Drug-sniffing dogs no longer just for airports

Updated
Private drug dog available to search Missouri homes, businesses
Private drug dog available to search Missouri homes, businesses

Drug-sniffing dogs are commonplace at high traffic areas like airports and transit hubs around the country -- and now they are ready to add house calls to that list.

Take for example one dog named Phoenix. The pooch was recently featured on local television station KMBC in Kansas City.

The pooch's mission was to identify whether or not drugs were inside a residence. In fact, Phoenix is specially trained to find narcotics, according to KMBC.

See more in the gallery below:

Phoenix's handler is Ray McCarty of the Metro K9 Narcotic Detection Services and he explains the benefits of having a drug-sniffing dog search the premises.

"She's a lot more effective than a parent snooping through a kid's room because they can be in there for two hours," McCarty said, "And she [Phoenix] can be in there for 15 seconds."

Most of the calls to McCarty's service involve parents concerned about their children and any possible drug use -- and he says those situations always get emotional.

"Everything is so confidential I don't say anything about where we go or what we do," McCarty says.

And it's just not parents. Drug rehab houses have found the service useful -- as well as realtors who provide it as an option to new homeowners who don't want any surprises when they move in to a new property.

The most surprising thing McCarty has come across in his work are the creative ways people stash drugs -- but it doesn't fool Phoenix.

A basic search of a premises will typically cost $99, according to KMBC's reports -- but folks with larger buildings can negotiate pricing.

One growing segment of McCarty's business: frat houses.

Students beware ... a (trained) dog's nose ... knows.

Watch more coverage in the video below:

Why Drug Sniffing Dogs Are So Divisive
Why Drug Sniffing Dogs Are So Divisive

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