Questions Worth Asking First

No. Our dogs are trained only to locate a target odor and quietly signal where it is, usually by sitting or standing still. They are not trained for apprehension, patrol, or bite work, and they do not make contact with anyone. Our handlers do not search people, detain anyone, or make arrests.

We screen property — lockers, common areas, vehicles, parking lots — not people. We work inside your existing policy on property searches and canine screening rather than asking you to change it. We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice, so we would always encourage you to confirm the specifics with your own counsel. We are glad to walk your administrators or counsel through exactly what a visit involves beforehand.

That is your decision, and your own policy governs it rather than anything we require. An announced visit deters; an unannounced one detects; and we run whichever you choose, or a mix of the two. Some of it turns on documents only you hold — whether employee-owned vehicles in your lot are in scope, for instance, depends on your handbook, your posted notices, and any collective bargaining agreement in force. We are not attorneys, so settle that with your counsel and then tell us the scope you have agreed on. We screen exactly what you tell us we may, and nothing else.

We point it out to your designated contact on the spot, while we are still there. We do not open, seize, or search anything ourselves. What happens next — including whether law enforcement gets involved — is entirely your organization’s decision, guided by your own policies.

It should not. Sweeps are scheduled around your normal hours and are built to be quiet and unobtrusive; we are available 24 hours a day, by appointment, so a visit can be set before a shift starts or after a campus empties. Because nobody is searched and the dog signals passively rather than barking or digging, there is usually no need to stop normal activity at all.

No. Our dogs are cross-trained for scent work across all of the categories we offer — illicit substances, explosives, incendiaries, and firearms odors including gunpowder and black powder. One team can screen your site for all of it on a single visit, so you are not scheduling one sweep for drugs and another for weapons.

They name different odor groups, not different dogs. Narcotics detection covers illicit substances — the discipline behind the everyday terms drug dog and drug-sniffing dog. Explosives detection covers explosive and incendiary compounds; a bomb dog is an explosives dog. Firearms detection, sometimes called a weapons or gun detection dog, covers the propellants and residues associated with guns and ammunition — gunpowder and black powder among them — rather than the metal itself. Our dogs are trained across all three, so the distinction is about what you ask us to look for on a given visit, not about which dog turns up.

A dog detects odor, not an object, and that distinction is most of the answer. Odor lingers on surfaces and in enclosed spaces after the source has gone, so an alert establishes that a target odor is present at that spot — not necessarily that the item is still there, and not who left it. We do not quote accuracy percentages: a figure produced in a controlled trial says very little about your hallway or your parking lot. What we do instead is tell you at the time what a particular alert does and does not establish, rather than let it be over-read.

No. We work three odor groups and only those three: illicit substances, explosives and incendiaries, and firearms odors including gunpowder and black powder. Bed bug, mold, cadaver, and agricultural detection are separate disciplines with their own training, and we do not offer them.

They answer different needs, and the department is sometimes the right call. A police K9 unit arrives with authority we do not have — to search, to seize, and to act on what is found — so when there is an active threat or an investigation already under way, that is the number to dial. A contracted team is for the planned, routine screening that sits in front of all that. You pick the date and the hour rather than working around another organization’s schedule — we are available 24 hours a day, by appointment. Scope is agreed before we arrive and we screen exactly that, nothing more. One cross-trained dog covers every odor group we work in a single visit. And nothing escalates to law enforcement automatically: what happens after an alert is your organization’s decision, and the visit is documented for your own file either way.

Yes. We coordinate with whoever you nominate — an administrator, a facilities or security lead, a school resource officer, a department liaison — and we work to the scope that person agrees with us. On site we screen property and hand off anything the dog signals on; we do not direct your staff and we do not take over any part of an operation already running. This is a layer that sits alongside an existing law enforcement presence rather than replacing any part of it.

Not unless you ask us to. We point an alert out to your designated contact on the spot, and we do not contact law enforcement on your behalf unless you have asked us to in writing. The written record of the visit goes to that same contact and to nobody else, unless you ask us to share it or the law requires it.

Both. A routine scheduled visit gives steady, visible deterrence; a random unannounced sweep gives unpredictability; and the two can be combined under one standing arrangement. We will walk through which fits your environment before you commit to either.

We cover the entire United States. California’s Central Valley is our home region — Fresno, Clovis, Madera, Merced, Visalia, Hanford, Tulare, Porterville, Bakersfield, Modesto, and the surrounding communities — and it is where we are closest, so it is where we can be on site soonest. Everywhere else in the country we travel to you, and out-of-area work carries a two-day minimum engagement. Tell us where your site is and we will tell you honestly how quickly we can get a team to it.

Use the contact form on our Contact page. Describe your facility and what you would like screened, and we will reply within one business day to discuss the right approach and schedule. We are available 24 hours a day, by appointment, so a visit can be set for whatever hour suits your site rather than ours. If you need a team at short notice, call (559) 507-2076 — lead time is under six hours, depending on distance.

Work is priced one of two ways: a flat rate per visit for one-time sweeps, or a monthly rate for a standing schedule. Price depends on the size of your facility, how many areas are in scope, and how often you want us there. Tell us those three things through our contact form and we will give you a real number.

Anything the dog signals on is shown to your designated contact immediately. Afterward you receive a written record of which areas were covered, when the visit happened, and what the dog signaled on.

Yes. We can provide a certificate of insurance, licensing documentation, a W-9, and completed vendor packets. Tell us what your purchasing or vendor process needs through our contact form, and you will have the paperwork in writing before you commit to anything.