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Recent News
Israel Goes to the dogs with bomb sniffing canines
In 2002, a Palestinian disguised as an Israeli soldier, strapped an explosive device to his body and detonated it at Passover Seder in a hotel in Netanya, Israel. The suicide bombing left 21 people dead and more than 100 injured. Attacks like this and the resultant human carnage have been all too common occurrences in Israel in recent years. So much so that there is hardly an Israeli citizen who has not had a friend or relative maimed or killed in similar assaults.
But the Passover Seder strike did more than outrage Israel. It was also the impetus to take a proactive position to guard - itself from future suicide bombings by allowing Israeli police to accept a donation of bomb sniffing dogs from the United States. The donated sniffer dogs were graduates of an organization called Pups for Peace, a non-profit group that trains dogs to sniff out explosive devices including bombs,missiles, and otherweapons of destruction.
Located in the San Fernando Valley in Southern becoming routine. California, Pups for Peace has trained 116 explosives sniffing dogs that were then sent to Israel to search out such materials at Israeli bus stops, malls, garbage bins, and cross points into Israel, While no one believes that the canine sniffer dogs will eradicate the terrorist attempts to kill, it is believed that the program will reduce the number of successful bombings thereby saving lives and reducing carnage. Proof that the program is working is the 70 thwarted bomb attempts in the first year that the dogs were on duty. The program proved to be so successful that in April, 2003, Pups for Peace opened a dog training facility in Israel. The Pups for Peace plan provides for the training of roughly 300 dogs a year for a period of three years.
The concept of bomb sniffing dogs is fairly new and began with the British who trained dogs to locate explosive devises in Northern Ireland. Later, in 1971, the United States Air Force began training dogs to detect explosive devises and in 1 991, The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and
Firearms developed a dog-training program under the anti-terrorism assistance program. In many countries, canines are now an important prevention element in the global war on terrorism.
But, how do dog’s noses know? Amazingly, dogs have 250 billion, that’s billion with a “b,’ smelling cells in their nasal passages compared to 125 million smelling cells in the human nose. Pups for Peace uses this illustration to show the difference between human and canine smelling capability: A person walking down the street can pass a bakery, take a whiff, and think—bread. In comparison, a dog passing the bakery would think—flour, water, sugar, salt, yeast. Another example is placing a single gram of cocaine in a pound of coffee that is placed in a paper bag that is then
placed in a metal cabinet. The dog will be able to smell the metal of the cabinet, the paper of the bag, the coffee, and the single gram of cocaine. The dog nose is 100 times to 10 million times more sensitive than a human nose and testing the canine capacity to ferret out certain smells resulted in the discovery that they are able to detect odor concentrations as small as one to two parts per billion — again, billion with a ‘b” Dogs are often able to smell odors that current equipment cannot even measure. There are no machines that are sophisticated enough to measure the capability of the dog nose.
Nor are dogs easily fooled. Try to hide an explosive in dirty diapers, smelly socks, perfumes, or spices and the dog will filter out the “junk smells” and zero in on the smell of the explosive. Another advantage to using dogs as sniffer devices is that dogs are “real time detectors.” If the dog tells you there is an explosive device nearby, you can take that information to the bank. No need to verify with lab tests that may. take days for results.
Although all dog breeds have olfactory nerves that are more sensitive than human olfactory nerves, some breeds are better suited for bomb sniffing than others. German shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and Labrador retrievers are used most often because they have a high energy level, love to play, and are, in human terms, type “A” personalities. “A compulsion to retrieve is critical,”
asserts Mike HersIk, training director for Pups for Peace. “And they must lave toys," he adds. The dogs must be, again in human terms, obsassive/compulsive in their desire to find an object and he rewarded with a toy.They also must be able to focus forlonq periods at time without getting bored. The screening tests are so vigrous tha oniy 1 dog in 1000 passes muster.
While everyone has heard the phrase that "dogs are man‘s best friend." it has never been more clearly illustrated than in the Pups for Peace program. Dogs happily put their lives on the line to protect Jewish lives with the only reward being a pat on the head or the gift of a toy. While there is still the constant threat of terrorist attacks, to Israelis, the sight of a Pups for Peace dog on duty provides a temporary respite from fear and total gratitude for the brave, loyal, bomb sniffer dogs.
