Day in the life of a sniffer dog at Luton Airport

Olivia Preston spent a day with Bedfordshire Police dog handlers at Luton Airport to see what it takes to look after these canines.

Transcript

00:00While you're busy going through security or hurrying to get your duty free before the

00:16gate closes, there are some furry workers at Luton airport with a nose to the ground

00:21keeping you safe. I spent the day with dog handlers at the airport to see what it's like

00:26to look after these important dogs. I spoke to Andy Parker who's been a dog handler for

00:34over 20 years.

00:35He's a proactive explosive search dog and he's my proactive explosive search dog.

00:36He's the one that was at the spot last night.

00:37That's right, yeah, so I've only got one. I've just retired my people scanning dog.

00:38So what I do is first thing in the morning is I go to the kennels, pick him up from the

00:39kennels because I only live down the road, I bring him in.

00:56Andy looks after Chip, a six-year-old Cocker Spaniel whose job it is to check bags and

01:01people for any signs of explosives.

01:09Chip and Andy assist the armed airport police too and are always on hand to speak to people

01:15passing through the terminal.

01:20And Chip's favourite part is getting a tennis ball to chew after a day of keeping the airport

01:25safe.