CBP has the largest number of working dog teams of any Federal Law Enforcement Agency. Canine teams are assigned to over 73 ports of entry and 74 Border Patrol stations throughout the United States.

CBP’s canine officers work with specially trained detector dogs at our nation's borders, land ports, seaports, international airports, and international mail facilities. The CBP canine programs have developed training courses in addition to training and deploying canine teams with an array of specialized detection capabilities. This includes:

• Agriculture detector dogs who find fruits, vegetables, meats or other prohibited items that may carry animal, pests, or plant diseases that could possibly harm U.S. agriculture resources.
• Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue (BORSTAR) Canines and their handlers are highly specialized units capable of responding to emergency search and rescue situations. The dogs are trained to search off leash and perform a recall-re-find indication, which has the dog return to the handler after finding missing persons and leading the handler to the location.
• Chemical detector dogs locate chemical odors used in weapons of mass destruction that could be smuggled into the United States.
• Concealed human/narcotic detector dogs locate concealed persons attempting to enter the United States illegally, as well as narcotics.
• Currency detector dogs locate the odor of undeclared U.S. currency being smuggled out of our country to circumvent required monetary reporting requirements.
• Explosive detector dogs locate explosive odors-that could be concealed in cargo, vehicles, aircraft, luggage and on passengers.
• Narcotics detector dogs locate narcotics, such as marijuana, hashish, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and methamphetamine.

Three training facilities support the CBP canine force:

• The Canine Enforcement Training Center in Front Royal, Virginia, established in 1974;
• The National Canine Facility in El Paso, Texas, established in 1991; and
• U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Detector Dog Training Center in Orlando, Florida, established in 1997.

In addition to CBP’s border security mission, the CBP Canine Enforcement Program also conducts training for other federal, state, local, and foreign law enforcement agencies. The program also provides, on a case-by-case basis, assistance to state and local law enforcement entities.

Photo Credit: Gerald Nino

An agricultural canine checks a vehicle for contraband.

Obtaining a dog

The predominant canines chosen for the program are from the sporting and working breeds such as Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers, Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, English Beagle, along with mixed breeds. The most important factor in selecting detector dogs for training is not the breed, but their personality and enthusiasm the dog displays toward retrieving a given object.

The majority of dogs selected for the program are obtained from vendors, animal shelters, humane societies and rescue leagues. However, in September 1998, a breeding program was established to provide additional detector dogs to the program. Currently, CBP has produced 171puppies in 24 litters. This program relies on the local community to raise the puppies in foster homes. The Office of Border Patrol breeding program has produced 26 puppies in 3 litters.

Teamwork

While the dogs usually get most of the credit for a find, it really is a team effort. A good dog also needs a good handler to get him moving in the right direction to start a search and to be able to interpret what the dog is telling him. The longer a team works together, the easier it is for the handler to read the signals that his dog is sending to him.

At U.S. borders and checkpoints, a canine team can screen a vehicle in seconds and do a thorough exam in minutes. Even a cursory search by an officer alone would require at least 20 minutes. The dogs are also able to check packages in a fraction of the time needed by mail examiners–saving time, money, and manpower.

The twilight years

The dogs usually start training at one year of age and mandatory retirement is at age nine. All the dogs, whether they are rescued from a shelter, donated by their owners, or are part of the breeding program, find a good home at the end of their career. No dog is ever sent to an animal shelter. CBP employees adopt many of the dogs that don't make it though training, and handlers usually take their retiring canine partner home with them.

They may not make the news, but everyone on the frontlines know the value of a well-meshed team of dog and handler. The bad guys fear them and the good guys praise them—the canine teams of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.