Us dogs participate in very fascinating activities and bring many great things to this world. As a result, I have decided to begin a new series on my web site. I will call the series “Spike’s Up Close & Personal.” When I hear of something that interests me, I shall dispatch one of my humans to investigate and report back their findings.
This is the first of Spike’s Up Close & Personal.
It has been a very cold and snowy winter here in the Atlanta area. Following one of those cold, snowy days, my staff had scheduled an interview with Ashley Marratt, President of Interquest Detection Canines of Georgia, and her dog, Copper. Ms. Marratt presented us with a wealth of information about detection canines. Interquest serves schools, commercial and industrial facilities. They do not search in any public spaces where they are not contracted to inspect. Because they serve industrial and commercial facilities, a work day for an Interquest team can begin as early as 4 am!
Ms. Marratt explained that neither the dogs of Interquest nor the handlers are affiliated with law enforcement. Police narcotics K-9’s are only trained on illegal substances. Interquest canines like Copper are trained in narcotics as well as alcohol, medications and gunpowder, including fireworks! This training enables the dogs to find the quantities and items that students are abusing most today.
Interquest has over 39 years of canine training experience A lot of people believe that canines used for these types of services must be German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois, but not the folks at Interquest. They only use Labradors and Golden Retrievers (a friendly, handsome bunch, I might add.) Copper is a Red Lab.
Ms. Marratt chooses her canines very carefully. Particular interest is placed on dogs with long noses, a high alpha personality and a good prey drive. The dogs are trained in Houston, Texas. These friendly, well-socialized canines endure a full day of work, motivated only by a toy! They average about 9 years of service, however, some may retire early.
Once they are trained, the dogs are placed with a handler. It is very important that the dog respects the handler. Therefore, the handlers like Ms. Marratt must have a higher alpha personality and a keen ability to keep a dog motivated. Lazy, laid back people need not apply! The dogs also live with their handlers.
Copper sniffs trash cans, lockers and other such places. In a typical outing, he is placed on a harness and taken to an area where Ms. Marratt will instruct him to smell. When he alerts on an area, he will sit. During the demonstration with Copper, Ms. Marratt would tell Copper to “show me”, and Copper would take the handler immediately back to the area he alerted on earlier. That is fantastic!
Ms. Marratt also explained how the handlers will listen for a change in the dogs sniffing pattern. Our demonstration revealed that Copper’s sniffing pattern became deeper when he approached locker #785, the one which contained the contraband.
When asked about her favorite part of the job, Ms. Marratt said that she really enjoyed the assembly programs with the students. The students would ask all sorts of “What if” questions. Usually to see if there was a way to fool the dogs. (The short answer is, “Nope, dope!”)
Interquest’s program provides an orientation session for students, parents and faculty. From there, they conduct monthly, unannounced searches of lockers, parking areas, classrooms, gyms and other common areas of the school and grounds.
Ms. Marratt discussed the goals of Interquest’s service. “The program’s focus is preventing substance abuse, not catching students doing wrong. Our goal is to help students make good decisions. My focus is to keep you safe and keep your school contraband free. Ultimately, substance prevention is up to the students; the decision is theirs to make. If you make good decisions, then there is nothing to worry about.”
The results for Interquest have been significant. In one Atlanta area school district they have found a 20% reduction in drug related hearings, 72% reduction in alcohol related hearings and a 59% reduction in drug and alcohol distribution related hearings. These results were from the 2003-2004 school year to the 2006-2007 school year and the district reports a 25% increase in their enrollment.
Interquest has over 100 dogs working throughout the United States and they are the largest private provider of this type of canines.
Recently, one of my friends “across the pond” sent me a question about her dog, and his affinity for digging in many spots inside the house, including her couch and her bed. During a trip to the vet, their discussion led to no resolution other than a healthy dog. This is where I come in.
The big day is getting closer and everyone is thrilled about Santa, especially Tax. He has been on Santa Watch since December 26th of last year. Today, I want to talk about a proper Christmas gift. As you know, I have been tracking gift ideas for your pet over on the right from my Twitter friends. I am happy to suggest to you some very nice gifts that you may buy for your friends, as well. An electric pencil sharpener, a gift card to their favorite restaurant, movie tickets, money, Elvis’ Christmas Album, a toaster, some perfume, a clock, a nice picture frame, socks… I could go on and on. But, most importantly, I want to tell people about one thing that should never be considered as a gift, a dog or a cat! We are not gifts, we are family. 
