The five ‘girls’ who work as part of K9 Bellator specialist detection dog services are Halo, Jane, Marie, Abba and (front) Mies. Photo: Supplied.
Five Barrack Heights ‘girls’ have probably met more celebrities and faced more danger than anyone else in the Illawarra, taking them from inside Taylor Swift’s vehicles to touching Elton John’s glittery outfits.
K9 Bellator specialist detection dog services founder Ilse Duineveld said her five dogs – Halo, Jane, Marie, Abba and Mies – worked as part of security operations, with the older girls having built up an “impressive resume” over the years.
Ilse has an impressive resume of her own, with K9 Bellator one of only a few Australian businesses training specialist detection dogs for drugs, explosives and specialist roles, and the only one solely female-owned.
As one of the relatively few women in the industry, she also hopes to encourage others to follow her lead.
Originally from the Netherlands, where working with dogs was relatively common, Ilse initially decided to do something different.
“So I started working with monkeys in Chile,” she said.
“Then there were so many stray dogs there that I was like, oh, I can’t ignore my passion for dogs.”
Ilse found herself bringing one home to the Netherlands.
From 2009, she undertook internships in detection and police dog training, working with dogs trained for everything from detecting chemicals in cacao beans to SWAT operations.
Her career brought her to Australia in 2016 to help import Dutch police dogs, before she was offered work as a trainer and handler the following year.
After later starting a business with a partner, she launched K9 Bellator on her own 18 months ago.
Over the years, she’s trained dogs for biosecurity, the Army, correctional centres and overseas work, while K9 Bellator now focuses primarily on explosive detection alongside drugs and specialist jobs..
One recent assignment involved training two dogs to detect mould in houses.
“They’re all detection dogs, but they all have different roles they need to perform or odours they need to find,” she said.
“The girls also regularly work across Sydney’s cruise terminals, supporting security operations for Carnival and Princess cruises by screening freight, unattended bags and other items before they are brought on board.”
She said they also did venue clearances for famous artists.
“A couple of years ago we did Taylor Swift, and we did all her vehicles,” she said.
“So every day that she went up to the stadium, our dogs made sure that all her vehicles were safe.”
She said the older dogs’ resumes included security operations for Billie Eilish, Teddy Swims, Tyler the Creator, Drake, Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran, Bad Bunny and Alex Warren, with Olivia Dean coming up.
“Most recently, they were also part of the security operation supporting the San Francisco 49ers during their time in Melbourne,” she said.
“The dogs were stationed at the Park Hyatt, screening items coming into the hotel and clearing the team buses before the players departed.”
She said the dogs received plenty of pats on the head from the players as they walked past.
“They often do get all the attention, which is fair enough,” she said.
“They don’t really care. They care about the job.
“They worked for Elton John and they’re just sniffing Elton’s glitter outfits and his sparkling outfits but for them it’s just their job.
“They’ve worked across stadiums, hotels and major events, so they’re very accustomed to busy environments, crowds, unusual locations and long operational days.”
She said some of the younger dogs would take over from the “older girls”, with nine-year-olds Marie and Abba likely to retire this year.
“They have their own politics amongst them, like a normal female workplace,” she said, laughing.
She said she loved seeing the dogs thrive doing what they enjoyed, being part of something bigger and doing something good.
“In the end, the dogs are here to keep people safe,” she said.
Despite the seriousness of their work, Ilse said training was essentially turned into a game using classical conditioning.
When a dog detects its target odour – whether explosives, narcotics or even mould – it is trained to sit before being rewarded with a favourite treat or toy.
“For them, it’s just a fun game,” she said.
Ilse hopes to continue growing K9 Bellator while helping raise professional standards across Australia’s detection dog industry through training and education.
“I also want to continue creating opportunities for women entering what has traditionally been a male-dominated operational field, and show that there are many different pathways to building a career with working dogs,” she said.
And if people spot Ilse and her famous girls around the Illawarra, she is happy for them to say hello and learn about their work.
“As long as we’re not right in the middle of a search,” she said.
Learn more about K9 Bellator.
