APHIS selected beagles for use at airports because of their acute sense of smell and their gentle nature with people. Beagles' natural love of food makes them effective detectives and happy to work for treats. APHIS has found that most beagles will remain calm in crowded, noisy locations, such as busy airport baggage claim areas. These detector dogs are bright, inquisitive, and active hounds whose sense of smell makes them curious wanderers by nature. Beagles have such precisely sensitive scenting ability that they can detect and identify smells so faint or diluted that even high-tech scientific equipment could not measure them.

As a species, dogs have noses that are remarkably well built for sniffing or smelling. Dogs' nasal passages are designed to receive and trap odors; the scent nerves are comparatively large and numerous. The smelling ability of human beings is not highly developed. People have an estimated 5 million scent receptors (cells used for smelling) concentrated in a relatively small area at the back of the nose. By comparison, beagles have an estimated 220 million scent receptors. Not only do beagles have a marvelous ability to detect scents, but after extensive training, they are good at distinguishing one odor from another and remembering it. The part of a dog's brain that receives messages from the nerves of the nose is highly developed and can store scent information the way a computer does. You might have noticed that, at a distance, a dog sometimes cannot recognize people or other dogs it knows until it gets within range to identify them by scent.

Beagles are among the healthiest of all dog breeds. They are considered the "Eagle Scouts" of dogs. Loyal, courageous, obedient, and patient, beagles travel well and are equally at home indoors and outdoors. Because of their curiosity, intelligence, high response to food, and superior sense of smell, beagles emerged as the obvious choice to be used for APHIS' detective work.

Beagles may have first come to the United States from England in 1880, and America's National Beagle Club was formed in 1887. About 100 years later, around 1984, USDA established its detector dog program at Los Angeles International Airport with one team consisting of a beagle and a canine handler. At first, APHIS tried a variety of dog breeds and worked with Customs to develop a detector dog program. Then, after selecting beagles as the agency's detector dogs, APHIS worked with the military at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas to train Beagle Brigade teams. Around 1987, APHIS opened three regional training centers and began training its own teams and later combined these centers into one national training center located in Orlando, FL.

The Beagle Brigade spans the United States. Currently, there are more than 60 Beagle Brigade teams at 21 international airports. By fiscal year 2002, USDA plans to have 130 dog teams throughout the country, more than doubling current numbers.

APHIS has also provided expertise and training to agriculture officials in other countries who want to start their own detector dog programs. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Korea have all sought the assistance of USDA¹s Beagle Brigade and APHIS officials.