19105

As a trainer of tracking dogs, I was interested in your article about attempts to duplicate electronically the scenting ability of dogs. Even if these expensive, high-tech artificial dog noses are successful, however, they are not likely to be of much benefit to the “62 countries worldwide” strewn with “more than 100 million land mines.” Wouldn’t it make more sense to show people in these countries how to train their own low-tech dogs to find mines? Some dogs, of course, would die in the line of duty, but on balance, dogs in which training time has been invested might be treated as valuable resources, which is better than dogs are treated in many of these countries.

Craig F. Bohren
Oak Hall, Penn.

Explosive detectors that use an electronic nose need not be expensive or difficult to use. John Sikes, assistant product manager for Nomadics, says the devices should cost less than $5,000 and look like (and be used like) a regular metal detector. However, training a sniffer-dog-handler team takes about 17 weeks and $25,000, according to David Kontny, manager of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Canine and Explosives Branch. –S. Perkins