With the Enforce Tac 2025 Kynotec will be presenting solutions for dedicated dog trainers in the civilian and governmental environment, offering everything from online courses and classroom modules to advanced training tailored to specialized forces. In addition, service and sniffer dogs are accompanied, trained and taught from an early age. The two founding managing directors Florian Schneider and Christoph Wishofer present Kynotec’s broad service portfolio and the company’s goals in an interview with Militär Aktuell.
In Nuremberg, Kynotec will be exhibiting together with Kynoscience, which is developing a scent machine for training sniffer dogs, and Getxent, which offers non-hazardous carrier materials for real substances in the sniffer dog sector. Kynotec will also be represented on the main stage of Enforce Tac 2025 with a presentation on the “Future of the service dog”.
How did Kynotec come about?
Florian Schneider: We founded the company at the end of 2020 by combining our knowledge from the rescue and official dog business with our experience from the private sector. Stefan Plainer is the third founding managing director and brings his expertise from his company, EOD Munitionsbergung GmbH. Since obtaining blasting licenses in Austria and authorizations in Germany to purchase and handle explosives for dog training purposes in 2023, Kynotec can now also cover this area with real material. Our focus is therefore on detection dog work. Explosives, narcotics, bedbugs, firearms, mold and fungi, data carriers, but also the search for people – there are many possibilities.
Since then, a variety of solutions have been developed. What exactly are they?
Florian Schneider: That’s right. As dog trainers, we train government customers throughout Europe, i.e. trainers and dog handlers from the police, military and customs. We have projects with service dog schools that involve the development of a new service dog. This involves, for example, training dogs with drones (-> On the current military drone topic) to guide dogs to suspicious locations in order to carry out explosive ordnance detection. This could uncover a corridor for the following troops. On the other hand, we also offer training courses for civilian individuals and companies that run detection dogs, in which we offer online and face-to-face modules over six months or longer. We also employ a number of dog handlers as independent contractors in various sectors. We also cover detection dog assignments, for example with bedbug and mold detection dogs that search hotels, offices and construction sites.
“A service dog is an ‘indoor drone’ with special abilities.”
Co-CEO von Kynotec Christoph Wishofer
The portfolio also includes webinars and online training plans. Can remote dog training ever be successful?
Florian Schneider: We received very good feedback right from the start; at least 90% of participants are able to apply what they have learned straight away, which is a lot. The online courses are particularly attractive because we provide comprehensible and standardized training systems. These are training plans that are easy to understand and can be implemented immediately. Another practical aspect is that customers can train without the administrative and institutional hurdles of their employer or department. We can also adapt the training to specific sectors. This means that we are not tied to “dummies” or “scent carriers” in all cases. We have qualifications for obtaining, handling and storing explosives and firearms and work closely with specialists in the respective sectors in the areas of bedbugs and mold. This makes less of a difference to the dog, but has the advantage for customers that they can work with real materials and the training is more realistic.
Is it enough to look for the right breed of dog and a friendly breeder for search and detection dogs?
Florian Schneider: Definitely not, there is much more to it than that. We select dogs, look after their health, prepare them for their tasks and sell them. We act as a professional company, which clearly distinguishes us from private breeders or dubious dealers who do this as a hobby or without a registered business. Many of our partners clearly recognize the long-term benefits, especially if they have already had bad experiences with cheaply purchased dogs.
“The aim is always to bring an even better human-dog team into the world. If we can train sensible dogs, the ‘bad guys’ will be caught earlier and there will be fewer accidents.”
Co-CEO von Kynotec Florian Schneider
Christoph Wishofer: Our aim is to score points with quality. Austria probably has the strictest animal welfare laws, which means we can’t keep up with many other countries when it comes to the quantity of dogs provided. Our dogs are cared for and trained to a very high standard. Quality is appreciated. In recent years, we have generally noticed an enormous change in dog training. A generational change is becoming noticeable, while at the same time many scientific findings are entering the world of training. Time management is a big issue for the authorities. Our great benefit here is that we can try out ideas that we receive from our numerous official partners and – if successful – integrate them into the course at the authorities.
What tasks can a service dog still perform in a world of technology?
Christoph Wishofer: The service dog is right at the forefront. One example: The terrorist attack in Vienna on November 2, 2020, where I was on duty, prompted a rethink. In such operational situations, a service dog equipped with technical equipment would be an enormous advantage for clarifying the situation. In this sense, such a dog is an “indoor drone with special abilities”. Once it arrives at the target, the dog can perform a flushing task or it can bind the enemy on a signal so that the officers in the team can approach safely.
Florian Schneider: The advantages of a service dog are that it is virtually silent and also very fast. They are also not in the other person’s direct field of vision, so they are noticed later. We are constantly expanding these capabilities of the dog by working on the combination of dog and technology, i.e. “Kyno-tec”. The aforementioned project to guide dogs with drones is one good example of many. On their own, neither dogs nor drones are a panacea – but in combination, a whole new level is reached.
Here you can find more Made in Austria articles and here to the other articles in our “5 questions to” series.
