Dogs have an acute sense of smell. Here’s a development that will give the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) a more tenacious bite.

The groundbreaking for a P21-million facility to house the K9 Unit of PDEA was held yesterday in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, according to PDEA Director General Aaron N. Aquino.

The facility will be located in the 5,000-square meter lot where PDEA has its existing training facility for Narcotics Detection Dogs (NDD).

”We shall be rehabilitating our existing NDD training facility through the construction of the bathing and drying areas for NDD, covered cages, covered court, extension of staff house for K9 handlers and employees, kitchen with mess hall, and a quarantine building,” Aquino said.

“The rehabilitation of our K9 facility will be a big boost to our anti-drug operations, especially in the detection of concealed illegal drugs where our NDDs have been extensively used,” Aquino added.

PDEA will acquire 100 additional NDD, the largest in its history, said Aquino.

PDEA currently has a total of 72 NDD, 34 of which are utilized in anti-drug operations by the Regional Offices across the country.

Thirteen of the NDD were deployed to Regional Office National Capital Region (RO-NCR) in their Seaport Interdiction Units, Bureau of Corrections, four are being prepared for breeding, and 21 are for adoption.

The PDEA K9 facility was established in 2009 with only 13 trained dogs mostly donated by the Philippine Coast Guard. These NDD of different breeds were handled by animal keepers who went through K9 handling courses and were specially trained by experts at the PDEA Academy.

PDEA has also hired additional 100 new K9 handlers, which is also the largest in its history.

“The superior sense of smell of dogs, which is a thousand times stronger than humans, makes them a valuable tool in the detection of concealed illegal drugs,” said Aquino.