“Winnie” is one of only seven dogs in the United States who is certified to sniff out not bombs, not drugs, and not people, plants or animals, but a chemical compound used to make DVDs, USB drives, cellphones, and SD cards. Dogs that have this talent are in high demand because cyber crime is growing: Bad guys use electronic devices to make threats, and hide the devices that contain incriminating evidence. Jared Fogle, convicted pedophile, was nabbed through the work of “Bear,” who like “Winnie,” is a Labrador Retriever (see a trend?)  Bear helped officers locate 16 smartphones, 10 flash drives and six laptops during an 11-hour search of Fogle’s home.  “Winnie,” herself, locates electronics by sniffing out one of two specific chemical compounds, one that prevents overheating in a device, the other the chemical found in DVDs and CD ROM devices.

Jack Hubball is the chemist who discovered the chemical compounds that bomb-sniffing dogs are eventually trained to find. He identified the accelerants (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc.) dogs should focus on to sniff out arson, and helped train dogs to find narcotics and bombs. In 1986, police trained the first dog in the world to sniff out arson with the help of Hubball. To fight computer crimes, Hubball tested flash drives, circuit boards, and other electronics components to isolate a single common chemical in each device, which, as far as we know,has never been revealed. After isolating the chemical, it came down to training the dogs’ noses to identify the compound.

“Winnie” trained for four weeks with the Connecticut state police K-9 unit before completing an additional six weeks of training with Christopher MacDonald, her handler. Now with the Massachusetts State Police, Winnie can be expected to work for about 10 years. “Hopefully she will have an illustrious career and retire to her bed in my living room,” her handler said during her introduction to the public. For more on Winnie, read this article.

Photo from Massachusetts State Police