k9 unit's in residential neighborhood

Guest · Sep 2, 2007

I'm in the US. Over the last few months, I've seen my local township's k9 unit SUV driving around my residential suburbia neighborhood with the dog in the backseat with an open window.

The first sighting of this was in the beginning of the summer. This prompted me to shutdown my grow. Although I only had a modest personal stash type of grow show with carbor scrubbers cleaning the air, I played it safe.

Anyone else see anything like this in there neighborhood? Could this be a 'drive' by dog search to find suspicious houses to investigate further? Could a dog sniff a 400 watt carbon scrubbed grow inside a house from the sidewalk?

secureuser · Sep 2, 2007

Holy Shit the K-9 unit is driving around your grow! A little paranoia is a good thing.

You were right to play it safe. Why risk your personal freedom?

I'm sure some people will tell you there is no way the dog could hit on your house.
Just remember It's your ass the dog will be chewing on!

Could a dog sniff a 400 watt carbon scrubbed grow inside a house from the sidewalk?

I don't know.

Stay safe to smoke another day.

secureuser

DIGITALHIPPY · Sep 3, 2007

man me thinks you over-reacted, supose safe then sorry, but thats far strech,

they lower the window so the dog can stick its head out, didnt u notics dogs like sticking heads out the window.

you'd have to have the smelliest grow in decades to get cought like this.

most likly he lives in the area, or was there for totaly unrelated biz. k9 patrols answer regular calls aswell.

happy growing.

Guest · Sep 3, 2007

DIGITALHIPPY said:
you'd have to have the smelliest grow in decades to get cought like this.

Most likely, the k9 cop was not looking for my house per say. But I'm still wondering if the dog would be able to smell my carbon scrubbed 400 watt grow room in my basement. If the dog were to indicate it smelled something along the neighborhood drive, I understand that this would not be grounds for a warrent but perhaps a reason for further investigation?

RevolutionX · Sep 3, 2007

you might want to consider a tear down a bit more. Try to really think of anything else outta the ordinary that might suede your actions on this. Hopefully since its a 400 w its just a small personal setup. Which in most states is a misdemeanor depending on numbers of plants. I "always" stay within personal consumption limitations according to my region. I am guessing your from the states, and if so Check with norml.org. As far as i know in your country over 100 plant is mandatory felony. Thats who "they" look for. basically, keep it small and be cautious.

Dr.Diamonds · Sep 4, 2007

One thing is for certain, NEVER underestimate a dog's sense of smell.
I think you did the right think by shutting down and playing it safe.

Verite · Sep 4, 2007

What do you think the dogs going to do? 'Woof-woof, pull over here I smell weed, woof. Dogs arent trained to smell from a traveling car. Besides that its also illegal to even take a dog out to sniff random properties [ even the perimeters ] in the hopes you stumble on something.

Getawaymonkey! · Sep 4, 2007

Verite said:
Besides that its also illegal to even take a dog out to sniff random properties [ even the perimeters ] in the hopes you stumble on something.

Thats just funny. The last time I checked...doing shit illegally to obtain probable cause was called the patriot act, and they have NO problem with that at all.
Im sure the officer is going to confess to obtaining information illegally to make his case....
They always abide by the law. Hu huh

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

Verite said:
What do you think the dogs going to do? 'Woof-woof, pull over here I smell weed, woof. Dogs arent trained to smell from a traveling car. Besides that its also illegal to even take a dog out to sniff random properties [ even the perimeters ] in the hopes you stumble on something.

if the dog smells something and indicates to the cop that he smells something, the cop could then pinpoint which house on the street by slowly driving by a few times, couldnt he? From there, they could begin an investigation and try to dig up some dirt to get a warrant.

Also, even if a dog isnt specifically trained to smell from a traveling car, that doesnt mean they wont give some kind of indication to the cop if they smell something. I have no idea if they can actually do this. But a dog being 'specifically' trained to a task doesnt mean it only does that task when asked to do so. Espcially if the dog associates his fav toys, etc with sniffing out pot. If he smells pot, what would stop the dog from acting like a dog and 'offer' the rewarded behavior even though it wasnt asked to do so?

Also , another thing i'd like to note is that, so far i've seen the k9 cop driving around the several times. Not just around my house but all over.

Arent you guys wiht grows in residential neighborhoods worried about the same thing happening? It could be happening everywhere coudnt it?

