When the volunteers had their props in place and were stationed around the gate area, the dogs were brought in one at a time and put through their paces. It was obvious that that the dogs were eager to get started: they pulled on their leads and stood on their hind legs.

The dogs worked their way up and down the gate area-checking seats, garbage cans, telephone booths, vendor kiosks, people, and packages. When a dog alerted to one of the training aids, it sat and stared at the item, glancing back at the handler as if to say, "I found it, and it's not getting away from me." The dog was given a reward, and then it was back to work to find the next training aid.

The dogs and the real passengers
As time went by, the gate area started to fill with actual passengers waiting to board their plane and the number of interested onlookers grew. The dogs were only in their fourth week of training, and at times they became distracted by their surroundings. The handlers, however, made sure that the dogs kept their noses on their job and did not linger too long with any one person or package.

Adults and children alike were very interested in watching the dogs work. The children especially wore big smiles when the dogs came over to them to check their backpacks and other small carry-on items. The dogs were so focused on what they were looking for that when one small child grabbed a tail, the owner of the tail didn't even turn his head, he just kept working.

As the day wore on, different training aids were used. The changes made finding the aids progressively more difficult. Moving the training aids around allowed the dogs to become accustomed to checking people for the odor of explosives.

Some of the dogs were so eager to work that they alerted to nearly every person and piece of luggage they came into contact with. Other dogs missed the training aids on the first pass and were brought around again. The instructors were not disappointed in these reactions; these dogs are new at their job and still in training. This training session was one of the first times the dogs had been exposed to this many people, and as their training continues, they will settle down and become used to the hustle and bustle of a busy airport, seaport, or land border crossing.

Training progresses
The dogs are progressing through their training very rapidly. "When we started we were sure the program would work," said one of the instructors. "I had to go to Glynco for supervisors' school. When I left, the dogs were just starting to recognize odors, and when I came back, two weeks later, it seemed like they had grown up and were ready to go out the door."

These dogs and their handlers are well on their way to becoming the working teams that CBP needs to keep explosives out of the travel experience.

The creation of the Customs and Border Protection Bureau brought together 1192 canine teams-705 from the Customs Service, 317 from the Border Patrol, 30 from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and 141 from the Agriculture Plant Health and Inspection Service. Watch for a four-part series of articles on these dogs and their handlers beginning in the April issue of Customs and Border Protection Today.