DOGS' SENSE OF SMELL IS WINNING THE DRUG WARS

Many U.S. Border Patrol agents say the biggest advance in catching
drug smugglers has been the introduction of drug dogs that sniff out
loads of marijuana or cocaine.

What makes them such good drug detectors? According to information
provided by the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine
Medical Sciences Library, a dog's nose is anywhere from 100 to 1
million times more sensitive than a human's, depending on the breed.
While the human nose has about 5 million scent cells lining the inside
of the nose, dogs have about 220 million.

In dogs, these olfactory cells line the membrane near the rear of the
snout, which is folded so many times it would be longer than the dog's
body if smoothed out. Especially helpful for drug-sniffing work is
dogs' ability to experience odor the way humans experience sight - in
a spectrum. While humans can only smell something like chicken soup as
a whole, dogs are able to discern the individual ingredients that make
up the soup. Dogs go through more than 10 weeks of specialized
training at a Border Patrol facility in El Paso.

The dog of choice for the Border Patrol is the European-imported
Belgian Malinois, chosen for its short coat and high energy level.

Posted by: Allan Wilkinson