Australian Customs Service The Australian Customs Service was an Australian Government agency responsible for Australian border protection, duties and taxes between 1985 and 2009. The Service was first under the portfolio of the Department of Industry, Technology and Comme ...

breeds and trains

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

s to detect illegal drugs,

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

and hazardous chemical precursors associated with the manufacture or deployment of

chemical weapon A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

s. Each year these dogs are responsible for hundreds of detections. Detector dog teams operate nationwide and search sea and

air cargo Air cargo is any property carried or to be carried in an aircraft. Air cargo comprises air freight, air express and airmail. Aircraft types Different cargo can be transported by passenger, cargo or combi aircraft: * Passenger aircraft use the ...

, aircraft baggage, international mail, ships, buildings and people. The Customs Detector Dog Training Centre in Canberra trains narcotic, firearms and

detector dog teams for Australian Customs and a range of federal, state and territory agencies including police,

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

and corrective services. The centre also provides training to law enforcement agencies from China,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

and

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 est ...

. The Customs National Breeding and Development Centre in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

supplies suitable Labrador Retrievers not only to Customs but to Australian federal, state and territory agencies, and countries including the United States of America, Indonesia, China, Japan,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

, Guam,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

History

In 1969, Australian Customs Service had only two detector dogs. Dogs were sourced from

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

dog pound An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s and people with unwanted pets. From these early beginnings the program continued to grow throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By the early 1990s, the growth in the Detector Dog Program had led to difficulties in sourcing sufficient quality dogs to supply the program. The solution was the development of the Customs detector dog breeding program to produce a reliable, high quality supply of dogs. This development included research by Mr John Vanderloo, into the best

dog breed A dog breed is a particular strain of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing around 450 global ...

to meet the requirements of Customs across a range of criteria, with the Labrador breed being selected for their focus, versatility, temperament, and strong

hunt Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and retrieve drives. An intensive three-year study, conducted in conjunction with the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb n ...

and the Royal

Guide Dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour bl ...

s Associations of Australia at the Customs National Breeding and Development Centre, identified the required

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar worki ...

for

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

and the best environmental influences for development of detector dogs. In early 1993 a three-year pilot-breeding program commenced using Labradors purchased from the Royal Guide Dog Association of Australia and leading Labrador breeders. This breeding program is now the only source for Australian Customs detector dogs and is one of only a handful of specialized Detector Dog Breeding Programs in the world. Today, many other agencies use dogs bred by Customs. Customs bred dogs have been deployed in a variety of fields including

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

detection, food detection or explosives/firearms detection. Australian Drug Detector Dogs have been provided to various nations under Regional Assistance Programs managed by

AusAID Australian Aid is the brand name used to identify projects in developing countries supported by the Australian Government. As of 2014 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been responsible for Australia's official developme ...

(the Australian Federal Government Overseas Aid Agency). Since 1993, Australian Customs has bred more than 1,000 puppies, most of which have been successfully deployed throughout Australia and overseas as operational detector dogs.

External links

Australian Customs Service

References

Detector Dog Program
{{Law enforcement in Australia d Detection dogs