![The canines also learn to distinguish between people riding as regular passengers in a vehicle and those concealed from authorities.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0d47594/2147483647/strip/true/crop/200x157+0+0/resize/880x691!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fprograms%2Fatc%2Ffeatures%2F2005%2Fjul%2Fsearch_dogs%2Ftrunk200-b4da52f4b77a094cbc7bc40925fe2d7a45babeb5.jpg)
Pam Fessler, NPR /
The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year on equipment to detect explosives, chemicals, illegal drugs and other things someone might try to sneak across the border or into a building.
But some people think a more low-tech method -- canine detection teams -- can be just as reliable.
Many of the government's detector dogs are trained at a sprawling facility in Front Royal, Va. Pam Fessler reports from the Customs and Border Protection center.
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