of the girl and had confirmed that Kuvi was their pet dog.