Australia’s First Biosecurity Detector Dog Handlers Part 2: Dog and Human Behaviour

Casey Baines:

Hello everybody and welcome once again to Detect and Protect, the Australian biosecurity podcast. I am your guest host; Casey Baines and today we have the 3rd episode in a very special series looking back to celebrate last year’s 30th anniversary of the biosecurity detector dog program. The program plays a vital role in the interception of biosecurity risks in airport, mail, and cargo environments. The detector dog’s excellent agility and super noses make them one our most effective and loveable detection methods.

To celebrate this milestone, last year, we reached out to some of the departments very first biosecurity detector dog handlers to hear some stories during their time in the program.

Our guest for today’s podcast is Harry Smithard.

Harry was one of the first two detector dog handlers along with Rachel from our previous episode. Harry was based in Brisbane with his four-legged friend Winston.

In this episode he outlines the initial struggles of the detector dog program including staff acceptance. Harry also talks us through key attributes of a detector dog handler including observing not only dog behaviour but human behaviour as well.

Ok enough from me! Let’s jump in and hear from Harry!

To start us off, could you talk to us about how you entered the program and how you first started?

Harry Smithard:

So when I when it first started, I heard along the Grapevine that they were going to trial some new technology, and when I did a bit of digging I saw that there was a strong vision behind the process. So I thought I would really like to get on the ground floor with this and take up the challenge.

Casey Baines:

Awesome. And, when did you start, and what region were deployed in and did you have a specific dog that you worked with where you worked?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, so I was based in Brisbane and the dog that I was assigned was Winston.

Casey Baines:

Right and did Winston have any quirks or any interesting things about him that made him fun to work with?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, he was quite strong headed and very cheeky so it made it a lot of fun as the handler.

Casey Baines:

Awesome. So, so when you think back, can you think, what really first attracted you to the role or was it just that it was something new really?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, it was, it was the fact that it was new technology and that it was, I guess fairly risky. You know, it could either it was a pilot program, so it could either fall over or it could be successful. So it was that challenge drew me to the role.

Casey Baines:

And can you talk us through a little bit of the process of setting up and having, I’ve forgotten his name, the trainer to come across from America and training you as a small team to start with?

Harry Smithard:

Yes. So the trainer's name was Colvin Brannacka and he was military style trainer. So we started, dogs were sourced in October-November 91. And then the initial training of the dogs started at the end of December 91 and Rachel and I started training on the 3rd of January 1992. And I was supposed the first to be installed on the 12th of March 92 and then Rachel two weeks after that.

Casey Baines:

You’ve got such a good memory of all the different milestones.

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, it doesn't seem that long ago.

Casey Baines:

So when you think back, is there a specific best part or something that that you really enjoyed being a handler?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, the thing. Like initially, it was like I say it was that challenge of getting it up and running and proving that they could be successful because there was a lot of resistance. Initially from organisations like Australian Customs who didn't want us in the baggage hall and then as the dogs started to prove successful, then there was a fear and resistance from colleagues. They saw themselves being replaced by dogs. On the ground there wasn't a great level of support, so that was challenging and but the thing that once I grew into the role, the thing that I really loved about it, is it suited my personality. I was the type of person who was very good at picking up patterns. Behaviour or sequences and so as a handler and a trainer if you can identify you know stimulus that cause a different response even though the circumstances might be the same. Then you can harness that to improve the dog’s performance and to prove to improve your performance as the team.

Casey Baines:

That's really interesting because that's pretty much exactly what Rachel said when I talked to her yesterday. She said she really enjoyed the understanding of the dog’s emotions and the way they worked and then also people's responses to seeing a dog to start with.

Harry Smithard:

That's right. We were kind of on the forefront not only of the dog work, but also of the profiling of passengers because the dogs were indiscriminate in their screening. It became very obvious early on as to which cohorts of passengers were going to be most likely to be causing risk.

Casey Baines:

Right. And was that? Was that already a known commodity, just from manual inspections and things like that you were doing at the time?

Harry Smithard:

No it wasn't because manual inspections were such a small percentage of passengers and so the chances of picking up patterns of. You know, risk was very small and but because dogs were screening thousands and thousands of people and it didn't matter where they were from or anything like that. The dog was purely they either had targeted contraband or they didn't. Yeah. And so the results quickly identified patterns.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, that's really interesting. When you think back as the time of the handler, do you have one go to story or a really interesting find that you go to when people ask you about it?

