We all are aware that dogs can detect certain objects using the powerful sense of smell they have. Thus, we see them at the airports and check posts to ensure travelers are not carrying anything illegal. Police train the drug dogs to sniff out some distinct smells associated with substances, like that of marijuana.
Over the years, marijuana has found its way into things we normally eat. Now you can find the drug in candies, cakes, brownies, and cookies. Thus the question has arisen, whether the drug dogs can detect edibles or not.
Continue reading further as discover the answer you’re looking for.
Do edibles have a specific smell?
First of all, we need to understand whether edibles have a smell that could give away their true identity. The truth is that edibles do smell different than the plant itself. This is due to an altered chemical composition that is in the edibles.
Marijuana gets its aroma from terpenes. However, edibles do not have this fragrant compound. Furthermore, most edibles consist of a standardized amount of THC, thus leaving out the terpenes.
Is the smell detectable?
The truth is that dogs have a sense of smell that is 100,000 times stronger than us. Therefore, dogs tend to detect all sorts of smells, especially cannabis, regardless of the form. However, the ability to detect edibles is dependent on how well trained the dog is.
These drug dogs go through specific training sessions to master the sense of detecting cannabis in several forms. According to Dan Hayter, a former military drug dog trainer and founder of K9 Global Training Academy, you can train dogs to recognize illicit compounds mixed into edibles like flour.
How can the dogs detect smell?
A common method used by trainers at facilities to teach dogs to recognize the smell of a certain drug is a game played between the dog and trainer. What basically happens during this training is that the trainer and dog play a game of tug of war using a white towel.
This towel has no smell of its own at the beginning of the war. The trainers then roll up a bag of the drug inside the towel. The dog takes some time to get familiar with the smell recognizing it as his favorite toy. The trainer hides the towel with cannabis or edibles in different places for the dog to recognize the smell.
So, dogs can sniff or detect any smell/edible that has a positive stimulus attach to it, such as in the case of the drug-towel game. The dog considers it a toy. However, certain breeds do lack the capability of detecting certain smells.
Conclusion
We all are aware of the advancements in the world of cannabis as they are producing edibles that contain a certain amount of the drug. Now that the consumption methods are changing, are the authorities taking extra measures to detect edibles?
Yes, they are working on sophisticated detection methods, including training drug dogs. Many dogs can easily detect the smell of edibles as they would with cannabis. However, this does require some in-depth training as the smell of edibles and cannabis does vary.
