Functions
Detection dogs have been trained to search for many substances, including:
- Animals in conservation settings (especially by Australian dog trainer, Steve Austin)
- Bed bugs
- Human remains
- Crime evidence
- Currency
- Drugs
- Explosives
- Firearms
- Mobile phones (as contraband in prisons)
- Mold
- Plants, animals, produce, and other agricultural items (used by customs services to detect possible invasive species such as Quagga mussel)
- Polycarbonate optical discs such as DVDs (used to search for bootleg recordings)
- Termites
One notable quality of detection dogs is that they are able to discern individual scents even when the scents are combined or masked by other odors. In one case at an Australian prison, a detection dog foiled an attempt to smuggle drugs that had been hidden in a woman's bra and smeared with coffee, pepper and Vicks Vapo-rub. A sniffer dog can detect blood even if it has been scrubbed off surfaces. In one case, a sniffer dog sniffed a drop of blood on a wall although an attempt had been made to scrub it off. It was so small that it couldn't be seen without a microscope.
Some of these functions can be carried out by trained pigs, which also have an excellent sense of smell, and have been used to hunt truffles for centuries.
Read more about this topic: Detection Dog
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