The Bhotekoshi floods on August 26 left nearly 1,500 people dead and more than 5,000 missing. Families searching for their loved ones put up posters bearing names and photographs at hospitals in Kathmandu and travelled to affected areas, including Rasuwa and Nuwakot, in the hope of finding them.

Police deployed trained dogs alongside search-and-rescue personnel to help locate the missing. Among those sent by the Nepal Police Canine Office was Leo, a Labrador retriever that spent 20 days searching for people in the affected areas and assisting rescue teams.

The male dog found two bodies, a human skeleton and several body parts at different locations in Nuwakot.

“Dogs locate bodies by detecting the odour of biological substances released by the human body after death,” said Superintendent of Police Ram Chandra Satyal, chief technical officer at the Canine Office. “Leo performed exceptionally well in the disaster search-and-rescue operation and established himself as an important member of the team.”

For his work, Leo will receive this year’s award for outstanding police dog during Kukur Tihar, the day of the Tihar festival when dogs are honoured. On Sunday, he will be presented with a medal by Deputy Inspector General Om Rana, acting chief of the Nepal Police Crime Investigation Department.

The Nepal Police currently has 107 trained dogs, including Leo. They are trained in four areas: tracking suspects for criminal investigations, detecting firearms and explosives, detecting narcotics, and search and rescue, Satyal said.

Dogs trained to detect drugs and explosives are also deployed at Tribhuvan International Airport, Pokhara International Airport and Gautam Buddha International Airport. Each province has its own canine unit.

“Dogs are also deployed at border crossings to carry out checks,” said central police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle. “They are used during special security operations and for VIP protection as well.”

Some of the dogs in the force have been trained in Nepal, while others have been brought from countries including India, the United States and Thailand.

According to Kafle, police dogs have also proved valuable in criminal investigations. The investigation into the murder of Bhola Sahani in Gadhimai Municipality, Bara, on October 27, 2025, is one example.

Sahani had been missing since the previous day. His body was found the next day beside a pond about 300 metres from his home. As the circumstances appeared suspicious, police brought in a trained dog to assist the investigation.

The dog was given a black hoodie found at the crime scene to sniff. It then led police officers about two kilometres north-west to the house of a resident, Subodh Ram, where it stopped. Investigators later arrested Ram on suspicion of murder, citing other evidence gathered during the investigation.

Police handlers say training methods vary according to a dog’s breed.

“Labradors are well suited to detecting and locating firearms and explosives, so we train them for that work,” said one police dog handler. “German shepherds can work across all four areas. That is why we also call them all-rounder dogs.”

Demand for police dogs in criminal investigations has grown to the point that they are now routinely taken to the scenes of serious crimes.

“Our skin sheds dead cells every minute. Trained dogs can follow the scent left by those cells to track down suspects,” Satyal said.

Police faced criticism for not deploying a sniffer dog during the investigation into the murder of Nirmala Panta, who was found dead in Kanchanpur in July 2018. Residents questioned the police’s handling of the case. Since then, requests for police dogs have increased, particularly in investigations involving serious crimes.

However, a Central Investigation Bureau officer who handles serious criminal cases said dogs could be ineffective in certain conditions. Heavy rain, a crime scene already visited by large numbers of people, or a route that ends at a river can all make it difficult for a dog to pick up a scent.

“The dogs cannot work effectively in every situation. They need to be deployed according to the circumstances,” the officer said. In Panta’s case, the officer added, other people had already entered the crime scene before investigators could consider using a dog.

Canine Office officials say the first 24 hours after a crime are the most effective period for deploying a tracking dog. Beyond that window, investigators cannot expect a consistently successful result.

Yet the expectation that police will deploy dogs at the scene of any serious crime has grown, the CIB officer said. “That also reflects the level of public trust in these dogs,” the officer added.

The Canine Office oversees the dogs’ routine health checks and training. Each morning, they are taken out of their kennels to relieve themselves before being put through exercise and massage sessions. They also take part in daily training exercises for investigative work and practise alongside police officers during parades.

The police have set specific criteria for bringing dogs into service. Operational guidelines give priority to pedigree dogs with a strong sense of smell. They must be between three and 12 months old, as handlers say dogs are easier to train at that age.

Whether donated or purchased, each dog must first be certified healthy by a veterinarian. It then undergoes blood tests and an X-ray examination. Only after receiving the necessary vaccinations and age-appropriate deworming treatment is it admitted to training.

A committee responsible for allocating animal-feed rations oversees the provision of food for the dogs.

The police have also established an Inactive Police Dog Management Committee to decide when dogs should be retired after years of service or when they are no longer fit for deployment. Dogs are retired if they fail a performance assessment conducted by a board tasked with evaluating their working ability.

The Canine Office issues public notices to find people willing to adopt dogs that can no longer serve in the police force. The retired animals are then handed over either for a fee or free of charge.

On November 3, the police handed over Beni, a three-year-four-month-old Labrador retriever, to Police Sub-Inspector Amita Khanal after the dog’s retirement. Khanal paid Rs5,000. An eight-year-two-month-old German shepherd was given to Assistant Sub-Inspector David Dulal free of charge.

The Nepal Police began using dogs in criminal investigations in 1969, after sending four officers to Malaysia for training and bringing back four dogs. That marked the beginning of the force’s canine unit.