Harry Smithard:

I mean there's just so many I guess one that stuck in my mind. We were screening and Winston elicited a very subtle change of behaviour. It wasn't a full-on response and that I was able to pick up on. And when I inspected the bag it was obvious why it wasn't a full on response, because it wasn't you know, a targeted item, but it was a single Siamese fighting fish in a sealed plastic bag. So it was a pretty extraordinary detection.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, and it's, it's really interesting that it doesn't have to be something large. I think one of Dee's favourite stories was she had, I think it was Jess, run off to the other side of the arrivals hall, just finding the single leaf that was stuck in someone's shoelaces. It's amazing, the small little things that the dogs could find.

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, it's such a um, it's not that difficult to become a you know, a good dog handler, but it's extremely difficult to become a great dog handler and it's all the 1% is getting all those correct, that makes a difference. And to do that you have to be very curious and you have to be always looking for, you know, the different stimulus.

Casey Baines:

Just to ask where you a biosecurity officer before you joined the program?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah so back then we were quarantine officers.

Casey Baines:

And did the way that you observed passengers changed? So when you became handler, you're almost more watching your dog rather than the passengers?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, it was. Um, yeah, the way the way I saw risk in relation to biosecurity risk material changed considerably. And it was trying to educate other quarantine officers in those new, you know, try to get them to see risk differently as well. And our big role of the detector program back then or the Beagle Brigade as it was known was the primary role was obviously defined risk material, but a very large secondary role was education and public relations. So before Steve Irwin was the face of quarantine, the beagle brigade was the face of quarantine. And so there was a lot of media events and a lot of live shows and there are a lot of school visits. And there's a lot of educating passengers, even as a group, because when our passengers see a cute little Beagle sniffing bags. As soon as the dog alerts or something and you're pulling out an apple, the conversation starts and the opportunity to educate those passengers that have just observed something. Was extremely important.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, it's really interesting in that although the public relations and now we don't have as much of an impact in the front facing, but still the detector dog program is one of our main tools to get the message out and educate.

Do you have any appearances that you did that you can think of or any you can reflect on?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, I mean for the first two years we were doing. Made your appearances at least once a fortnight and probably once a week. Everything from Good Morning Australia, Today Show, Totally Wild. Yeah, it was. A pretty steady stream.

Casey Baines:

Wow, that's amazing. Um, when you think about um, obviously you said it was curiosity and trying to understand the dog that drew you to the role. Can you think about what people that might want to be a handler in the future? What attributes do you think they might succeed with?

Harry Smithard:

Well, again it comes down to you need to be really have that curious mind, both in regards to what passages might have, but also in regards to not only the animal behaviour but the, but the human behaviour and. In regards to passengers, but also you need to be extremely conscious of your own body language because the objective of being the dog food is that you're there to guide the dog and to give the dog the best chance to detect items. But your presence can't provide any cues that might elicit false responses or pull the dog off targets. So it's very much a tight rope. And perfecting it is you know a real fine line to walk.

Casey Baines:

When you think back about your time with Winston, can you maybe just give us an overview of what a regular day from when you started to working through with him to finish would be?

Harry Smithard:

Yep, so we started around 4:00 in the morning, and so I picked him up. He'd go out into the exercise yard for his morning constitutional and then we load up into the back of the car. And headed out to the airport. When we get to the airport, it will be preparing the paperwork for the day. Have a look at the flight sheet. Deciding where our efforts were going to be of greatest value in regards to which flights we did, and also balancing doing as many passengers as possible without you know, risking injury or exhaustion for the dog so animal welfare was always front of mind, making sure the dogs have adequate breaks and that sort of thing. And then we basically be screening passengers for the rest of the shift, which was generally between 10 and 12 hours long. In between working flights, out on the baggage carousel, out in the baggage reclaim area I’d be working in the bays, assisting other quarantine officers clear passengers or on the x-ray machines. And then at the end of the day we’d go down to the kennel and then we'd have to I’d have to clean the kennels, exercise and feed all the dogs. And when all that was done, it would be time to head home. And that's not days like obviously days where we had media or visit or like you know that would be incorporated in your work. And some days I like. We used to work Coolangatta Airport for example. It wasn't a proclaimed first port, so there was an airline called. Freedom Air and used to go into Perth and New Zealand. So freedom Air, they had to fly down all the customs cohort. Winston and I would fly down in light aircraft. We’d screen all the passengers and then we’d fly back.

Casey Baines:

Wow, that's cool. One of the things that sort of really remained with the program is a sense of community and when our handlers are trained you do a four week training course and then you're on your own. You’re continually learning with the team that you're with. Did you take a role as I assume training the new handlers that came on after you started or parted of knowledge?

