So how accurate are explosive sniffing dogs doing  their work?  Do  they need more training by people who do it right  — the military  — rather than TSA?
Bomb-sniffing K-9 teams at 10 major U.S. airports have failed tests that check how accurately they can detect explosives. Â This is according to an NBC News investigation.
New records obtained by KXAS through a Freedom of Information Act request call into question the dog’s overall training.
The issue is  whether those dog teams are training enough to stay sharp.  Training is key to  accuracy in screening baggage, cargo and passengers for potential threats.
K-9 teams funded by the Transportation Security Administration have failed annual certification tests at 10 large airports 52 times between Jan. 1, 2013, and June 15, 2015, the most recent detailed numbers TSA provided. Some teams failed to find explosives, while others had too many false alarms that could cause unnecessary airport evacuations.
Dog teams failed 21 times at Los Angeles International, and 10 times at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., during the same time period. Teams at Chicago’s O’Hare, Reagan National in D.C., JFK in New York, San Diego and Bradley International in Hartford, Connecticut, all failed from one and three times.
At Love Field in Dallas, K-9 teams assigned to protect the airport failed four out of 14 tests with a failure rate of nearly 30 percent over two-and-a-half years. In 48 tests over the same time period, teams at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport failed five times, or 10 percent of the time.
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