ECONOMICS AND TRADE | Achieving growth through open markets
29 April 2008
Dogs “Humanize” the Problem of Counterfeit Movies and CDs
Lucky and Flo gain hero stature by sniffing out plastic in discs
Washington -- Dogs can’t talk. But Lucky and Flo clearly know how to express themselves, and they convey a serious message while they do.
The pair of black Labrador retrievers, the first canines in the world trained to sniff out pirated DVDs and CDs, showed off their skills recently on Capitol Hill in Washington and at an elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia. Their stunts were planned to increase awareness of the costs to businesses and consumers that come from trade in counterfeit products.
Now on a worldwide tour, Lucky and Flo have been popular wherever they have gone.
The dogs’ skills are first-rate. In demonstrations, school-age children are asked to hide DVDs or CDs in boxes while the dogs are outside of the room. The Labs repeatedly show how quickly they can sniff out the discs and then freeze at attention to signal their discovery, while waiting for a treat. Lucky and Flo have been featured as heroes in articles that underscore the importance of intellectual property rights, published by Weekly Reader, a magazine distributed to millions of American children through their elementary schools.
“People love dogs, and it’s incredible that a canine can humanize the problem,'' said Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which owns the dogs and is sponsoring their tour.
But it is not just about educating children. "These are dogs that have proved their value a hundred times over,” Glickman said. “They have been effective; they have discovered a big quantity of contraband.''
Lucky and Flo are trained to detect the polycarbonate chemical that is used to make discs. While they cannot distinguish between legitimate and pirated ones, the dogs possess an important skill just to sniff out CDs and DVDs. Illegal shipments generally are not registered on a shipping manifest. When Lucky and Flo signal discs in unlikely or unregistered containers, that usually means they have hit a jackpot of smuggled goods.
Michael Buchan, the movie association’s deputy director of intelligence and customs liaison, is one of Lucky and Flo’s two trainers. At first, he doubted the dogs could do the job, but today refers to them as “priceless.”
“The idea was conceived in Los Angeles. I was very skeptical of it. A dog that could detect DVDs sounds crazy,” he said.
In Malaysia in 2007, Lucky and Flo uncovered more than 1 million counterfeit discs worth more than $3 million -- all hidden in unmarked boxes at a shopping center. The work of the crime-fighting dogs led to 26 arrests.
When Malaysian law enforcement officials tried to trick the dogs -- lining doorways with chalk to throw Lucky and Flo off the scent -- before sending them on a crime-busting mission, the officials were surprised that the dogs still found discs.
The Labs quickly became a menace to counterfeiters; organized crime in Malaysia put a $30,000 bounty on their heads. Government officials advised the trainers to leave quickly when the death threat surfaced.
But the Malaysian government did not drop the problem. It wanted its own canine unit, and MPAA provided two Labs trained in Ireland, Manny and Paddy, who are now hard at work in Malaysia ferreting out smuggled DVDs.
Buchan said that, in addition to the United States and Malaysia, governments around the world -- from South Africa to Greece to parts of Asia and the United Arab Emirates -- are interested in getting trained dogs.
RESCUE SHELTER DOGS
Lucky and Flo have an unlikely background for dogs doing cutting-edge crime-related work. Both were discovered at rescue shelters when they were 2 years old. They underwent six months of training in 2005 in Ireland. Then Buchan, 48, and his partner, Philip Ray, 54, took over.
“When they are not working, they are two typically boisterous dogs,” Ray said. “Because of their breeding, the retriever instinct, the ultimate game is to chase the balls.”
Now 4-1/2 years old, they are fully grown but small by Lab standards. Lucky is 24.5 kilograms, and Flo is 22 kilograms.
While they are not on a diet, they are fed two cups of dry dog food every day. A biscuit is only an occasional reward, Buchan said, because Labs “would eat until they burst.”