JJScorpio · Sep 4, 2007

Theres a difference between K9 dogs and drug sniffing dogs. The K9 units drive with their dogs on normal patrol. These dogs are used to track down people that run, drug smellers are a totally different ball game......

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

JJScorpio said:
Theres a difference between K9 dogs and drug sniffing dogs. The K9 units drive with their dogs on normal patrol. These dogs are used to track down people that run, drug smellers are a totally different ball game......

According to my township's website, the dogs in the k9 unit on patrol are trained in tracking as well as being crosstrained in either narcotics or explosives with the majority of them being crosstrained in narcotics...

I'm very suprised more people on this forum are not freaked out about this as I have beenTo me, it seems like an easy way to get caught despite keeping smell, quantity under control.

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

JJScorpio said:
If your plants are stinking enough for the dog to smell them in the back of the rig, people will smell it to.

I dont think so. A dog can smell things that people can't. A person would not be able to smell my grow from even within my own house because of the oversized carbon scrubber, but I'm not sure at what range a dog would be able to sniff it from.

KharmaGirl · Sep 4, 2007

Trust me, the dog wouldn't smell it from the back of a moving car. Like JJ said, people would smell it first. Also, K9's are not always "on duty". They only sniff out stuff when commanded to do so.

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

KharmaGirl said:
Trust me, the dog wouldn't smell it from the back of a moving car. Like JJ said, people would smell it first. Also, K9's are not always "on duty". They only sniff out stuff when commanded to do so.

Much respect to everyone who has replied and i hope i dont seem argumentative. But i have a hard time believing that a dog in a car with the window moving 5 -10 miles per hour along a residential neighborhood would somehow have a harder time sniffing a grow than a person would. That just doesn not make too much sense to me ( no pun intended lol).

Also, I've heard that they do sniff only when commanded. However, I know from dog training using motivational methods (e.g. do what i want and play with your fav toy) that even well trained dogs will 'offer' behaviors (even when you didnt ask) that get them the reward.

KharmaGirl · Sep 4, 2007

Believe or don't--no matter to me. Do you know how many scents a dog would be smelling while sticking his nose out the window? Unless he was commanded to do so, he isn't going to notice one smell in particular.

EasyBakeIndica · Sep 4, 2007

k-9 units are trained very specifically.

k-9 units are trained very specifically.

First of, let me start this thread off by giving some background. Around six years ago, we had a k-9 unit move in RIGHT next door to us. The dog hung out in the backyard, next to where we used to smoke.
To be sure, we were very paranoid for the first few months. We only smoked in the garage while using a dryer sheet muffler.
After hanging out with the police officer and getting to know how the dogs were trained, we soon began to relax and since then multiple grows have taken place.

I can tell you this, while the dogs are alone, consider them off duty. Until he/she is warmed up by using a set of commands, they have very little incentive to be searching out contraband. This is the essential part, because incentive drives everything.

Aside from that, and here is where some will begin to argue, I can tell you that they don't train k-9's to find "raw, unprocessed cannabis". They have to be trained for each specific element they go for. A k-9's sense of smell is unparalleled, that is true, but this also makes it hard for them to comprehend that a "live" marijuana plant and a "processed" marijuana are the exact same thing.

If that doesn't make sense, try using this comparison: In Florida, K-9 units can be trained to smell out illegal lobsters, from the legal ones. They can smell differences in the lobster that would otherwise require upclose visual inspection of every little critter.

This is accomplished by training the dog on the scent of egg-carrying queens, or the youngsters. The K-9 never pays any attention to the larger, legal lobsters.

I have no basis for this opinion, but it is my theory that it is too difficult for law enforcement to narrow down which specific terpenes to train the K-9's on , in order to find live, growing cannabis. Otherwise, you'd think they would have utilized that rather than spending buku bucks on FLIR.

Happy Growin'
ebi

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

KharmaGirl said:
Believe or don't--no matter to me. Do you know how many scents a dog would be smelling while sticking his nose out the window? Unless he was commanded to do so, he isn't going to notice one smell in particular.

Hey thanks for your input KharmaGirl. In order for us at ic to put your assertions in perspective, could you share what your basing your opinions on? (e.g. trained dogs before, knew someone, etc)

As i understand, dogs are exceptionally good at finding particular odors amongst many others. The amount of smells as the dog was sticking his nose out the window wouldnt seem any greater than just walking down the sidewalk in front of a house. Furthermore, the amount of smells to distinguish from doesnt seem any greater than finding a dead body in the forest. Which we all know dogs are perfectly capable of.

