Training a HeroRat takes about nine months, and is done at Apopo’s spacious training fields in Morogoro, Tanzania. From when they are just a few weeks old, the rats are taken from their mothers and “socialised” to become comfortable with humans handlers. Over the next few months, the rats are trained using a process called “click and reward” training. Like Pavlov’s famous dogs they are trained to associate a “click” sound made with a hand-held mechanical device with a food reward - usually mushed bananas and crushed pellets. Once a rat learns that a click means food, they are then taught to associate a specific scent - in this case TNT- with that reward process.