Putting Lulu the beagle's nose to work: airport food tracker

You know, dogs are expensive. Far more expensive than cats. I'd eventually like to see Lulu, my 2 and a half year old beagle, at least partially earn her keep. (Which reminds me: please click on the ONE ad I have on my blog page when you get the chance. The more click-throughs I get, the more I can keep Lulu in gourmet doggy treats).

I've already considered getting Lulu a job as a bed bug beagle, but it is tough to find training info. You probably have to train them as a puppy anyway. This morning, however, I found a job on the Associated Press that is perfect for her:

Airport dog finds illegal food stowed in luggage

Perfect! She already hunts food down better than any dog I've ever met (she found an unopened Natural Balance beef roll and ate the whole thing this weekend. And it wasn't one of the dollar rolls either). It would be a cinch to track her for that. Now if I can just get her to not pay attention to everything else going on in the airport.

Look at this picture:

 (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Lulu could do that! And this beagle is six years old, Lulu is only almost three!

And I can't imagine a better place than Florida for an illegal food tracker. Orlando is one of the busiest international airports in the country, and with all our agriculture keeping food that could harbor an insect or disease that could be potentially dangerous to our crops is paramount. Like the article mentions, the Mediterranean fruit fly just loves oranges.

Wondering if TSA or the FL Dept. of Agriculture will accept a food tracking beagle on a freelance basis....

UPDATE: 4/25/12 -- Christie
Hey! I know a lot of people have been looking at this recently. Unfortunately, the page where this story was apparently doesn't exist anymore. I will try to find another site for the article link.