One of the 27 sniffer dogs working at Taiwan’s international airports, Doggy has earned her keep with an 80 percent detection rate of items that should be quarantined, her trainer Lu Chi-yan proudly boasted yesterday.

Lu said the four-year-old Doggy, the only mixed-breed in the program, was first trained to attend to elderly people because of her mild character.

But because of her display of high energy and insatiable desire for food — key traits needed to become sniffer dogs — Doggy was sent to the sniffer dog training center at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, and her career change has been a boon to the country.

Since starting on the job in June 2007, she has had a number of traveler-frustrating exploits, Lu said, including once when she caught a Vietnamese woman married to a local citizen trying to smuggle meats from her homeland into Taiwan.

The passenger disguised the food as vegetarian ham, but was still sniffed out by Doggy, said Lu, who works with his four-legged friend as quarantine detectors at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Most of the 27 sniffer dogs serving for the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine are beagles, a small hound known for its hunting instincts.

They discover about 30 tons of banned meat, fresh agricultural products and animals every year at the customs and cargo centers at Taiwan’s international airport gateways.

Beginning Oct. 1, travelers who are found attempting to bring animals and plants, as well as processed meat products and fresh fruit into Taiwan without applying for clearance, will be subjected to a fine of at least NT$3,000 (US$92), according to the bureau.

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