jphripjah

How many pills are you bringing? 10 or 10,000?

travelinmanS

I'd say it'll be very hard for the dogs to find.

chollie

Pup7

Okay, I’m a former Air Force military working dog handler, so I have a bit of expertise in this field.

For the most part, the dogs and handlers of every Federal agency (to include TSA) and every branch of the service (to include the US Coast Guard) are trained at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. What this means is every dog team SHOULD be operating the exact same way.

That said, I’ve seen some fairly horrendous techniques being employed by TSA handlers, and I’ve seen plenty of incidents of what I believe is handler cuing. If the handler is completely inept, inexperienced, or both, it’s easy to “cue” the dog into believing he or she has missed something, causing the dog to alert (which Federally trained dogs do by simply sitting). It’s even simple for a more experienced handler to do this if they’re not mindful of what they’re doing. And yes, over time, this ruins the integrity of the dog – which to me is just sad. It’s a waste of resources and time.

No drug detection dog is going to alert on a prescription drug (unless it’s pot or another one they’re trained to detect – and there are several); they’re simply not trained for that. And yes, if the dog is an excellent one, he or she can indeed detect illegal drugs in blister packs – although my belief is that generally they’re responding to the faintest of residues left behind when the perpetrator then touches the outside of the bag after handling the substance. It doesn’t take much of a scent to get their attention.

I worked a dog that could find one bullet hidden in the landing gear of a C5 (I also turned him loose in a field and he found one round that had fallen out of my M16 magazine, which was great because I was about to get nailed over its disappearance); I had another dog that could find one marijuana cigarette hidden randomly in the rows of a KC10 during a training exercise. And no, I didn’t know where either of them were when they were hidden. I also had the pleasure of having my car dismantled a couple of weeks ago here on base (I’m now an active duty Air Force officer) because during a random search the K9 alerted on my trunk – I had been to the shooting range three days before, and of course he alerted on gunpowder residue, likely on the trunk frame and transferred from my hands. As we are in an elevated threat condition, they pretty much took everything out of my trunk and re-searched my car. Not a big deal, just an inconvenience.

I'm not defending TSA in any way; just trying to provide some information on how teams are meant to work and what's meant to be going on. As I said, many times what I see is so wrong I literally just shake my head at the dog team and wonder what in the hell people are thinking.


ETA: wanted to clarify this statement - "No dog is going to detect a prescription drug (unless it’s pot or another one they’re trained to detect – and there are several)..." What I mean is unless one of the scents they are trained to detect is a legal drug, scrip or non-scrip, and at the moment the only one I can think of that qualifies is of course pot (depending on your state), then yes, they would alert on it, because to them it smells the same. Neither of the medications in question is a scent they're trained on.

JohnnyColombia

Great insight thanks Pup7

Jeannietx

When traveling internationally it is a good idea to have a copy of your prescriptions, along with the medication in it's labeled RX container. Never in checked luggage.

When traveling within the US, a US citizen's prescription medications should be in it's labeled RX container. Never in checked baggage.

It's a legal prescription, so don't worry about it.

Section 107

Not always. What is a legal prescription in one country might not be legal in another. Know before you go AND travel with copies of the prescriptio0ns and the original containers.

Jeannietx

I was responding to the OP's question which was about a specific RX drug.

I am well aware of the US legal RX drugs that are not legal in some countries.

Section 107

not sure why you are so defensive but nothing was intended personally.

You might be well aware of the issues but I suspect more than a few readers of this thread might have taken your statements that as long as one travels with paperwork and original labeled container for a legally issued prescription as applying to any and all prescriptions and any and all countries. I was merely clarifying and adding to your advice with which I also agree.

Peterpack

Thanks for the replies and pup7, i enjoyed reading your insights about the training of the sniffer dogs