Two Army dogs that found mention in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ on Sunday, Vida and Sophie, were awarded COAS (Chief of Army Staff) commendation cards on August 15 for saving lives by timely detection of mines and explosives, the Army said. Vida belongs to a unit located in the Northern Command while Sophie belongs to the Special Frontier Force, a Bomb Disposal Squad. “Vida was instrumental in the detection of five mines and one grenade buried underground, thus preventing any casualties, injuries to troops,” the Army said. Sophie, an explosive detection dog sniffed out the presence of initiator and accelerant materials which could have been used to fabricate an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), thereby saving precious lives, it said.