DOG NOW DOES HIS NOSE WORK FOR THE FEDS

It was a sunny July day last year when a familiar black Labrador
showed up in the parking lot at the Union County Animal Shelter.

It was the third time the playful stray had appeared. This time, the
owners refused to take the dog back.

"The owner said the dog was just too energetic," shelter attendant
Chuck Davis said.

But Davis and shelter director Denise Outen had a bright future in
mind for this almost 2-year-old black Labrador that Davis named Check.

Last month, Check became Union County's first dog to graduate from the
U.S. Customs Service Canine Enforcement Program. The county sends
about six dogs to customs each year, but none have made it through the
intense training.

But Check, it turned out, was perfect.

"Customs is always looking for self-motivated dogs, real go-getters,"
Davis said.

Only about 100 dogs from around the country graduate from the Customs
program each year.

When the animal shelter received the news of Check's graduation, Davis
was ecstatic.

"It was like one of my own kids graduating," he said recently, smiling
as he held a photograph of Check, a gold badge dangling from the dog's
collar. "Customs only takes the best of the best . . . "

Each year, a customs recruiter travels the Eastern Seaboard searching
for dogs with potential, said Carl Newcombe, director of the Customs
Service's Canine Enforcement Training Center in northern Virginia.

Like Check, many dogs come from animal shelters.

"We do a personality test to see if they have the potential to be a
customs officer," Newcombe said. Dogs that make the cut and graduate
are used to screen arriving aircraft, cargo, baggage, vehicles and
passengers at the country's airports and borders. Last year, customs
dogs recovered 365 tons of narcotics, Newcombe said.

This spring, Check went through a 10-week course and was trained to
detect marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other narcotics. Check was
taught to sit next to the baggage or passenger with the drugs, instead
of barking or tugging at them.

These days, Check is thousands of miles from his Union County home.
Check is stationed at San Francisco International Airport.

"He's doing well," Newcombe said. "But I don't know if he's lost his
southern accent yet."