Russian Customs Service’s drug sniffing dogs

A customs detector dog has to be cheerful, trainable and have a good sense of smell. That’s why Labradors, sheepdogs and spaniels make up the majority of the dog force.

Puppies as young as five months are acceptable for the service, while detector dogs take a mandatory retirement at 8 years old.
The dogs undergo daily drills to keep in shape. Every six months they are sent to the Main Customs Dog Center for retraining.
Over 2000 dogs are employed with the Russian Customs Service. Russia’s chief customs dog specialist Yevgeny Chukharev says that not every customs office is capable of raising detector dogs. He personally dreams of breeding customs dogs himself saying that their qualities are inherited.