Dogs provide some of the most helpful and reliable tools in the war on drugs and terror in the United States. They are an important part of law enforcement and protection services. These highly trained animals are also at the heart of an important question often asked by users of hemp-extracted CBD oil. Do drug-sniffing dogs smell hemp-extracted CBD oil?
Drug-sniffing dogs are often seen at airports, public events, and traffic stops. They are trained to pick up on specific scents related to drugs, guns, machinery, and people. Now that hemp-extracted CBD oil is becoming extremely popular, many customers are wondering if the dogs are looking for hemp-extracted CBD oil.
Before answering this question, here’s a little background on the animals in use today. While many people associate German shepherds with drug-sniffing dogs, there are many different breeds used for these services. These include Weimaraners, Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers, and Belgian Malinois. Many mixed breed dogs are known to be incredible drug-sniffing dogs as well.
Similar to people, dogs in this line of work have a job that takes consistent work. Once enrolled, they are constantly training alongside their human partners. Some departments even devote entire days to training with these elite animals.
The path to getting to this top level can be very long. Breeders of drug-sniffing dogs can begin testing and training puppies as early as six weeks old. After selection, the puppy will spend the next several months going through daily training with officers until it is ready for service in the field. Generally, the service life of animals in this line of work can reach eight or nine years.
Dogs that are trained to sniff out drugs are highly specialized. They spend years training to smell very specific terpenes in cannabis. These terpenes are known as pinene, caryophyllene, and beta-caryophyllene. THC-free hemp-extracted CBD products do not have high levels of these terpenes unless they are somehow injected into the product. Hemp-extracted CBD-heavy hemp tinctures have these terpenes present, but the amounts are usually so small that dogs likely would not react.
Keep in mind, levels of terpenes may vary within hemp-extracted CBD brands. It is possible that one product of hemp-extracted CBD oil might show changes from one bottle to the next. Fortunately, these changes are still usually going to be small enough that it would not cause a drug-sniffing dog to react.
Drug-sniffing dogs are powerful, highly trained, tools used by police and law enforcement. They are common but do not typically react to hemp-extracted CBD oil products. This is because the levels of terpenes in the hemp-extracted CBD products are usually so small that the dog is not interested. However, it is possible that hemp products could include unusually high amounts of terpenes and THC at times. For this reason, it is not recommended that hemp-extracted CBD oil and hemp products are carried in situations where police dogs might be present. This includes airports and large events.
Sources
https://www.quora.com/Can-school-drug-dogs-detect-CBD-oil-free-of-THC-in-vape-oil
https://www.cuteness.com/blog/content/what-dog-breeds-are-used-for-drug-sniffing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detection_dog
https://www.glendaleca.gov/government/departments/police-department/k9-unit/faq
https://leafwell.co/blog/travelling-with-cbd-oil-heres-what-you-need-to-know/