Customs and Border Patrol - Page 1

To date they have produced 19 litters of Labs for their own use. This is the only breed in their breeding program. I believe they prefer using labs around crowds as most people are not scared of Labs like they are of GSD's. Of course they do not cross train labs but they can be excellent scent detection dogs.

We were talking about "feral" traits, awhile back, and how the instincts have been muted by domestication and need to be re-enhanced by some means to keep the keen edge in working stock. I remembered this article on a cross-breed called "Sulimov's Dog", a Jackal / Husky cross. Very interesting. It was in Discovery Channel news a couple of years ago. Don't know where to find it now, but I saved a copy and will post it here. Might start another thread on it to see who bites. LOL Unfortuneately, our breed does not appear on the list of recommended working dogs, which I thought odd, but maybe our dogs are losing their touch? Jackal-Dog Created for Airport Security By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News normalize font | increase font May 15 — Russian scientists have let the wild dogs out by mating jackals with domesticated dogs to create a canine with a heightened sense of smell that can sniff out bombs, drugs and other threats to flight safety. Twenty-five of the jackal dog hybrids are now on the job at Sheremetevo Airport in Moscow. Not yet considered to be an official breed, the animals currently are referred to as "Sulimov's dogs." Klim Sulimov, senior research assistant at the D.S. Likhachev Scientific Research Institute for Cultural Heritage and Environmental Protection in Russia, decided to create the unique hybrid because, in the course of domestication, most dogs out of the wild have lost some of their sense of smell. According to an Informnauka (Informscience) Agency press release, the jackals were bred with reindeer herding huskies. The result of this coupling was then bred again with huskies, to create a dog that is one-quarter jackal. Arctic huskies were chosen because, unlike jackals, they do well in cold weather and have a more pleasant, trainable temperament. Also, Northern dogs, like reindeer herding huskies, have a keener sense of smell than most other domesticated canines. This is because substances become nonvolatile, meaning less smelly, under low temperatures. In addition to improved detection of odors, Sulimov believes his dogs have other advantages over traditional airport security canines, such as German shepherds. "(The) hybrids are small in size and can get into narrow slits and other (hard-to-reach) sites in the airplane fuselage to, for example, search for explosive substances," Sulimov told Discovery News through Informnauka interpreter and press officer Nadejda Markina. "They (also) make it clear that they are tired and need to rest (so we can) change to another dog." He explained that a unique characteristic of the hybrid is that it possesses a coiled tail, a feature inherited from the husky. When the dog becomes tired, the tail drops down, signaling it needs a break, which usually is every 20-30 minutes. Sulimov indicated that the dogs are a success at the airport. He even said they have helped to catch some airport thieves, who broke open some baggage and wiped off their fingerprints. The super-sniffing dogs, however, could detect the scent of the men that remained. Stanly Coren, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and author of the book The Intelligence of Dogs, believes that, outside of such wild hybrids, thirteen breeds are best for security work. The top five are the bull mastiff, Doberman pinscher, rottweiler, Komondor and puli.

The last time I left the US was via the Portland, ME car ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 2003. Prior to boarding, U.S. Customs agents with GSDs scent-checked all the vehicles. Not sure what they were sniffing for, but I assumed explosives.

A friend's son trains dogs for the NM border patrol. Their dog of choice, once the GSD, is now the Malinois.

In South Texas I see more GSD's than anything else. Some Mals and other breeds but mainly czech looking GSD's. Saw a NICE male the other day.