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DOGS ON PARADE C
BY WESLEY BOURKE PHOTOS BY ARMN NEVILLE COUGHLAN
asement Aerodrome recently played host to a Multi-Agency K-9 Conference. There are many agencies in Ireland that use K-9's as part of their
teams. The purpose of the conference was to pool and share knowledge. Taking part in the conference were: Irish Customs, the Prison Service, Civil Defence, Airport Police, Dog Training Ireland, An Garda Síochána, Police Service Northern Ireland, Search and Rescue Dog Associa- tion (Ireland), Danish Customs, Czech Republic Customs, Northern Ireland Prison Service, Royal Canin. Through talks and displays each agency demonstrated what their K-9's can do. Of all a dog's senses, its sense
of smell is the most highly developed. Dogs have about 25 times more olfactory (smell) receptors than humans do. Dogs can sense odours at concentrations nearly 100 mil- lion times lower than humans can. They can detect one drop of blood in five quarts of water! No doubt you have seen K-9's in action at the airport
sniffing through people's luggage for illegal contraband. The Defence Forces do not use K-9's but you may have come across them on exercise with a Search and Rescue team or overseas with a C-IED team, on sentry duty, or searching for mines. That's right dogs have a 98% success rate when searching for explosives. K-9's can literally be a man's best friend.
An Cosantóir December 2011
