Drug-Sniffing Dogs Popular Amongst Parents

Parents are always on the lookout for innovative ways to stay ahead of their teenagers. In a world connected by social media, as well as online marketplaces that teenagers can use to buy illegal drugs without ever leaving the house, it is imperative that parents stay on top of their children’s activities. Some parents have resorted to using drug-sniffing dogs to comb their households for drugs and/or paraphernalia, according to NPR.

Across the country there are private drug-sniffing K-9 businesses that parents can hire to find out if their kids are hiding something from them. Many argue that it is better to invade their teenager's privacy than it is to do nothing and potentially lose a child to addiction.

Tom Robichaud, a former dog trainer and owner of Discreet Intervention, a Massachusetts based dog-sniffing company, knows firsthand what it means to lose a loved one to drug addiction, having lost his own brother to an overdose, according to the article. “Every time I go into a house, I see those parents like my parents, [and] what they went through,” says Robichaud. “It just destroyed my family.”

On the other end of the spectrum, some believe that hiring private drug-sniffing dogs could be a slippery slope. Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union says he believes drug-sniffing dogs cross a line, pointing out that dogs are capable of sniffing out more than illegal drugs which could potentially invade people’s privacy.

“There’s a fundamental principle here that we don’t intrude in that way on people’s homes,” he said. “And I don’t think we want to go down the road to allowing open season for neighbors to spy on each other.”