Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!

U.S. Trains Dogs for Homeland Security Duty

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

A Customs handler trains a dog to detect a person concealed in a box mixed in with airline luggage.
Pam Fessler, NPR
The canines also learn to distinguish between people riding as regular passengers in a vehicle and those concealed from authorities.
Pam Fessler, NPR /

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.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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