Dogs Take a Bite Out of the Illegal Drug Trade

Timmi, a 3-year-old cocker spaniel found in an animal shelter, has an important assignment at Frankfurt’s airport. He works for West German customs police sniffing luggage for drugs.

Timmi is one of hundreds of dogs trained by the customs police for drug detection at airports and borders here and around the world.

German shepherds, Labradors, cocker spaniels and even mongrels are chosen for the job, said Georg Schreiber, a customs spokesman at the airport.

According to Fritz Schlegel, spokesman at a customs training academy in Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, 10 Greek handlers who completed training with West German dogs at the Bavarian school are now at work in Greece.

Other German dogs trained at the academy with foreign handlers are working in the United States, Mali, Malaysia, Singapore, Austria, France and Denmark, Schlegel added in a telephone interview.

The animals are obtained from a variety of sources, including breeders and animal shelters. Each dog remains with its handler from training onward, even sleeping at home with him.

The dogs are used to sniff out drugs in baggage at airports and in vehicles at border crossing points.

At the Frankfurt airport, Europe’s busiest, dogs are credited with uncovering one-third of the $71-million worth of narcotics seized in 1983.

Schreiber, the airport customs spokesman, said handlers often search for and select their own dogs. The dogs normally can work only with one handler, and retraining with a new master is rare.

But Timmi was different.

He was rescued from the animal shelter by a handler who trained him and took him on border duty but then left his job. A second handler recognized Timmi’s special abilities and took him through a second course in Bavaria.

A good detection dog devotes full attention to sniffing for drugs.

“Because of the stress, the dogs normally work about 30 minutes, followed by an hour or more break to relax,” Schreiber said.

“In phase one, they learn to recognize soft drugs like marijuana. Later they are taught to detect heroin and other hard drugs,” Schreiber said.