A day in the life of Melba, a highly skilled veteran drug-sniffing dog! He is currently working at Tokyo Customs at Narita and Haneda Airports!

Melba” is a drug-sniffing dog with a cute expression on his face, but when he goes out into the field, he patrols with a sharp look in his eyes. The veteran “superdog” has been protecting Japan’s safety without being noticed.

Last year, the amount of illicit drugs seized by Japanese customs was approximately 2.4 tons, and the situation is extremely serious. Under such circumstances, about 130 “drug-sniffing dogs,” such as Melba, are deployed at customs offices throughout Japan. Using their sense of smell, which is tens of thousands of times greater than that of humans, they detect the scent of illicit drugs such as marijuana and methamphetamine. They then notify their handlers (paired customs officers). Drug-sniffing dogs have the important task of stopping the smuggling of illicit drugs by searching cargo, passengers’ personal belongings, and international mail arriving at airports and seaports from overseas.

We collect dogs about one year old from breeders and training centers all over the country as “training dogs,” which are candidates for narcotics detection dogs. In addition, we import about 10 dogs a year, not only from Japan but also from the Australian Border Patrol (Customs), which is promoting the breeding of dogs suitable for drug-sniffing dogs,” said an official with the Narcotics Detection Dog Training Center, Tokyo Customs Surveillance Department.

The dogs undergo rigorous training for about four months, and then take intermediate and final examinations. Only those dogs that pass the narrow 30% pass rate are certified as narcotics detection dogs.