How TSA bomb-sniffing dogs are trained

The TSA employs more than 1,000 explosives detection canine teams, and they all graduated from the TSA National Explosives Detection Canine Program.

• The TSA trains more than 300 explosive detection canines every year.
• It costs roughly $46,000 to train a passenger-screening canine and handler.
• The dogs are taught to detect dozens of different threat-based odors.

The Transportation Security Administration — or TSA — employs more than 1,000 explosives detection canine teams at any given time. But before they're deployed to one of the many mass-transit sites across the United States, they must graduate from the TSA National Explosives Detection Canine Program. Insider spent a day with the program at the TSA Canine Training Center, located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to see how the TSA trains both dogs and handlers.

The dogs receive 24 to 32 weeks of training and work in a variety of environments, including mock aircraft and airport terminals. Trainers use classical conditioning to teach the dogs to search for odors from explosive materials. After six to eight weeks of training, the dogs are paired with a handler, whom they'll finish the course and graduate with. Roughly 90% of all canine teams graduate from the course.