DOGS' PRISON ROLE IS NOT TO BE SNIFFED AT!

OUT-SMARTING prison inmates and their visitors is all in a day's work
for these crime-fighting dogs.

They may look cuddly, but the drugs dogs at Parc Prison, Bridgend,
often sniff out heroin, cannabis and cocaine.

Trainer Gareth Kite said the animals' highly trained noses are
essential for detecting the minority of prison visitors who will try
to smuggle drugs to inmates by any means necessary.

He said: "It's horrible when you get drugs indications on visiting
children or parents smuggling drugs through in their babies' nappies.

"We've even had parents knocking babies on to the floor to cause a
distraction when the drugs dogs come through."

The smugglers' extreme actions are attempts to get past the jail's
four expert dogs, Springer spaniel Max, Springer cross Fidget and
Labradors Jack and Duke.

Having undergone more than UKP4,000 worth of training each, the
animals are highly proficient at searching for drugs either on people
or within the prison building. On detection, they sit and wait for
their reward - the throwing of a tennis ball to chase.

For the dogs the process is a game, but in reality they are helping
to detect and disrupt drug-smuggling criminals.

And the animals' drug-busting instincts remain intact even on their days off.

Gavin said: "I remember when I first had Jack, I took him for a walk
and he was jumping over a car door.

"It turned out there was a man inside with two spliffs.

"They don't switch off. It's what they're trained to do."

The dogs live with their handlers, but must be treated as working
animals at all times. They live outside in kennels at the handlers'
homes and are not treated as pets.

Gareth, 37, said his three children were used to living with a
working dog but do occasionally miss having a pet to cuddle.

He said: "If they say they want a pet, I say 'put your shoes on' and
we take the dogs for a very long walk.

"Then they decide they don't want a pet any more."

Many of the dogs have been trained up after being rescued from a
shelter for homeless animals.

Mike Thomas, head of security at the prison, said it was vital the
dogs were not spoiled by the handlers and their families.

He said: "The relationship between the dog and the handler is very
important. I've seen dogs fail because they become family pets and
end up more interested in food than looking for drugs.

"If I have a dog that's failing and it allows an ounce of heroin to
come in here because it didn't do its job, then I have a very serious concern."

At the moment, regular drug-tests on inmates indicate the Bridgend
jail has a very low rate of drug-taking prisoners.

Handler Richard Button, 42, has to think like a drug-smuggling inmate
to try to keep illicit substances out.

He said: "We're always trying to out-think the prisoners.

"We have to think where we would put drugs if we were prisoners, then
take the dogs there and let them do the rest."