Portugal: Police Dog Sniffs Out CDs

Ruca is no ordinary police dog.

Instead of sniffing out drugs and explosives, he puts his nose to fighting the piracy industry.

This special canine has been trained by Portuguese police to detect DVDs and CDs.

In the northern town of Estarreja, a police operation was underway.

Ruca’s precious skill helped uncover numerous counterfeit items at a local market.

Training a dog can take up to nearly four months.

The trainer’s biggest challenge is helping the animal understand the different smells they will encounter on the job.

[Costa Pinto, National Republican Guard Dog Brigade]:
„DVDs and CDs detection dogs have a relatively short training. Basically what they are taught to do is to detect the polycarbonate the underlying substance that is common to CDs and DVDs.“

The Portuguese authorities confiscated nearly 900,000 illegal DVDs and CDs between 2004 and 2008.

Ruca has been trained to detect large quantities of polycarbonate and will turn up his nose if he finds only one or two CDs.

The police say his talents are very important.

And Ruca could become a familiar sight on Portugal’s streets in the not so distant future.

(NTDTV)