By Andrew Gorosko

Workers using heavy equipment last week contoured the landscape with new topsoil at the Connecticut Army National Guard’s military kennel now under construction at Fairfield Hills.

  They are creating a 3.5-acre training ground for the six German shepherd-mix dogs that will be based at the 5,000-square-foot kennel complex starting this spring. The facility will be used to train dogs for the guard’s antiterrorism work.

The dogs’ work will include explosives sniffing and drug sniffing, involving bomb detection and counterdrug operations. The dogs will be involved in state and federal search-and-rescue and search-and-recovery missions.

Tall chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire is being installed to both keep the public out of the facility and to keep the dogs enclosed within it.

Captain Patrick Altsman, the guard’s planning and programming manager for construction and facilities, said the construction project is nearing completion. The captain is a mechanical engineer by training.

Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Lukowski is the guard’s construction and facilities management officer, who is overseeing the project.

The $2.5 million complex contains kennel space for up to ten animals, related dog-care facilities, and attached office space for the soldiers who will staff the military base. The area is designated a military reservation. The complex under construction is the first facility of its type to be built for an Army National Guard unit in the United States. Construction started in late 2004.

The dogs which will be based in Newtown will be moved around the world by the military, as needed, Capt Altsman said.

Oak Park Architects of West Hartford designed the facility. Banton Construction Company of North Haven is building the kennel.

The guard plans to hold an opening ceremony at the kennel in the springtime, according to Lt Col Lukowski. Governor M. Jodi Rell, and other dignitaries are expected to attend. The event will be open to the public.