Dogs with Jobs: The Dogs of the Beagle Brigade

Check out the first in a weekly series about adorable animals with cool jobs! First up, have you heard of the famous USDA Beagle Brigade? One of the coolest animal jobs in the world belongs to one of the cutest breed of dogs in the whole world! Traditionally bread as hunting dogs, beagles have a sensitive snout which can sniff smells up to 100,000 times better than you or I can!

Because of their sweet temperament and small size, these cute pups have become very popular family pets, and when the USDA decided they needed dogs to help sniff out prohibited food items traveling across international boarders at airports around the United States, the beagle was an obvious choice. Beagles are trained from the time they are puppies at a very rigorous school in San Diego. Upon graduation, they are moved to the airport which will become their home until they retire! These cute beagles work with a human handler who becomes their partner for the entire duration of the beagle’s career. The best part is that this job is totally fun for the beagle, and the Beagle Brigade houses some of the happiest and most fun-loving working animals the world over – plus their human partners seem to love the job, too! Who wouldn’t want to hang out with a beagle all day?

Heres a few snaps of the Brigade in action. Some of these cute pups might grow up and sniff your bags at the airport one day!