Harry Smithard:

Sure, after I was a handler I became a senior technical handler, which was like the supervisor or team leader for the squads. So yeah, as teams comes out of the training centre, they're at the bare minimum they do require a lot of assistance and quite often handlers when they come out are very eager to rack up you know 1200 passengers. But it's about you know like training an athlete you've got to train your dogs to a level of fitness, you've got to work up to it. So if you if you come out with a green dog and start working 1000 passengers a day you'll destroy the dog. So it's about a matter of choosing the flights that are most suitable for their learning curve and balancing their efforts.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, just a gradual increment, yeah. Did you ever have a retired dog come home with you or do you do you have dogs today or was it really just a work exercise for you as being a handler?

Harry Smithard:

I don't have I don't have dogs today but. Winston came home with me so. Winston was working from the beginning of 92 until the end of 2000. And in that time with me, we screened over 1,000,000 passengers and seized items from over 9600 passengers.

Casey Baines:

Wow that's impressive.

Harry Smithard:

That gives an idea of the mass screening abilities that dogs have. They’re able to cover a large amount of passengers. And I also adopted another dog called Sadie. They both passed on.

Casey Baines:

Was Sadie a beagle as well?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah she was a beagle as well yeah.

Casey Baines:

Yeah it’s really interesting and it's good that our dogs retire usually to their handlers or to ex handlers because they, I mean beagles are quite difficult dogs if you don't know what you're doing. So it's good that they have a really good home to go to and you're talking about animal welfare before it's really good that we can look after our dogs as well.

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, well, you know Winston with my best mate really, you know, it came down to it. So we've been through a lot together and so it was only natural for me to take him home.

Casey Baines:

Obviously the department's just done an external recruitment round for the first time in a long time for handlers. Would you have any advice to anyone who has either just applied or might want to apply in the future?

Harry Smithard:

Uh, yeah, it's hard work. You need to go there with the primary focus of learning as much as you can, as quickly as you can and always have the aim of learning something new every day in relation to handling a dog. But as I say, there’s no such thing as perfection. You can get very, very close, but it's never perfect.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, when you said there's no such thing as perfection, were some specific challenges or things that you always have to keep in mind as you are working.

Harry Smithard:

Yeah, you know, it's learning. It's not only learning about animal behaviour and people human behaviour, but it's even things about learning how air currents behave in a, you know, air conditioned environment with moving passengers. Because you've got air conditioning which causes the air to sink. The cold air sinks and you've got passengers where an adult male is equivalent to 1100 Watt heater at 37 degrees. So if you've got 200 people, all their body heat is causing the air to rise and that all causes eddies. And understanding how those eddies work in relation to a dog's air sampling ability.

Casey Baines:

Wow. I'd never thought of that before.

Harry Smithard:

Yeah. And there's things like Coriolis effect that, yeah, come into play and so really is a fascinating field. And you know it was new technology when we started but where we are now is so far ahead of our understanding of what we understood back of animal behaviour back then. I mean another 30 years the understanding would be streets ahead again. So yeah, sure.

Casey Baines:

Obviously you're not a handler anymore. Are there skills or do you think the role of a handler set you up well for your career into the future?

Harry Smithard:

Yeah. I mean, yeah, certainly. When I finished with the detector dog program and moved on, I was at national level as the national technical manager. And so I learned a lot of skills in that role and also in the supervisor role that went further in my career. Yeah, understanding of human behaviour certainly went with me during my career. I kind of see my employment with the department is 2 separate careers. There's the employment and my main career which was in the dog program and then my supplemental career, which has been since.

Casey Baines:

That's really most of the questions that I had for you. Is there anything that you can think back on that you just like to share from your time in the program?

Harry Smithard:

I was just extremely grateful for the opportunity and the ride that I went on I could not have asked for anything better. It was such a sensational experiment. And yeah, I'm extremely grateful.

Casey Baines:

I for one have just really enjoyed hearing all the stories from your team back when the program started and even stories from our current handlers now that's such an amazing high-profile program and I'm glad that it's still going through leaps and bounds as program 30 years later.

Thank you so much for your time. I'll give you a few minutes back in your day and I'll see you again.

Harry Smithard:

Thanks. Bye, bye.

Casey Baines:

I hope you have enjoyed today’s episode of Detect and Protect. You can find our more information on the department's website or by visiting biosecurity.gov.au. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast series to get updates on future topics and learn more about Australian biosecurity. Also be sure to follow us on our social media pages. Thanks very much for listening everybody. And we will catch you on the next episode of Detect and Protect.