Like bombs. For decades, dogs have been used by various departments — police, Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration — to sniff out potential bomb threats. They sweep stadiums and airports to make sure they're safe for people. It's dangerous and heroic work that saves lives.
At the airport, TSA's use of explosive detection canines significantly enhances the efficiency of the security screening process, serving as an added layer of security. Away from the airport, the dogs can work in a variety of locations and use their keen sense of smell to augment existing security efforts.
What breeds are most in demand for detection dog work? Sporting breeds are the most popular breeds used in explosive detection work. Breeds that excel at this work include Labrador Retrievers, German Shorthaired Pointers, German Wirehaired Pointers, Vizslas and Golden Retrievers.
The federal government employs a total of 5,159 dogs (as of February 2022) to perform a variety of tasks that range from detecting explosives on Amtrak trains to sniffing out disease.
How much does an Explosive Detection Canine Handler make? As of Jun 12, 2023, the average hourly pay for an Explosive Detection Canine Handler in the United States is $25.88 an hour.
The main scents that detection dogs are trained to identify include: Drugs. Explosives. Firearms.
ATF trained and certified canines learn explosives odor recognition through food and praise reward conditioning. This training methodology allows for a canine to be repeatedly exposed to various explosives odors daily, thus reinforcing these odors to the canine continually.
Drug Screenings
These drug dogs always work in conjunction with a handler. They walk through security checkpoints sniffing the air around passengers and their luggage. Drug detecting dogs and their handlers always work in silence, as audible cues could tip off potential suspects.
There are very specific training standards for these dogs, and the rate of success at discovery of explosives at the end of training hovers around ninety-five per cent, much higher than artificial-nose machines' performance.
1. Border collie. According to The Intelligence of Dogs, which ranks 131 dog breeds in terms of their relative intelligence, the border collie is the smartest dog breed known to man.
The dogs' highly sensitive sense of smell can locate a range of target odours including drugs, explosives, human bodies (called "cadavers") and now blood.
They can sense ammunition, gunpowder, gunpowder residue, and explosive molecules. It isn't that that dog knows the smell of every kind of bomb out there. Instead, the canine deconstructs the smells and chemical components for specific target scents. These target scents are the common constituents of bombs and bullets.
Although man's best friend tends to have a pretty incredible ability to sniff things out, dogs cannot smell though airtight, vacuum sealed containers.
You'll also be surprised to learn that the sniffing dogs have a highly accurate sense of smell. The accuracy in their smelling senses is 10,000 times more accurate than that of humans. The higher accuracy means their results when involved with security exercises are top-notch.
With terrorists increasingly attacking so-called soft targets, the demand for detection dogs that can sweep large areas for explosives has soared. So have prices, which can exceed $25,000 for a single dog.
According to the aforementioned study, over a period of 13 years, the pit bull was responsible for 284 deaths, roughly 2/3 of all fatal dog attacks in the United States.
Among dogs, the best breeds for finding bombs may be German shepherds, Belgian Malinoises (also known as Belgian shepherds) and Labrador retrievers, more for their tireless work ethic than any special olfactory prowess.
Canine Training
Canine teams are highly trained to detect a variety of explosives based on current intelligence data and emerging threats. But before getting to work, explosives detection canine teams undergo a 12-week training course. For our passenger screening canine teams, the training is 16-weeks!
Our detector dogs operate in international passenger terminals, seaports and mail facilities across Australia. Detector dogs are part of a suite of detection tools the department uses to detect, identify and intervene with biosecurity risk items at our borders.
When the dogs aren't on patrol, they live with their handler. Because these are working animals with a very important job, their life isn't like a typical family pet. The handler's home is just a place for the dog to eat and sleep when not at work.
Yes, airport drug dogs smell vape pens, and the dogs smell dab pens as well. But that is not what most drug dogs are trained to detect. Sniffer dogs have to be trained on a specific substance to detect it, so with your vape pens, even though the drug dogs smell it, they will not necessarily hone in on it.
For decades, dogs have been used by various departments — police, Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration — to sniff out potential bomb threats. They sweep stadiums and airports to make sure they're safe for people. It's dangerous and heroic work that saves lives.
Drug-sniffing dogs, or narcotics detection dogs, are specifically trained to detect substances like marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin. While they can smell alcohol, it's not their main priority, and their training emphasizes the detection of illicit substances.
Government Designation
MSA's Explosive Detection Canine services are Department of Homeland Security (DHS) SAFETY Act designated to provide catastrophic liability protection.