9781422285060

Mission Prep

Since police K9 units became common in the United States in the 1970s, dogs such as Rue have become an invaluable tool for law enforcement. In fact, the use of dogs as helpers to humans is nothing new: Since ancient times, dogs have been used in war, and for more than 100 years they have helped in detective work. Dogs at Work Today, dogs do many jobs to help their human partners keep the peace, solve mysteries, and even save lives. As key members of search-and-rescue teams, dogs use their strong sense of smell—50 times stronger than that of a human—to seek out people who are lost or trapped. Often, these dogs retrace the steps of human searchers to pick up a trail the humans may have missed. Dogs can be especially useful where it is hard to see because of dark- ness, heavy brush, water, or the rubble of an avalanche or fallen building.

Words to Understand contraband material that is illegal to possess search-and-rescue the work of finding survivors after a disaster occurs, or the team that does this work 13