Dogs have a superpower in their hypersensitive noses. They have 300 million olfactory receptor cells as opposed to approximately five million in humans. Canines are used to detect drugs, explosives, and even illnesses such as cancer in humans.
The Labrador Retriever is a popular breed for detection work due to their friendly nature and trainability. Here, meet three “sniffer dogs”—specifically, dogs trained to use their noses to detect specific scents—who use their powerful snouts for a greater good.
Korey Alerts Her Mom to Blood Sugar Problems
At the age of four, Sam Stocking was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, a chronic illness where the pancreas stops producing the hormone insulin, which is needed to turn sugar into energy in the body.
Starting in her early 20s, Stocking’s diabetes was becoming more difficult to manage, and even though she had a glucose monitor, she was still having problems, especially with low blood sugar at night.
“I wouldn’t hear my alarms on my monitors, and I had some very scary nights where my husband almost couldn’t wake me up,” she said. “We talked to my doctor and he suggested that I get a service dog to help me manage that and help wake me up at night and help me stay alive.”
In 2019 Stocking adopted Korey, a yellow Labrador Retriever. She met Korey a week after he was born, and the two quickly formed a bond.
Working with a professional dog trainer, plus doing research on her own, Stocking was able to train the young dog to alert her every time he smells low blood sugar.
“Dogs can smell the chemicals and hormones that are released when our blood sugar goes up and down,” she said.
Stocking collected scent samples of high and low blood sugars from her sweat and used those during training.
“I paired that scent with the alert of nudging me with his nose and with giving him cheese, his favorite thing in the entire world,” she said.
Korey quickly made the connection.
“Oh, every time I smell that smell, I should nudge my mom and then I get cheese,” Stocking explained.
Stocking works with Korey several times a week just to keep him fresh and motivated.
“Keep him on his toes a little bit,” she said. “We do that several times a week and then obviously in combination with actual blood sugar alerts. He loves it.”
He’s such a happy dog that it’s really hard to stay sad whenever he’s around.
Stocking said Korey is an emotional support as well.
“Aside from the diabetes aspect, he’s such a goofball. He’s such a happy dog that it’s really hard to stay sad whenever he’s around because he just always makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He can tell if I’m having a bad day and he’ll just come and lay with me and make me feel a little bit better. He’s just a great helper all around.”
Working with Korey, Stocking fell in love with the training process and became a certified dog trainer, starting a business called Korey the Canine Dog Training that she runs in Bloomington, Illinois.
“I do both puppy training, regular dog obedience, any problem behaviors, as well as diabetic alert dog training and psychiatric alert dog training,” she said.
Stocking said having a service dog can be a lot of work, “but it is worth it in the end, if you do stick with it, because they’re truly wonderful, wonderful animals.”
Police K9 Nala Sniffs Out Hidden Electronic Devices
Golden Lab Nala is an Electronic Search Detection (ESD) K9 with the Seattle Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit. She is able to detect devices such as USB drives and memory cards that have been hidden or simply overlooked.
Nala lives with her handler, Detective Daljit Gill, and goes out on ICAC search warrants.
“We will look for electronic devices that may have been overlooked or are hidden,” said Gill. “Basically, if they’re hidden in outlets or under the carpet, that type of thing, she will be able to assist in smelling if there’s something there or not.”
Nala is the only ESD K9 in Washington, so she and Gill respond all over the state, and they cover Oregon as well.
“Primarily our roles are in crimes against children cases, but we respond to homicide investigations, and any type of case where there’s electronic evidence that might be missing or hidden. We can respond to those as well,” said Gill.
Nala goes out to scenes where police already have a warrant so the dog is basically an additional tool, Gill said.
“They’re like a flashlight. They’re an extension of the flashlight,” she said. “They don’t know what they’re smelling. Most electronic detection dogs are rewarded with food, and when they smell electronic detection devices, they correlate that to food. We, as the investigator, as the detective, make the determination: Is this of evidentiary value or not?”
Gill said Nala has been working on warrants where evidence has been missed, and it’s not because the detective didn’t do a thorough job of searching.
