U.S. Trains Dogs for Homeland Security Duty

NPR | By Pam Fessler

Published July 28, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

A Customs handler trains a dog to detect a person concealed in a box mixed in with airline luggage.

The canines also learn to distinguish between people riding as regular passengers in a vehicle and those concealed from authorities.

The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on equipment to detect explosives, chemicals, illegal drugs and other things someone might try to sneak across the border or into a building.

But some people think a more low-tech method -- canine detection teams -- can be just as reliable.

Many of the government's detector dogs are trained at a sprawling facility in Front Royal, Va. Pam Fessler reports from the Customs and Border Protection center.

Pam Fessler

Pam Fessler is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, where she covers poverty, philanthropy, and voting issues.

See stories by Pam Fessler

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