Dogs trained at AU to fight terrorism

Dogs trained at AU to fight terrorism

Orion, an 18-month-old black labrador, hunts explosives because it’s in her blood.

After a quick sniff around the room Friday, she sat to indicate hidden explosives in Overton Auditorium during a demonstration for U.S. Sen. Jeff Session on the Auburn University campus.
“I think we are on to something special,” Sessions said.

Orion is one of the current batch of dogs being trained at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Canine Detection Research Institute to find explosives. The center works with U.S. law enforcement and agencies across the world to provide explosive-detecting dogs, said Dr. Robert Gillette, director of the Animal Health Performance Program which oversees the institute.

But Orion is special among detection dogs. She is one of the few that can be trained for vapor-wake detection, according to John Pearce, associated director of the institute. The dogs sniff for traces of explosives in the air
in the wake of a
passing person.

Pearce said the dogs sample the air about four times a second, a hard feat for electronic sniffers to match.

The friendly lab also doesn’t need recalibration like machines, Pearce said.

The program produces 80 to 90 dogs a year and has about 20 in training at any given time, Pearce said. It costs about $20,000 to train a dog and its handler.

Pearce said other breed can do the work, but the labs are less alarming than “pointy-eared” dogs like shepherds. The program was looking for dogs comfortable being surrounded by large groups of people.

“A labrador is a happy-go-lucky dog,” Gillette said.

Labs were the first choice for the program because of their temperament, size and sense of smell. The institute’s dogs are bred and selected for particular traits, Gillette said.

“We were planning canine Orion here before she was ever born,” Pearce said.

The puppies are placed in programs at several prisons where they are cared for by inmates as a way to socialize them with humans, Pearce said.

After prison, the dogs return to the Anniston campus for months of training to detect explosives and vapor wakes and are eventually paired with their future handlers.

It doesn’t take much to inspire the dogs — a tennis ball and a chin scratch from their handler after a successful find.

“We work with dogs that want to do this,” Gillette said. “They love this kind of work.”

Source: http://www2.oanow.com/oan/news/local/article/dogs_trained_at_au_to_fight_terrorism/132415/