Sniffer Dog
A sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to and works at using
its senses (almost always the sense of smell) to detect substances such as
explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, or blood.
This helps us as it determines whether there is any illegal or dangerous substances and objects being transported or present at a place. The dogs provide a warning so that the police or other special forces can take action providing the public and others with safety.
Most days the sniffer dogs will go out working on cases and at places where their presence is needed. When they are not in work they do training activities to keep them in the frame of mind of a sniffer dog. They do not live as family dogs, they are working dogs and therefore live in kennels with runs, and are walked daily. They have access to water in the kennel and also are fed every day at a set time. The dog may take up to 2 years before it starts working properly.
This job affects the dog’s welfare as it minimizes the amount of play time they get as they are a working dog and have to take their job seriously; they also get very little if any social time with other dogs preventing them from expressing normal behaviour. They have access to food and water meaning that they are free from hunger and thirst and also are provided with a kennel and a run, with dog bed inside and appropriate heating meaning that they are free from discomfort. Not all dogs may be able to cope with busy environment of which they live in meaning that it may cause fear and distress. The dogs job itself can be dangerous as they can be used to sniff out explosives. This puts the dog at risk as the dogs are large enough to set off an explosion which can injure them badly. This prevents them from being free of pain and injury.
This helps us as it determines whether there is any illegal or dangerous substances and objects being transported or present at a place. The dogs provide a warning so that the police or other special forces can take action providing the public and others with safety.
Most days the sniffer dogs will go out working on cases and at places where their presence is needed. When they are not in work they do training activities to keep them in the frame of mind of a sniffer dog. They do not live as family dogs, they are working dogs and therefore live in kennels with runs, and are walked daily. They have access to water in the kennel and also are fed every day at a set time. The dog may take up to 2 years before it starts working properly.
This job affects the dog’s welfare as it minimizes the amount of play time they get as they are a working dog and have to take their job seriously; they also get very little if any social time with other dogs preventing them from expressing normal behaviour. They have access to food and water meaning that they are free from hunger and thirst and also are provided with a kennel and a run, with dog bed inside and appropriate heating meaning that they are free from discomfort. Not all dogs may be able to cope with busy environment of which they live in meaning that it may cause fear and distress. The dogs job itself can be dangerous as they can be used to sniff out explosives. This puts the dog at risk as the dogs are large enough to set off an explosion which can injure them badly. This prevents them from being free of pain and injury.