Scent Detection Dogs: Pirated DVDs!
On Tuesday, the Motion Picture Assn. of America showed off Lucky and Flo, a pair of playful, 2-year-old black Labrador retrievers with noses trained to zero in on DVDs, including the pirated kind.
During a briefing at the MPAA's headquarters, Lucky and Flo took turns sniffing out DVDs hidden in a box.
"They tend to be cheaper than most employees and they don't demand raises all the time," said John Malcolm, the MPAA's director of worldwide anti-piracy operations.
Still, the first ever DVD-sniffing dogs didn't come that cheap. The MPAA spent about $9,000 on each to train them over eight months. But the group said that was a small price compared with losses from pirated DVDs, estimated by the industry at $11.1 billion in 2005.
This is seriously amazing. Who would have thought you could do this kind of thing with a dog?
I freely admit, even with all my experience, I still learn new things about dogs all the time.
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