USDA‘s Detector Dogs:

Protecting

American Agriculture

United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Miscellaneous Publication No. 1539
APHIS uses detector dogs to augment its force

APHIS uses detector dogs to augment its force of officers and x-ray machines searching

for agricultural c
United States Department of Agriculture

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

contraband in international arrival areas at major U.S. ports of entry.

Agriculture,

one of America’s biggest industries and largest employers, is under constant threat of attack from foreign animal and plant pests and diseases. The U.S. Department

of Agriculture (USDA) has many ways of safeguarding American agriculture. USDA’s Animal

and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) leads the way in anticipating and responding to

issues involving animal and plant health, conflicts with wildlife, environmental stewardship,

and animal well-being.

Together with the rest of USDA, customers, and stakeholders, APHIS promotes the health

of animal and plant resources to facilitate movement of such resources in the global marketplace and to ensure an abundance of agricultural products and services for U.S. consumers.

APHIS brings food to your table, stimulates the global economy, safeguards agricultural

resources, and protects and enhances ecosystems. In short, when America sits down for dinner,

APHIS helps set the table.

USDA’s Beagle Brigade is one facet of APHIS’ comprehensive agricultural quarantine and

inspection (AQI) program. The Beagle Brigade is a group of nonaggressive detector dogs and

their human partners. They search travelers’ luggage for prohibited fruits, plants, and meat

that could harbor harmful plant and animal pests and diseases. These detector dogs work with

APHIS inspectors and x-ray technology to prevent the entry of prohibited agricultural items.

The Beagle Brigade teams also serve as goodwill ambassadors by educating the public about

USDA; they appear in many places like schools, fairs, and in the news media.

The AQI program helps to prevent the introduction of harmful plant and animal pests and

diseases into the U.S. ecosystem—pests and diseases that could threaten the abundance and

variety of the food supply and cost U.S. taxpayers millions to eradicate. 

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The AQI Program at Airports 

With increases in international travel that are expected to continue into

the next century, there are mounting threats to America’s agricultural

industry. In 1984, 27 million people traveled to the United States; in

1996, more than twice that number, 66 million, are expected. In

addition, there are millions and millions of pieces of international mail

and countless commercial import and export shipments. As part of the

APHIS program, Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) officers inspect

passenger baggage, mail, and cargo in the Federal Inspection Service

(FIS) areas at all U.S. ports of entry. Beagles are used at airports as

detector dogs. The Beagle Brigade—which includes the detector dogs

and PPQ officers serving as canine handlers—generally works among

passengers as they claim their bags.

On average, APHIS PPQ officers make about 2 million interceptions of illegal agricultural products every year. Included in that total

are more than 275,000 lots of unauthorized meat and animal byproducts that have the potential to carry diseases to American livestock and

poultry. Inspectors also find nearly 58,000 plant pests and diseases

that could have been dangerous to our agricultural industry. The

Beagle Brigade program averages around 75,000 seizures of prohibited agricultural products a year.

Some of the busiest FIS areas are at major international airports 

in large U.S. cities like New York, Miami, Dallas, and Los Angeles,

and it is in airports such as these that the Beagle Brigade usually

works. In the FIS area, APHIS officers work alongside officers from 

the U.S. Customs Service (Customs), the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S.

Public Health Service, and the U.S.

Immigration and Naturalization Service

(INS). All these Federal agencies have

various missions and work together to protect people by enforcing laws and 

facilitating the entry of passengers and

goods.

2

Many agricultural products

are prohibited entry because they

can contain foreign animal and

plant pests and diseases that

could damage U.S. agriculture.
Why Beagles?

APHIS selected beagles for use at airports because of

their acute sense of smell and their gentle nature with

people. Beagles’ natural love of food makes them effective detectives and happy to work for treats. APHIS has

found that most beagles will remain calm in crowded,

noisy locations, such as busy airport baggage-claim

areas. These detector dogs are bright, inquisitive, and

active hounds whose sense of smell makes them curious

wanderers by nature. Beagles have such precisely 

sensitive scenting ability that they can detect and identify

smells so faint or diluted that even high-tech scientific

equipment could not measure them.

