With their powerful little noses and waggly tails, they might look like any other dog, but sniffer dogs are trained to track down even marijuana seeds from a distance of 15 feet.  With a sense of smell which is said to be 1,000 times more sensitive than that of humans (and capable of picking up scents at concentrations which are nearly 100 million times lower than those which can be detected by you or I), these little guys leave no place to hide.  If scientists were to have their way, however, it wouldn’t just be dogs that would be let loose on the unsuspecting public, but honey bees and wasps too!

Who ‘Nose’ What They Can Find?

Sniffer dogs, or detector dogs, have of course been used for a number of years to track down all manner of things; from drugs, explosives and firearms, to cash, food items which have past their expiration dates and human remains.  In terms of drug detection, it was in the late 1960s that they were first put to use and one of the things that has made them particularly effective since then, is their ability to separate different scents.  No matter what lengths smugglers have gone to to try and mask the smell of their stash, the sniffer dogs have still been able to detect it even in tiny quantities.  Think about the size of marijuana seeds and a distance of 15 feet and you’ll get an idea of what they are capable of!         

From Freight Container to Teenager’s Bedroom

Of course, when we think of sniffer dogs, the first thing to come to mind are the trained animals used by the police and customs officers.  The concern of parents that their teenage children might be experimenting with certain illegal substances, however, has led to a new generation of sniffer dogs which are handled by private companies and used by clients to detect drugs in their own homes.  Trained to detect all the more familiar types of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, amphetamine and marijuana, these dogs will also ensure that teenagers planning on ‘growing their own’, will quickly find themselves grounded for weeks for the sake of a handful of marijuana seeds.  

Could Sniffer Bees and Wasps Be the Next Generation?

Dogs, however, aren’t the only creatures to possess incredibly sensitive olfactory organs and honey bees and wasps are already in use in the war against explosives and illegal drugs.  As bizarre as it might sound, scientists have discovered that these winged insects can also be trained to detect and distinguish between different odours.  What’s in it for the bees and wasps?  A food reward.  Apparently, after being presented only three to five times with the smell that they are being trained to detect, these canny little creatures get it right, and when they do they are rewarded with a delicious drop of sugar syrup.  It seems that even that little stash of marijuana seeds isn’t safe with the flying squad about!

Robert Kane is the web editor of Sensible Seeds. Based in the UK, the company offers you the chance to buy marijuana seeds online at very competitive prices. They also offer a wealth of other products to browse as well as online articles and forum discussions.

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