My dogs are unemployed. I remind them of this once in a while.
While they’re trying to sniff out grapes that have fallen from the dinner table, there are hard-boiled hounds out there tracking explosives.
But for every breed of dogs raised for play, and the select few trained for field action, there are the forgotten tweeners: canines on track to be employed, who were eventually deemed unfit for governmental work. What becomes of those dogs?
Many of them get a second chance thanks to the TSA Canine Adoption Program. First off, no these dogs are not TSA-confiscated pets redistributed back into the public. These are active sporting breeds like Labrador Retrievers, German Shorthaired Pointers, German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois, mostly two to four years old, who for some medical reason or another, did not meet TSA training criteria. But you might meet the criteria to bring one home.
What you need: a fenced-in yard, no intentions of moving within six months of bringing the dog home and the ability to bring a leash, collar and a dog crate to San Antonio, Texas. (Possibly more than once.) They’ll also take a look at your family and try to pair a dog that makes the most sense. Each canine comes vaccinated, spayed or neutered and crate-trained, though not house broken. Additionally, in some cases the program has dogs retired from field work, which would be a slightly different story.
If you plan on getting picky about the breed or gender of your adoptee, expect to wait much longer. And, unsurprisingly, the waiting list to bring one of these hounds home is already super long. They’re not taking applications at the moment, but w’ed suggest bookmarking this page for updates.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
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