Sniffer Dogs

Abstract

Sniffer dogs have worked alongside law enforcement officers, military units, border patrols and search and rescue teamss since the 1980s. There are two training locations for canines. One is located in Front Royal, Virginia. The headquarters of the Customs and Border Protection Canine Training center is located in El Paso, Texas. There has been many different studies conducted on sniffer dogs and their ability to detect certain odors. One of those studies was conducted by Osterkamp (2011) who examined how dogs are capable of transporting particular scents in water into their noses. Water dogs have been used in the U.S. Navy to help detect human corpses that are submerged in water. Gazit & Terkel (2002), examined how to reduce panting of sniffer dogs, because when they are panting they are not able to fully smell and detect hazardous materials. Panting is used as a cooling mechanism for dogs and can restrain them from their full potential. Bonfanti (2014), studied the difference between chemical sniffers or body scanners and sniffer dogs. Chemical sniffers have been increasing and may take the place of sniffer dogs as a whole, because sniffer dogs have time implications with their training.