As a species, dogs have noses that are remarkably

well built for sniffing or smelling. Dogs’ nasal passages

are designed to receive and trap odors; the scent nerves

are comparatively large and numerous. The smelling

ability of human beings is not highly developed. People have an estimated 5 million scent receptors (cells used for smelling) concentrated in

a relatively small area at the back of the nose. By comparison, beagles have an estimated 220 million scent receptors. Not only do beagles have a marvelous ability to detect scents, but after extensive training, they are good at distinguishing one odor from another and

remembering it. The part of a dog’s brain that receives messages from

the nerves of the nose is highly developed and can store scent information the way a computer does. You might have noticed that, at a

distance, a dog sometimes cannot recognize people or other dogs it

knows until it gets within range to identify them by scent.

Beagles are among the healthiest of all dog breeds. They are considered the “Eagle Scouts” of dogs. Loyal, courageous, obedient, and

patient, beagles travel well and are equally at home indoors and outdoors. Because of their curiosity, intelligence, high response to food,

and superior sense of smell, beagles emerged as the obvious choice to

be used for APHIS’ detective work.

3

Jackpot I was one of the 

Beagle Brigade’s first and best

known detector dogs. He is 

pictured with a day’s worth of 

contraband from John F. Kennedy

International Airport, NY.

Background photo:

Prohibited agricultural products are confiscated from passengers,

inspected, and safely destroyed in grinders or incinerators.
Seattle, WA

San Francisco, CA*

Los Angeles, CA*

San Juan, Puerto Rico*

Honolulu, HI*

Dallas,

Hou

Beagles may have first come to the United States from England 

in 1880, and America’s National Beagle Club was formed in 1887.

About 100 years later, around 1984, USDA established its detector

dog program at Los Angeles International Airport with one team 

consisting of a beagle and a canine handler. At first, APHIS tried a

variety of dog breeds and worked with Customs to develop a detector

dog program. Then, after selecting beagles as the agency’s detector

dogs, APHIS worked with the military at Lackland Air Force Base in

Texas to train Beagle Brigade teams. Around 1987, APHIS opened

three regional training centers and began training its own teams.

4
 TX*

uston, TX*

Minneapolis

St. Paul, MN

Chicago, IL*

Detroit, MI Boston, MA*

Philadelphia, PA

Newark, NJ*

Washington, DC*

Charlotte, NC

Raleigh/Durham, NC

Atlanta, GA*

Orlando, FL*

Miami, FL*

John F. Kennedy 

International Airport, NY*

Bangor, ME

Cincinnati, OH

seasonal

Now the Beagle Brigade has more than 50 teams at 21 international airports, with more teams being added regularly. The Beagle

Brigade spans the United States. USDA has teams stationed at 19 

of the 20 busiest international airports. Plans are now being made to

launch a detector dog program on the U.S.–Mexican border and 

to expand use of detector dogs in postal facilities. The implementation

of these plans will be made possible by the opening of USDA’s

National Detector Dog Training Center in Orlando, FL, in early 1997.

APHIS has also provided expertise and training to agriculture 

officials in other countries who want to start their own detector dog

programs. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, Mexico,

and South Korea have all sought the assistance of USDA’s Beagle

Brigade and APHIS officials.

5

*Denotes the presence of more 

than one Beagle Brigade team.
Beagle Brigade Membership and Training 

All canine candidates for the Beagle Brigade are donated by private

owners and breeders or selected from animal shelters. Many of

APHIS’ canine “employees” would have otherwise been euthanized.

Trainers first evaluate a dog for its soundness of temperament. If the

dog fails the initial evaluation or if the candidate is dropped out of the

training course for any reason, APHIS finds the animal a good home.

Dogs are never returned to animal shelters.

To determine whether an airport could use a Beagle Brigade team

or teams, APHIS personnel perform a feasibility test to check out the

airport’s environment, work load, and types of flights. Once the

agency decides to place a Beagle Brigade team

in a location, a dog and a human handler are

sought.

