Doggy-style security creates Pups for Peace

Pups for Peace looks like a howling success five years down the line.
After double suicide bombing in Netanya, a group of West Hollywood dog enthusiasts was moved by reports of the carnage and in 2002 sent trained sniffer dogs to Israel to help detect explosives and thwart terrorists.

Now, Israel is returning the favor with a group of sabra commando canines that will guard California from terror acts. The new Counter-Terrorism Canine Handlers unit, backed by the Governator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger recently dispatched nine California law enforcement officers to Israel for two months. Now they work with Israeli dogs trained in Krav Maga and other martial arts. They use Hebrew commands to work with the K9 corps, which is apt to confuse terrorists caught in the act.

Kudos for the success of this unusual exchange program, because sniffing for explosives or drugs is not a job easily outsourced. Thailand is a case in point. King Bhumipol Adulyadej encouraged the kingdom's custom agents to train soi-dogs, the intelligent strays that frequent back alleyways, to work in airports instead of investing in foreign dogs. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, and the soi dogs were savvy. But up near the Golden Triangle, two of these mutts, Mok and Lai, ran amok in Chiang Rai airport, lifting their legs to pee on luggage luggage and humping women’s legs. Eventually, complaints were so widespread that the two police dogs were put on chicken and pig duty at a local farm. Life's a bitch.