News 3 Special Report: Vapor Wake Dogs trained at AU

A growing new breed of counterterrorism specialists are being used across the country, from  Los Angeles to the nation's capitol.  They're one of the newest weapons against explosive threats. 

Auburn University Vapor Wake detection dogs on assignment in a local mall...

Of the many seemingly innocent shoppers, the so called "super dog" is challenged to identify a decoy bomber.

“Our dogs are proactive in that they have no reason to look for anything other than that trained odor and when they encounter it, they're able to take it to source and identify potential suspects,” said a trainer.

For years, bomb detection canines have been highly effective at identifying the presence of explosives....But here's the catch: the package had to be stationary.

But this so-called "super athlete of dogs" is after the bomber on the move.

“As the person moves through they do develop a wake of air behind them and the dog is scenting that, if the dog identifies an explosives material then it would give a response....From that we came up with the terminology vapor wake,” said Dr. Robert Gillette, AU Veterinary College of Medicine.

In 2004, a massacre in Madrid...184 people killed.  And more than 50 people lost their lives in 2005 during, coordinated attacks in London.  But it was the 2009 attempted airplane bombing over Detroit on Christmas day- -the so called "underwear bomber"- - that prompted counterterrorism officials to consider a change in tactics and they turned to Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine for vapor wake dogs.  

“We developed the whole package if you will.  How the dog is utilized.  How the dog is trained. Once we showed that it was usable people came to us and said we'd like to use this in our different environments,” said Dr. Gillette.

There are two training locations: One, in Auburn and the other, in Anniston.  The latter is where News 3 met with veterinarian Dr. Robert Gillette.

“As the growing security concerns of the nation have come, we found that we can utilize these dogs in areas where we have mass groups of people,” said Gillette.

Dr. Gillette says Labrador Retrievers are used for the program, partly because of their ability to focus, yet stay friendly in highly populated social settings.

“Not every dog can be a vapor wake dog, usually 1 in 8 dogs will be vapor wake dogs. The other dogs will be typical detection dogs,” said Gillette.

The dogs go through a variety obstacle courses until they are comfortable climbing over baggage and searching a range of diverse locations.  In one room, dogs practice recognizing the scent of explosive devices.

And her trainers get the results they've been hoping for...

Then it's time for some on the job training.  The mission at hand, detecting explosive devices on the move at a local mall.

“Then we will have a decoy walk through and what we hope to see is a good change in behavior and that dog to follow the decoy,” said a trainer.

And in no time, the vapor wake dog nabs the potential bomber.  A job well done for the vapor wake dog.