Teams screen passengers in an area that

allows maximum exposure to baggage. The

detector dogs are trained to sniff the baggage of

international passengers as they proceed through

FIS areas. When a dog sniffs prohibited agricultural items in a passenger’s luggage or packages, it sits to alert its human partner. The PPQ

canine officer then checks the passenger’s bags,

confiscates any prohibited items, and gives the

dog a food reward.

Beagles and their handlers go through the bulk of the startup training together. In 8 to 12 weeks of training, trainers teach the dogs to

respond passively by sitting when they smell the scents of citrus fruit,

mango, apple, beef, or pork; this behavior alerts their handlers to the

possible presence of a prohibited item. Dogs receive food rewards for

desired responses. At the end of training, the Beagle Brigade teams

are transferred to their duty stations and spend at least a week with a

trainer onsite.

Working Beagle Brigade dogs wear distinctive green jackets with

“Protecting American Agriculture” on one side and “Agriculture’s

Beagle Brigade” on the other. After 6 months to 1 year of experience,

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Beagles are first trained 

on basic scents like beef 

and citrus. During their

careers, some dogs learn

nearly 50 different odors.
beagles sniff out prohibited material correctly 80

percent of the time. Their success rate rises to

about 90 percent after 2 years’ experience. PPQ

canine officers continue to train their partners in

new odors throughout their career. Some beagles have been known to recognize nearly 50

odors during their 6- to 10- year career. 

When working a flight, the dog and the

canine officer roam the FIS area. Each piece of

luggage is sniffed. When the dog recognizes an

odor, it sits as close to the source of the odor as

possible, whether it’s something on the passenger

or something in their luggage. The officer then

asks the passenger whether he or she is carrying

agricultural products like food, fruit, meat, or other

prohibited items and then examines the Customs

declaration card to see if any items are declared. The bag in question

is inspected if possible. A notation is put on the Customs declaration

card in green ink so the passenger’s baggage will be inspected by a

PPQ officer before the passenger leaves the FIS area. If “yes” is

checked on the declaration card in response to inquiries about carrying food or other agricultural items and a prohibited item is found, the

item is confiscated but no civil penalty (fine) is levied. If the response

is “no” and contraband is found, the passenger may be fined up to

$250 on the spot.

7

The Beagle Brigade uses

passive-response training.

The dogs are trained to sit

when they sniff agricultural

contraband.
USDA’s National Detector Dog 

Training Center

In early 1997, the three regional detector dog training centers—in Miami, in San Francisco,

and at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York—will be merged into the new USDA

National Detector Dog Training Center located in Orlando, FL. PPQ canine officers and beagles

will complete basic training at the national training center and then be deployed to their duty

stations. More advanced training and training for other countries will also be performed at the

training center. The mission of USDA’s National Detector Dog Training Center is “to operate a

center of excellence to train detector dog teams in the protection of American agriculture, to

develop and transfer new knowledge, and to provide high-quality service to its customers.”

The center will be located on almost 2 acres of land with the buildings occupying 7,800

square feet. Included will be kennels for 30 dogs, 5 quarantine runs, postal and passenger

training areas, and classrooms. The center will also have 24-hour fire and break-in monitoring

and a fire sprinkler system. Initial plans are to have three full-time trainers and a coordinator

onsite, as well as support personnel to help care for the office and dogs. 

A Dog’s Life

Because of their sensitivity to the smell of food, Beagle Brigade dogs

live in kennels, not at home with their human partners. A typical

workday may include some combination of commuting to and from the

airport, sniffing the baggage of international travelers entering the

United States, conducting a demonstration at a school, and visiting the

veterinarian. Beagle Brigade dogs are fed a high-protein diet and rest

for at least 20 minutes of each work hour.

A PPQ canine officer develops a close relationship with his or her dog and is aware of

even minor changes in its behavior. USDA’s

detector dogs must be happy on and off the job

to be successful. APHIS prefers to find kennels

that have indoor and outdoor kennel runs, 24-

hour access, high standards of maintenance and

hygiene, good security, and a veterinarian on

call. Onsite grooming facilities are another plus.

