DRUG DOGS' NOSES TESTED

Police Dogs, Handlers Conduct Training in Everett

EVERETT -- Her mouth closed and her breathing quickened.

Lola, a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever police dog, reached out
her blond paw and scratched at a duffle bag, where training officers
had hidden five pounds of marijuana.

During a weeklong training program at four locations around Snohomish
County, 42 police dogs sniffed and scratched as they practiced hunting
down cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and pot.

The dogs were led through a barn and a home near Bothell and around a
variety of cars and commercial trucks in a parking lot off Casino Road
in south Everett.

"We're exposing the dogs to all the environments where they're likely
to work," said Gordon McGuinness, the vice president of the Pacific
Northwest Police Detection Dog Association and a sergeant with the
Vancouver Police Department across the border in British Columbia.

This week's training was designed especially for drug-detection dogs,
McGuinness said. The training is an important time to safely have the
dogs practice their work.

At the Casino Road training location, drugs were tucked into
fake-bottomed aerosol cans, cubby holes cut in the bottom of big-rig
trailers and other hiding areas.

Smugglers are becoming increasingly clever when it comes to concealing
drugs from police, McGuinness said. Criminals will try to trick the
dogs' powerful noses by stashing the drugs inside pungent materials
such as coffee or grease.

McGuinness said he once was working with a dog who found a pound of
cocaine packed in grease and submerged in a can of oil.

During the training, grease, food and other smelly decoys are used to
try to distract the dogs' sensitive sniffers.

Police dogs can tell the difference between all the smells and are
taught to ignore food while looking for contraband, the training
experts said. Still, Lola needed a bit of reminding when her nose
passed an Egg McMuffin sandwich.

"Leave it!" her handler said.

Like Lola, most of the dogs participating in the training were
Labrador and golden retrievers, but several German shepherds, a
Rottweiler and a Belgian malinois were included in the pack.

Participants were from British Columbia, Idaho, Oregon and throughout
Washington. Seven drug-detection dogs from Snohomish County were put
through the paces.

Walla Walla police officer Steve Echevarria brought his dog Beamer,
11, an eight-year police veteran. Beamer is known as a Sea-Tac
retriever. Her grandfather was one of the first drug dogs to work at
the airport, Echevarria said.

He said usually it's the handlers who make mistakes when tracking down
illegal drugs. Climbing in and around trucks and cars under the
watchful supervision of expert trainers was a good opportunity for
handlers to get feedback and improve.

"It's invaluable," he said. "It's what keep the team sharp."