I have a decently trained housepet dog that I'd like to talk about to illustrate why a dog may notice one smell in particular. My dog plays 'find the leash' and as a result of finding the leash in the house, gets rewarded by going for a walk aroudn teh neighborhood. This is to similar positive reinforcement that k9 dogs get when finding something they're trained to find. There reward however, is to play with there favorite toy.

Now from time to time, my dog will do the 'find the leash' game without me initiating it. Couldnt this same thing happen with police dogs?

Guest · Sep 4, 2007

EasyBakeIndica said:
First of, let me start this thread off by giving some background. Around six years ago, we had a k-9 unit move in RIGHT next door to us. The dog hung out in the backyard, next to where we used to smoke.
To be sure, we were very paranoid for the first few months. We only smoked in the garage while using a dryer sheet muffler.
After hanging out with the police officer and getting to know how the dogs were trained, we soon began to relax and since then multiple grows have taken place.

This is good to know!

I can tell you this, while the dogs are alone, consider them off duty. Until he/she is warmed up by using a set of commands, they have very little incentive to be searching out contraband. This is the essential part, because incentive drives everything.

Could there incentive be the possibility of the reward that they usually recieve when finding contraband?

EasyBakeIndica said:
Aside from that, and here is where some will begin to argue, I can tell you that they don't train k-9's to find "raw, unprocessed cannabis". They have to be trained for each specific element they go for. A k-9's sense of smell is unparalleled, that is true, but this also makes it hard for them to comprehend that a "live" marijuana plant and a "processed" marijuana are the exact same thing.

At what point would 'live' qualify as 'processed' then in the dogs view?

I learned from a dog training forum that some dogs are trained to find a particular molecule (e.g. THC) where as others are trained to find combination of scents that are accompied to contraband (e.g. dried stems, dried pot leaves etc).

EasyBakeIndica said:
If that doesn't make sense, try using this comparison: In Florida, K-9 units can be trained to smell out illegal lobsters, from the legal ones. They can smell differences in the lobster that would otherwise require upclose visual inspection of every little critter.

This is accomplished by training the dog on the scent of egg-carrying queens, or the youngsters. The K-9 never pays any attention to the larger, legal lobsters.

Couldnt the police just train the dogs to look for thc then which would be present in 'processed' and 'live'.

CamEleven · Sep 4, 2007

z0r, I understand you being sketched out by a k-9 unit driving past your grow ,I'm sure most people get sketched out when a cop passes and they have anything illegal on them... but personally I think the cop was just doing a routine patrol. He probably just had his window down to keep the dog cool (you said you started seeing him in the beginning of the summer). Long trips with your dog in the summer IMO isn't a great idea, even with the ac blasting it still gets pretty hot in the back seat and after a couple hours the dog could get heat exhaustion.

masterlow37 · Sep 4, 2007

EasyBakeIndica said:
First of, let me start this thread off by giving some background. Around six years ago, we had a k-9 unit move in RIGHT next door to us. The dog hung out in the backyard, next to where we used to smoke.
To be sure, we were very paranoid for the first few months. We only smoked in the garage while using a dryer sheet muffler.
After hanging out with the police officer and getting to know how the dogs were trained, we soon began to relax and since then multiple grows have taken place.

I can tell you this, while the dogs are alone, consider them off duty. Until he/she is warmed up by using a set of commands, they have very little incentive to be searching out contraband. This is the essential part, because incentive drives everything.

Aside from that, and here is where some will begin to argue, I can tell you that they don't train k-9's to find "raw, unprocessed cannabis". They have to be trained for each specific element they go for. A k-9's sense of smell is unparalleled, that is true, but this also makes it hard for them to comprehend that a "live" marijuana plant and a "processed" marijuana are the exact same thing.

If that doesn't make sense, try using this comparison: In Florida, K-9 units can be trained to smell out illegal lobsters, from the legal ones. They can smell differences in the lobster that would otherwise require upclose visual inspection of every little critter.

This is accomplished by training the dog on the scent of egg-carrying queens, or the youngsters. The K-9 never pays any attention to the larger, legal lobsters.

I have no basis for this opinion, but it is my theory that it is too difficult for law enforcement to narrow down which specific terpenes to train the K-9's on , in order to find live, growing cannabis. Otherwise, you'd think they would have utilized that rather than spending buku bucks on FLIR.

Happy Growin'
ebi

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