Dora is approximately 20 months old.  Dora’s vet believes she is a purebred Black Labrador Retriever.  She was born in Israel and was chosen to be trained as an explosives detection canine. 

On a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, two deputies from my department (not me) were picked to go to Israel to bring back four explosive detection dogs.  One of the deputies saw Dora working and loved her work ethic and spirit.  This deputy chose Dora and a male Belgian Malinois named Wuden to work with.  The other deputy chose a male German Shepherd named Nisim and a female German Shepherd named Yafa.

The two deputies began training their dogs in Israel with eight other officers from various law enforcement agencies throughout California.  The training in Israel was six days a week, eight to ten hours per day.  The deputies and dogs spent just over two months training in Israel.

The deputies and dogs then flew to Sacramento, only to begin a new training session.  Dora was assigned to me June 30th 2007.  After an additional two months of training, 40 hour a week, Dora was ready for her certification test.  An assortment (exact number is classified information) of explosives was hidden in a 10,000 sq ft building.  Dora would have to find each scent and alert me by sitting down when she located the source of the scent.  Dora scored a perfect 100% in the testing, the highest in her test group.  The certification expert took me aside after the testing and told me that Dora was a “very special” scent dog, possibly the best he’d ever certified.

Dora comes home with me after work each day and loves to play keep away with our 3-year-old German Shepherd, Maddie.  One of the dogs will grab a toy, and the other then begins the chase round and round the living room.  Maddie has been an amazing ‘big sister’ to Dora and the dogs absolutely adore each other.  This transition would not have been possible if not for the easy-going and loving nature of Maddie.

As an aside, being from Israel, Dora responds to Hebrew commands.  If you hear me telling Dora something you don’t understand, that would be the reason.

Vicki and Ron