The dogs receive complete health exams twice a

year in addition to routine veterinary care. The

quality of life for the team is important. The

dogs are not really working—for them the day is

8

APHIS’ canine officers

reward their partners with 

a food treat. Though all

beagles are fed a balanced

diet, they never get tired 

of treats.
full of games, love, and rewards. PPQ canine officers work not just

with partners but also with good friends.

Typically, a Beagle Brigade dog’s career spans about 6–10 years.

If a beagle loses long-term interest in working or seems more timid or

tired than normal, it may be time for retirement. When a dog is

retired, its last partner usually keeps the dog as a pet. If the PPQ officer does not keep the dog, APHIS finds another suitable home. There

is generally a list of people waiting to adopt a beagle.

Teamwork is important in the Beagle

Brigade. PPQ canine officers are responsible

for conducting continuing training programs

for their detector dogs as well as for the general well-being of the dog on and off the job.

The canine officer completes required datagathering procedures and submits appropriate reports. The Beagle Brigade is also part

of the larger APHIS team that protects

American agriculture. The PPQ canine officers are expected to play an active role organizing opportunities to get the larger APHIS

message out to the public.

Public Outreach

In addition to their important detection work, Beagle Brigade teams

help teach people about agriculture and the missions of USDA. 

The detector dog program’s special role in protecting American agriculture and its public appeal makes it an ideal program, with dogs

that perform a service rather than serve as mascots, for public 

outreach activities. Each team is made up of a qualified PPQ officer

and a uniformed beagle, which provides both a spokesperson and an

appealing symbol in one package. Because the Beagle Brigade is 

an actual working program and not a representative character like

Woodsy Owl, it already enjoys a high level of visibility at many 

locations. The teams’ daily interaction with international travelers in

searching for prohibited agricultural products only serves to increase

their recognition.

Traditionally, dogs have been associated with the idea of protecting homes, livestock, or families. By protecting American agriculture

9

Beagle Brigade teams are 

often called upon to educate people

about USDA and its role in protecting American agriculture.
and serving as goodwill ambassadors, the Beagle Brigade builds on

this unique relationship between humans and dogs.

The Beagle Brigade has been recognized twice by the Port

Authority of New York and New Jersey as airport ambassadors for

outstanding customer service. The Pedigree All Star Hall of Fame

inducted USDA’s Beagle Brigade into the National Dog Museum in St.

Louis, MO, as the outstanding service program in 1993. Several

organizations have recognized the Beagle Brigade for its work in

rescuing dogs and giving them a second chance.

The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Nickelodeon, Dateline

NBC, Telemundo network, and the Christian Science Monitor, among

countless other local and national media outlets, have done stories featuring the Beagle Brigade. PPQ canine officers and their partners

have given thousands and thousands of demonstrations to audiences

of all ages. The teams especially like to go back to school and teach

students about agriculture. Snoopy is not the only beagle who is a

celebrity. At an event, school, interview, or fair, the Beagle Brigade is

always ready to greet people with happy faces and wagging tails.

Other APHIS Dog Programs

APHIS primarily uses beagles for working in airports but uses other

dogs for different jobs. Most of the detector dogs that APHIS uses to

work in the main distribution 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 inspection. APHIS

is currently conducting a pilot project

along the U.S. border with Mexico in Texas

to determine if detector dogs can help our

officers check cars and buses for contraband agricultural products.

Another program in APHIS, Animal

Damage Control (ADC), has a detector

dog program in cooperation with the

Department of Defense. The dogs in this

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Different dogs are suited to

perform different jobs based on 

their natural instincts and training.

