PUP AND CIRCUMSTANCE BOMB-SNIFFING DOG AMONG LAST GRADS OF VALLEY SCHOOL.

Byline: Michael Gougis Staff Writer

SYLMAR - Nitro is a special pup, one of the last of his class.

The bomb-detecting Labrador retriever demonstrated his olfactory prowess Wednesday evening at a graduation ceremony as one of the last dogs that Pups For Peace will train on U.S. soil.

The Southern California-based nonprofit agency, which has trained 116 explosives-sniffing dogs at the edge of the San Fernando Valley for use in Israel, graduated Nitro at a ceremony at the Milken Family Foundation Conference Center in Santa Monica.

The event marked the end of a unique operation tucked away at a secret facility in the hills near Sylmar, where, for the past year, Labradors, German and Belgian shepherds and other dogs were taught, alongside their two-legged counterparts, how to locate explosives.

While the dogs and their handlers were being trained, others were being taught how to train other dogs for the life-saving task. Officials with Pups for Peace said that, in the future, animals will be trained in the violence-torn Middle East country.

``We wanted to train new trainers and transfer the operation over there, and over the last year, we've accomplished that mission,'' said Glenn Yago, 53, a Los Angeles economist who founded Pups For Peace.

Yago, who teaches finance at the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya and at Tel Aviv University, was spurred to action after a suicide bomber walked into the Park Hotel in Netanya during Passover in 2002 and detonated a device, killing 29 Israelis.

Yago, who studied in Israel, started talking with friends about what they could do to help improve security in that country. What they found was that explosives-sniffing dogs were few and far between. When he broached the idea of providing more, Israeli government officials were overwhelmingly supportive.

``There is a great deal of interest in anything that can help,'' he said.

Yago started raising money and, with the assistance of The Jewish Federation, brought on board Michael Herstik. Not only did Herstik have decades of experience in training explosives-detecting dogs for the military and the Los Angeles Police Department, he also was the son of Holocaust survivors.

At the Sylmar facility, the dogs - typically purchased from working-dog kennels in Europe - were put to work, sniffing out explosives hidden among the buses, suitcases and file cabinets that made up their training grounds in the hills.

``These are obsessive-compulsive dogs,'' Yago said with a laugh. ``They are very intent on their task.''

Since then, they've been dispatched to Israel and have served with the military and police agencies, as well as patrolling buses and public transportation terminals.

Yoram Doctori, facilities manager at the Sylmar location, said he witnessed one of the dogs in action at the main marketplace in Netanya.

``The dog found a bottle of nail-polish remover in a woman's purse. That contains acetone, one of the ingredients used by the bombers,'' he said. ``That's a success. And we haven't had anyplace bombed where the dogs are being used - that's a success, too.''

Israeli officials praised the program.

``There is no doubt that the activities of Pups for Peace provide additional security to the people of Israel, raise the general level of security everywhere that PFP is active, and instill confidence among the people in those areas,'' the Israeli Counter Terrorism bureau wrote in a September proclamation thanking the organization.

Michael Gougis, [phone]

michael.gougis(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Dog trainer Michael Herstik was on hand Wednesday night for Nitro's graduation from the Pups for Peace program. Nitro will be heading to Israel to help in security operations.

(2) Explosives-sniffing dog Nitro takes the stage while Gilat Rapaport sings the Israeli national anthem during graduation ceremonies Wednesday night in Santa Monica for the Pups for Peace program. Nitro will be heading to Israel to help in security operations.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer