Tag archives: drug sniffing dogs

Early July is one of my favorite times of the year in the great and beautiful United States of America. Seeing our flag and colors displayed in so many different applications during this patriotic season always causes me to pause and reflect on the men, women and four-legged creatures whose hard work and bravery has gotten us to where we are today.

I grew up watching “Rin-Tin-Tin: K-9 Cop” religiously and was fascinated by the relationship that the German shepherd “Rinty” and his handler, Officer Hank Katts, shared as working partners and friends. The thrill of seeing them overtake the bad guys in every pursuit was highly appreciated by a budding animal lover. I’m sure at some point, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered, “A K-9 cop!” as I frolicked around with the family standard poodle, pretending he was a police dog.

Fast forward 20-plus years. I did not become a K-9 cop, but I do work for a company whose mission is to help all dogs, including those in uniform, achieve optimal genetic health through our DNA testing process. Paw Print Genetics is currently working on a research study involving police ...

This weekend Paw Print Genetics attended the Spokane Kennel Club’s all-breed show, where conformation and obedience dogs strutted their stuff. The show, as always, was a great success – approximately a thousand dogs competed for titles. Paw Print Genetics educated attendees about inherited canine diseases, showcased our services and great staff and supported the local club’s efforts and economy. We also met some great dogs, some of which helped with one of our current research projects.

Two groups who were in attendance included the Intermountain Search Dogs and HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response. They were being honored during the Memorial Day weekend for their dedication and service to society.

Intermountain Search Dogs works directly with our local Spokane County Sheriff’s department to perform search-and-rescue work in the area. They have various units that include air-scenting dogs, ground tracking/trailing and human remains detection dogs. These civilians can be called into action day or night, any time of the year and in any weather to find lost or missing people, victims of drowning or natural disasters such as mudslides, avalanches or floods. They’re used to search for the bodies of homicide victims under the direction of law enforcement and emergency service agencies ...

During the last week of April, the Paw Print Genetics team again paired up with the Spokane Police and Sheriff's Department, our hometown law enforcement agencies, to work toward better genetic health for service dogs such as the patrol and detection dogs found in K9 units across the country.

Spokane hosted the Washington State Police Canine Association’s Spring Seminar, which ran April 28-30, and which featured training scenarios that consisted of obstacle courses, canine first aid and building searches for patrol dogs, and scent detection of vehicles and training on a scent wall for detection dogs.

Paw Print Genetics was on hand to work with the various law enforcement agencies from across the state to educate them on some of the genetic diseases their breeds of choice are prone to inherit, and what they can do to protect themselves as an agency investing taxpayer money. The participating K9 teams were also kind enough to let us take cheek-cell samples of their dogs (or were nice enough to do so for us if their dogs weren’t fond of strangers fiddling with their mouths).

Most of the dogs were German shepherds, Belgian malinois and Labrador retrievers, although there were a couple ...

All dogs are special, but Beagles play an important role as working dogs, especially in the areas of airport security and customs/immigration. In these roles, Beagles are trained to use their keen noses to identify agricultural items and substances, such as drugs, that are forbidden to be brought into the U.S. Estimates are difficult to come by, but there may be as many as 1,250 dogs being used for customs and border patrol at U.S. airports and borders. More difficult to obtain are the estimates for the costs associated with training a Beagle for these important functions. Some estimate the costs to be $16,000 to $20,000 per dog. Therefore, it is imperative that these dogs are physically fit to perform their duties once trained. In the breeding of Beagles, their top-notch sniffing abilities, desire to learn, and loyalty to humans were desired traits that were retained during their evolution. However, along with these desired traits, Beagles have a particularly high burden of genetic diseases. Many of these diseases to not manifest until the dog is mature and will impair the animal and prevent it from performing its work. Diseases such as degenerative myelopathy, Musladin-Lueke ...