Photo courtesy Eden Consulting Group

Have you ever heard the expression "work like a dog" and wondered, "What on earth could that mean?" Face it, as you ponder your pet's daily activities, it's clear that none of it can possibly be considered work. Your boxer, Dempsey, pretty much spends his day playing ball, chewing toys, chasing your little brother around the house, digging in the garden and sleeping. Oh and of course, he eats a lot, too. While there are tons of dogs out there living carefree lives similar to Dempsey's daily routine, there are others whose lives are incredibly different.

There are dogs that work for police departments, U.S. customs agencies, the FBI, search and rescue teams and more. In fact, police forces in most major cities use police dogs to track criminals, sniff out illegal materials, search buildings and do other jobs human police officers can't do as well as a dog can. Not only are there thousands of dogs on the job on any given day, but there are also hundreds of dogs who have given their lives on the job - usually protecting their human partners.

So why is it that these canine officers are on the force? You may have already guessed the most important reason - their keen sense of smell! A dog's sense of smell is almost 50 times more sensitive than a human's. A dog can sniff out criminals, drugs, weapons and bombs. Besides being highly sensitive, a dog's sense of smell is picky. It can detect a specific scent even when there are dozens of other scents around. For example, smugglers have tried to fool U.S. customs dogs by wrapping drugs in towels soaked with perfume, but the dogs find the drugs anyway.

In addition to their amazing noses, dogs are faster and stronger than most humans are. For example, in a foot chase a dog can quickly catch a fleeing criminal and clamp down with powerful jaws to hold the "perp" until the other officers catch up. Sometimes a chase or physical confrontation doesn't even happen because the mere presence of a big, growling dog is enough to stop the criminal in his or her tracks.