It's going to get ruff if you mess with this lot!

This group of dogs in South Africa have saved 45 rhinos (and counting) from being poached.

According to a report by Ladbible, the dogs have been trained mostly from birth to keep poachers away.

Reduced poaching

Southern African Wildlife College in Greater Kruger National Park "K9 Master” Johan Van Straaten said that the success rate of the dogs is around 68 percent compared to between three to five percent with no canine help.

"The game changer has been the free tracking dogs who are able to track at speeds much faster than a human can, in terrain where the best human trackers would lose spoor."

"As such, the project is helping ensure the survival of southern Africa's rich biodiversity and its wildlife, including its rhino which have been severely impacted by wildlife crime. South Africa holds nearly 80 per cent of the world's rhinos."

"Over the past decade over 8,000 rhinos have been lost to poaching, making it the country hardest hit by this poaching onslaught,” he said.

Well trained

The dogs include a Texan Black-and-Tan Coonhounds, Belgian Malinois, Foxhounds and Blue Ticks.

They are all trained on free tracking, incursion, detection, patrol and apprehension.