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GSCW chat recap: GK9PG dogs check for cargo and COVID

Explosive sniffing dogs are in high demand to help meet an upcoming mandate for inspecting air cargo shipments

Eric Kulisch
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Global K9 Protection Group is using dogs to check for COVID as people enter American Airlines Arena. (Photo: Flickr/Bobby B. Brown)

This fireside chat recap is from Day 1 of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week. Day 1 focuses on military, aerospace and manufacturing.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Cargo security using canines

DETAILS: Bomb-sniffing dogs aren’t just used by the Army or for security at live events and airports. Did you know they also are widely used to screen air cargo? And in a few months, new rules will require more cargo to be screened. This chat focuses on how trained canine teams are deployed in the air cargo environment and at Miami Heat games to check for the COVID virus.

SPEAKER: Eric Hare, CEO, Global K9 Protection Group


BIO: Hare is CEO of GK9PG LLC, a K9 procurement, training and services provider for government and private-sector entities. The company’s dogs detect many types of threats, including explosives in air cargo. He is a retired U.S. Infantry officer with 25 years of service in many leadership roles and multiple overseas tours that included Iraq and Afghanistan.

KEY QUOTES FROM HARE: 

“We have COVID dogs. We’re the first company out there doing mass COVID dogs for the Miami Heat and others. … The science [proves] that canines can almost detect anything that has an odor signature. Canines can be taught to react to that, to things like cancer. …. We worked with a lab, scientists and then with a couple of urgent clinics and hospitals and started running tests. The canines, if you compare it to the PCR, the canines were well above 95% in detecting COVID. … The goal is to give people a better feel of mind that they can go back to these events and help America open back up.”

“It takes eight weeks to train a dog, eight weeks to train a person. Then you have to certify them and put them out. So by the end of March, you have to have your pipeline full to meet the July 1 deadline [for 100% cargo screening].”


“With the pandemic, now we’re procuring dogs based on watching videos and then they’re shipped over because travel is hindered. So we found a work-around with our vendors to still procure dogs.”

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at [email protected]