Tonka in the Pacific Northwest

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Go Basenjis!!!

Jeff Schettler coaches handlers on how to work with detection dogs, including Kaden, far right, in the field.

CANTON, Georgia (CNN) -- Meet Kaden, bomb-sniffing dog in training. His name, a Gaelic word meaning "little battle," is fitting for the energetic 12-pound puppy with a perky tail that curls like a cinnamon bun.

At 4 months old, Kaden is a playful, black- and white-coated basenji being schooled at Georgia K9 National Training Center. Once fully trained, he will assist federal and local police officers as well as private corporations in nosing out deadly explosives at schools, airports and public events.

His detective skills can potentially save thousands of lives in an era where law enforcement agencies are aggressively fighting against drugs and terrorist attacks.

"Think about a scenario like the 1996 Olympic bombings," says Kaden's trainer Jeff Schettler, a cheery man who has coached hundreds of dogs to sniff out bombs, drugs, missing people and corpses since the mid-1990s.

Demand for these detection canines -- including bomb dogs such as Kaden -- has surged as homeland security and drug crackdowns become a bigger priority for government and law enforcement. The North American Police Work Dog Association says 35,000 dogs are trained to do detective work in the U.S. The association estimates up to 10,000 dogs have been added since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Rest of the article here

Article from CNN.com