Along with the Beagle Brigade, APHIS has several other detector dog programs designed to sniff out prohibited agricultural products. These programs often use dogs other than beagles. For example, most of the detector dogs that APHIS uses to work in the main distri-bution centers for international mail are larger breeds. The reason is that postal dogs usually have to climb and search on the large conveyor belts that the mail passes through, and some smaller dogs are not suited for that work. Postal detector dogs alert inspectors to suspicious parcels, and the inspectors pull those parcels off the belts for a closer look. APHIS detector dogs work in international post offices in Oakland, CA, Miami, and Chicago. More teams will be added to other U.S. post offices in the future. In Hawaii, Beagle Brigade teams inspect mail destined for the U.S. mainland for prohibited agricultural products.

APHIS also launched a detector dog program on the U.S.�Mexican border in 1997. The Border Beagle Brigade is an extension of the Beagle Brigade in that their job is to sniff out prohibited agricultural products. However, the Border Beagle Brigade works checking vehicles and baggage. This began as a pilot project in 1997 at the Hidalgo, TX, port of entry. The pilot program successfully showed that a canine team, working in conjunction with PPQ officers and x-ray machines, would save time. With these results, USDA placed additional canine teams on both the northern and southern borders of the United States.

Currently, APHIS is working to develop a detector dog program for cargo. This pilot project will start in PPQ�s Western Region in 2001 with several dogs sniffing cargo shipments for prohibited agricultural products.

• The AQI Program at Airports
• Why Beagles?
  
• Beagle Brigade Membership and Training
• A Dog's Life
  
• Public Outreach
  
• More Detector Dog Programs
  
• Other APHIS Dog Programs
• Other Working Dogs
  
• Conclusion