A story recounted in “Dogs On the Case,” by Patricia Curtis, tells of a drug dog that was a little too eager for a game of tug-of-war. While walking along a line of cars waiting to enter the United States from Mexico, one of the dogs alerted to the smell of drugs, slipped her leash, and ran down the line of cars. Before her handler could find her, she trotted back into view, holding a large brick of marijuana in her jaws. Although the border patrol had no way to tell which car the drugs came from, the dog still got her tug-of-war. She did her job, and the drugs were off the street. Passive vs. Aggressive Alerting
When a police dog finds what hes sniffing for, he lets his handler know its there by giving the alert signal. Drug dogs use an aggressive alert — they dig and paw at the spot where they smell the drugs, trying to get at the toy they think is waiting there.
However, there are some specialties where an aggressive alert would be bad news. If a dog searching for a bomb digs and scratches at it when he finds it, the results could be disastrous. In these cases, a passive alert is used. A good example of passive-alert dogs are the beagles used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to sniff out produce that isnt allowed to enter the country. The Beagle Brigade, as theyre affectionately called, sniffs peoples luggage while they wait in customs lines at airports and border crossings. Because no one wants a dog digging at their belongings, the USDA beagles have been trained to simply sit down when they smell fruits or vegetables.
The toy used most often is a white towel. Police dogs love to play a vigorous game of tug-of-war with their favorite towel. To begin the training, the handler simply plays with the dog and the towel, which has been carefully washed so that it has no scent of its own. Later, a bag of marijuana is rolled up inside the towel. After playing for a while, the dog starts to recognize the smell of marijuana as the smell of his favorite toy. The handler then hides the towel, with the drugs, in various places. Whenever the dog sniffs out the drugs, he digs and scratches, trying to get at his toy. He soon comes to learn that if he sniffs out the smell of drugs, as soon as he finds them hell be rewarded with a game of tug-of-war.
People often wonder if dogs sniff out hidden drugs because they want to eat them, or because theyre addicted to drugs themselves. In fact, the dogs have absolutely no interest in drugs. What theyre actually looking for is their favorite toy. Their training has led them to associate that toy with the smell of drugs.
The Problem
In Massachusetts, marijuana was decriminalized in 2008. It was formally legalized by a ballot initiative in 2016. It’s no longer an illegal drug. Ordinary people can possess up to two ounces on them without it being a crime.
So let’s consider a dog who’s gone through all this training to detect all these different drugs, including marijuana. The problem arises when the dog alerts. The dogs don’t have a different alert for the different types of drugs that they’re trained to detect. For instance, they don’t raise their left paw when it’s marijuana and their right paw when it’s cocaine. They have one alert. In most cases, the dog will go to the area, sniff and if they smell a drug they’re trained to detect they sit down. The alert also does not tell the police the amount / weight of the drugs present. Only that some amount has been detected. The problem is that we don’t know what they’re smelling. We don’t know if they’re smelling an illegal drug like cocaine or if it’s a legal substance like marijuana.
The dog then comes across a purple suitcase and sits down. The officer takes the bag off the conveyer belt, sets it on the ground, and unzips it. She digs through the persons belongings and finds a bag of cocaine they were trying to smuggle.
Then, you will hide the toy in various places. The dog uses its keen sense of smell – which is up to 100,000 times greater than that of a human – to locate the hidden toy. Once the dog finds the toy, you will reward it with play or a treat.
Drug sniffing dogs are an invaluable tool for law enforcement, but have you ever wondered how they get trained?
In that room, an officer and her black Labrador Retriever inspect the bags. The officer puts small shoes on the dog to jump onto the conveyer belt without hurting its feet. The officer walks the dog across the belt as the canine quickly sniffs each passing item.
A flight is ready to take off in a few hours, and many passengers arrived early to check-in. Many of them give their luggage to the airport staff, put on a conveyer belt, and transported it to another room.
Are Drug Sniffing Dogs Trained By Sniffing Drugs?
Previously, we did a video about circumstances where the police get to use drug-sniffing dogs. Now, I want to tell you about a case that involved a drug-sniffing dog with one of our clients. During that case we discovered a problem that likely exists in many of the drugs-sniffing dogs that are still in use today. Drug sniffing dogs go through this intense training program. That’s why the courts find them reliable when the dog detects drugs in a particular object, like a bag or car. In this intense training program, they are taught to sniff and detect many different types of drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, LSD, methamphetamine. But what we discovered in this case is that many of these dogs are still also being trained to detect marijuana.