October 20, 2021

police dog is essentially a detection dog that is used as a resource for police in specific scenarios such as conducting drug raids, finding missing criminals, and locating stashed currency. Frequently, detection dogs are thought to be used for law enforcement purposes. Experts say that dog-sniff evidence should not be used in the criminal justice system, pointing to wrongful convictions, human biases that skew animal behavior, and the lack of systematic research into what dogs detect or how they do it.[2]

Detection dogs have been a valuable research tool for wildlife biologists. In California, detection dogs are trained to discover quagga mussels on boats at public boat ramps because they are a harmful invasive species for the environment. Detection dogs also tend to be employed for the purposes of finding and collecting the feces of a diverse array of species, including caribou,[3] black-footed ferret, killer whale,[4] and Oregon spotted frog. This process is known as wildlife scat detection.

Detection dogs are also seeing use in the medical industry, as studies have revealed that canines are able to detect specific odours associated with numerous medical conditions, such as cancer.