The idea that the sniffer dog picks up on what the handler is thinking and plays it out for them is very interesting, and maybe does indeed happen sometimes.
But I think you are probably overcorrecting somewhat. Sniffer dogs do actually smell things. In much more low-stakes situations I have seen one in New Zealand successfully identify several people getting off a flight who had forgotten about food in their backpacks (they have strict laws against food going in in case you bring a new blight or pest or whatever). So my read is that sniffer dogs are at least good enough at actual sniffing to demand some kind of response from would be smugglers (eg. extra plastic wrapping).
“Food” in general is about the easiest and most natural thing for a dog to identify. Distinguishing illegal drugs from all the other random stuff a person might be carrying (soap, perfume, medicine, etc.) at least requires a lot better training than finding food.
Very possible. I am not fully convinced. The dog had to identify the people who had food in there bags, and tell them apart from all the people who used to have food in those same bags, or were eating on the flight and have food on there breath or hands. A dog trying to identify (for example) canabis would probably have an easier time.
My stance is not “I know 100% that sniffer dogs are a silver bullet”, but the weaker position “The majority of the value of a sniffer dog comes from it actually smelling things, rather than giving the officer controlling it a plausible way of profiling based on other (possibly protected) characteristics.”
The idea that the sniffer dog picks up on what the handler is thinking and plays it out for them is very interesting, and maybe does indeed happen sometimes.
But I think you are probably overcorrecting somewhat. Sniffer dogs do actually smell things. In much more low-stakes situations I have seen one in New Zealand successfully identify several people getting off a flight who had forgotten about food in their backpacks (they have strict laws against food going in in case you bring a new blight or pest or whatever). So my read is that sniffer dogs are at least good enough at actual sniffing to demand some kind of response from would be smugglers (eg. extra plastic wrapping).
“Food” in general is about the easiest and most natural thing for a dog to identify. Distinguishing illegal drugs from all the other random stuff a person might be carrying (soap, perfume, medicine, etc.) at least requires a lot better training than finding food.
Very possible. I am not fully convinced. The dog had to identify the people who had food in there bags, and tell them apart from all the people who used to have food in those same bags, or were eating on the flight and have food on there breath or hands. A dog trying to identify (for example) canabis would probably have an easier time.
My stance is not “I know 100% that sniffer dogs are a silver bullet”, but the weaker position “The majority of the value of a sniffer dog comes from it actually smelling things, rather than giving the officer controlling it a plausible way of profiling based on other (possibly protected) characteristics.”