You ask, "What is a working dog?" "Is it a dog that does more than hang out at the house all day and bark at the mailman?" "Is it a dog that gets in the car like Mom and Dad and goes to the office?" Well, sort of ....

Working dogs are amazing animals specially trained to protect people and to make life easier for them. Some working dogs act as eyes for blind people, ears for the hearing impaired, and helpers for the physically challenged. They also protect sheep from wolves, and they can help a police officer catch criminals. These special dogs can find victims of disasters under lots of rubble, and they can find people lost in the woods. They are awesome.

The FBI has some very special working dogs. Fremont is the newest addition to the FBI's group of Working Dogs. His job as a Service Dog is to help his leader carry things, pick up items off the floor, and open doors. Other FBI Working Dogs find bombs, drugs, money, and people. Just how do they do it?

Dogs instinctively know how to find things. A Handler, the dog's human partner, teaches the dog what to search for. A dog can use all of his/her senses, like hearing, seeing, and smelling to find a specific person or thing. To do this, though, requires a lot of training. They are always practicing, but the dogs love it because it is what they were born to do.

At the FBI, the Handler is usually an FBI Special Agent. The Agent and his or her dog work together as a team. The Handler teaches the dog to find very specific things in all kinds of weird places like in a tree, in the woods or a field, in a suitcase, in a car, on a street, in a closet, under rubble, or in the water or under snow.

 

| Chemical Explosive Dogs | Narcotic Detection Dogs | Search and Rescue Dogs | Service Dogs |
| Working Dogs Home Page< |