MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- More than 10 canine handlers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection searched corner to corner for hidden drugs as they cleared every inch of empty barracks rooms here March 8-11.

The event was part of weekly training that the U.S. Customs canine handlers perform to teach their dogs how to find drugs in various locations.

The handlers coordinated with the Provost Marshal’s Office’s Marine Working Dog unit which allowed them to use the air station’s barracks.

The training offered the dogs a different environment to work in, explained Tony Silveira, the supervisor of custom’s canine unit. Training the dogs in unfamiliar environment is important because they search about 60,000 to 70,000 cars coming into the U.S. every day.

The dogs searched five rooms with drugs planted in four of them. The drugs were cocaine, methamphetamines, ecstasy and marijuana. The handlers wrapped each drug in a plastic bag and then placed it in a grey metal box. They hid the drugs in various locations such as between mattresses, in light fixtures, behind wall lockers and underneath beds.

The handlers have the dogs search the rooms in a pattern, explained Jim Hill, one of the supervisors of custom’s canine unit. They travel clockwise and search places that are going to give off an odor, such as the corner of a wall locker.

The dogs don’t know that they are finding drugs, explained Silveira. They’re just following the odors. When they find the drugs, their handlers reward them with a toy. Finding drugs is a game to them.

U.S. Customs uses several different types of dogs including German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Labrador retrievers. They prefer to use dogs that will not intimidate people and are willing workers.

“The dogs are really smart,” said Matt Villalobos, a canine handler with U.S. Customs. “They always remember the last location they found drugs.”

Each handler has an average of about five years of experience working with the dogs. They attend a 13-week course in Virginia where they learn how to detect drugs and concealed humans with the dogs.

With the help of canine teams, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than four million pounds of narcotics in 2009.

Every day, thousands of people travel across the points of entry to come into the United States. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection canine handlers perform training to ensure that everyone can continue living in a safe and drug-free environment.

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