These Akbash dogs, a popular 

livestock-guarding breed, are 

protecting sheep from predators.
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program, usually terriers, are trained

to sniff for brown tree snakes in aircraft, vehicles, household goods, and

ships leaving Guam for snake-free

areas like Hawaii, the Mariana Islands,

and Saipan. Brown tree snakes have

infested the island of Guam, causing

the extinction of several native species

of birds. To protect the rare flora and

fauna in Hawaii, it is important to avoid

accidentally introducing this destructive

pest into the environment. Currently, eight detector dog teams prowl

the airstrips and piers of Guam searching out hitchhiker snakes. One

of PPQ’s Beagle Brigade trainers provides the training to ADC employees for this program. ADC also provides information, guidance, and

expertise to ranchers interested in using livestock-guarding dogs,

which can be trained to protect sheep from predators. ADC has several livestock-guarding dog experts on staff and can provide detailed

printed material that outlines how to set up a livestock-guarding program. These various APHIS programs illustrate that different kinds of

dogs are best suited to do different types of jobs.

Other Working Dogs

Some Federal agencies outside USDA also use detector dogs for a

variety of tasks. The Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Postal Service,

Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement

Administration, State Department, U.S. Marshal’s Service, and Bureau

of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms all either have their own detector

dogs or use teams that belong to other agencies. During emergencies

and natural disasters, search-and-rescue dog teams help locate survivors and victims. There are also a variety of State detector dog programs and, of course, military and police dogs. Among other items,

detector dogs have been trained to find gypsy-moth egg masses, termites, gas pipeline leaks, drowning victims in less than 10 feet of

water, and shrink-wrapped currency. Seizure numbers from just the

dogs and their human partners in Federal service run high into the

tens of thousands per year.

In and around airports and land border ports, the Federal

Aviation Administration (FAA), INS, and Customs all use dog teams.

In spite of their formal uniforms,

the dogs are not really working—

for them, the day is full of games,

love, and rewards.
FAA started a K-9 Explosives Detection program in 1972. Currently,

FAA has about 100 explosives-detection teams at strategically located

airports throughout the United States. INS uses dogs to look for stowaways and drugs; it has about 140 teams in 17 geographic sectors.

Different dogs are selected for different jobs depending on their

natural skills, instincts, and temperament. A wide variety of training

methods and rewards are used in detector dog programs as well.

The dog teams that work side-by-side with the Beagle Brigade in

passenger arrival areas and baggage ramps are usually Customs

detector dogs. These dogs, which sniff for drugs, are trained to work

in airports, seaports, and border ports. They screen aircraft, cargo,

baggage, mail, ships, and vehicles. An increasing number are trained

to work in international arrival areas where passengers claim their

bags. When the Customs dogs find drugs, they are rewarded with a

rolled towel to roughhouse or play with.

Many detector dog programs, including USDA’s Beagle Brigade

and Customs, get dogs from animal shelters or rescue leagues.

Golden retrievers, German shepherds, Brittany spaniels, German

short-hair pointers, and mixed breeds have all been recruited by

Customs.

Conclusion

Each day at airports all over the country, international travelers

encounter a special forces unit of USDA: the Beagle Brigade.

Members of this unit have great noses, sunny dispositions, green jackets, and lots of hair. Beagle Brigade dogs work in teams with PPQ

officers in a partnership to protect American agriculture.

The 1,800 or so APHIS inspectors stationed at more than 90 ports

of entry make up the first line of protection for the Nation’s largest

industry, agriculture. The Beagle Brigade teams help detect prohibited

agricultural products in passenger baggage and help educate the 

public about USDA and its mission. Through the inspection process,

using innovative programs like the Beagle Brigade, APHIS officers 

help safegaurd U.S. agriculture, the 2.1 million farms in the United

States, and the food budget and nutritional choices of every American

consumer.

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To find out more about the Beagle Brigade, check out the APHIS home page on the

Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov. The map on pages 4 and 5 of this brochure

shows the locations that have Beagle Brigade teams. You can call the APHIS PPQ office 

in those areas to get in touch with the PPQ canine officers. You can also write to Beagle

Brigade c/o USDA APHIS Legislative and Public Affairs, Unit 51, 4700 River Rd.,

Riverdale, MD 20737-1232. Your letters will be forwarded to the appropriate person.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national 

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all

programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (braille,

large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA Office of Communications at (202) 720–2791.

To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250, or call 

(800) 245-6340 (voice) or (202) 720–1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer.

Issued December 1996