There’s no shortage of heroic dog stories. It seems that everyone, except maybe those with good reasons, loves dogs and loves to talk at length about their dogs and dogs in general. Because we’ve given you some meaty, information heavy blog posts in the last few months, we’re going to spend this week, talking about dogs. (Don’t fear, this also has some logistics information you’re going to want to know!)
As of December 2018 the Certified Cargo Screening Facility (CCSF) program will allow privately trained canines and their handlers to screen cargo that is being loaded onto passenger aircraft. The certification process is rigorous but third party companies are expected to greatly reduce screening times.
There’s no shortage of stories about this news in the logistics world. Dogs, and their stories are always big news. We at Everglory wanted to take a minute and look at why man’s best friend is still the very best way to detect “contraband” even though technologies are exponentially growing in ability and sensitivity.
James Walker, former director of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University once explained a study as, “If you make the analogy to vision, what you and I can see at a third of a mile, a dog could see more than 3,000 miles away and still see as well.” Imagine standing in Boston, MA and seeing people on the beach in San Diego, CA.
Regardless of how you chose to convey the magnitude of ability, dogs can smell scents in the parts per trillion. They can smell between 10,000 and 100,000 times better than humans and their olfactory processing centers in the brain are 40,000 times larger than ours. Dogs also have a vomeronasal organ that can detect pheromones which helps them communicate and understand intimate details of another dog upon meeting. Their nasal cavities have two sections, one for breathing and one for processing smells so they can sniff uninterrupted by exhalation.