“If you look at peoples’ garages or if you look at peoples’ houses, there’s tons of stuff. Finding small objects like a micro-SD in a junk drawer, you’re going to have to look at every little, tiny piece of stuff in there to be able to see it,” said Gill. “Whereas this dog’s nose is so great and powerful that it’s like, hey, there’s something in here you might want to check.”
Nala has had an impressive success rate.
“About 60 to 70 percent of the warrants that we go on we will end up finding devices that have been overlooked or hidden,” said Gill. “That, to me, is really noteworthy.”
Nala took over for Bear, who retired in 2021.
Bear, a black Lab mix, was the first ESD K9 in the nation and became famous for his work in several high-profile cases. In 2018 he was honored by the ASPCA.
Both Bear and Nala were trained by Todd Jordan at Jordan Detection K9.
“(Jordan) was one of the first trainers in this technology… in this method of training dogs to detect electronic devices,” said Gill.
Gill said not many people know about ESD K9s.
Nala is one of the best partners I’ve ever had. it’s very comforting to have an animal coming to work with me.
“I’ll go on warrants and people (say) I didn’t know the dogs can sniff this kind of stuff and yeah, they can,” she said.
Because she works with the ICAC unit, Gill sees disturbing images and files, and Nala acts as an emotional support for the investigators.
“(Nala) is one of the best partners I’ve ever had because, you know, I’ve been in ICAC for about eight, almost nine years now, and it’s very comforting to have an animal coming to work with me,” she said.
Gill said it surprises her that people don’t seem to realize how big the child predator problem is.
“It’s huge, and it’s new technologies, new ways of finding evidence on scenes, that help the fight against child sexual abuse,” she said.
Willow Finds Accelerants at Fire Scenes
Accelerant Detection K9, Willow, has been working with Fire Investigator Jodie Grisdale at the City of Calgary Fire Department for five years.
The black Lab is trained to pick up on ignitable liquid that may be used to intentionally start a fire.
“Ignitable liquids such as gas, diesel, lighter fluid, Willow is able to pick up on that scent,” said Grisdale. Willow’s abilities helps the fire department, Grisdale explained, “if in certain fire scenes there is ignitable liquid on scene and we need to figure out why that ignitable liquid is there.”
Grisdale said Willow is a valuable addition to the team.
With her, she explained, “we have a higher probability of obtaining samples from the scene that come back positive from the lab for ignitable liquid.”
Willow, who lives with Grisdale, is a food reward dog. She is hand fed only when she has earned the food through training or while at an investigation.
“When she eats, she is working,” said Grisdale. “We do lots and lots of drills daily, and that’s how she gets her daily food intake. And then when we do that, when she’s not working and then when we’re working on fire scenes, she gets fed. If she alerts to ignitable liquid, and if she doesn’t, then she doesn’t get fed.”
Grisdale described Willow’s daily routine.
“First thing in the morning, I do, we call it basics. We do a basic drill, and that’s her morning food,” she said. “And then during the day we might do one, maybe two different types of training exercises and then at the end of the day we do another basic drill. And so, she gets more than her fair share of food. It’s just in a different format than a normal conventional home.”
Making Training Like A Game
Grisdale makes training fun for Willow.
“She’s dancing around, trying to get at her food, but she doesn’t get fed until she gets in her primary alert position, which is a sit,” she said.
Willow doesn’t wear any protective gear on her feet when she’s working—she needs her paw pads to gather sensory information.
I wouldn’t put her in a situation I feel is a danger to her.
Booties or other footwear can increase the risk of injury, said Grisdale. “Whereas if I let her do her thing, and I don’t pull her and I don’t pull on the leash and make her go off balance, then she will figure out how to place her feet.”
Grisdale always does a safety walk-through first, and if she feels it’s not safe enough to bring Willow in, she doesn’t go in.
“I wouldn’t put her in a situation I feel is a danger to her,” said Grisdale. “I just watch the way that Willow works, and it’s unbelievable. You’ll see the same thing with the dogs that are working those fire scenes in Maui is that they figure out how to use their paws.”
Willow lives with Grisdale and her family, which includes a 16-year-old mixed breed dog named Kiba.
“She has a great family life, and then comes to work with me as well. She’s got the best of both worlds,” said Grisdale.