Detection Dogs

Reporting from the Blackfoot Valley, Mont. — Squatting next to his quarry, the dog’s eyes locked onto an athletic blond woman who was approaching cautiously.

Her hand reached into her backpack and the Belgian Malinois rose slowly to his feet, his butterscotch eyes burning with intensity. As the woman brought out a length of knotted rope and leather, he lunged and snapped his powerful jaws around the tanned hide.

He bared his teeth and began to pull, peddling backward. She set her heels and the two whirled around the Western Montana grassland on this crisp autumn morning in a ferocious game of tug of war.