ATF holds special odor recognition training sessions for SoCal law enforcement K-9s in Laguna Niguel

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (KABC) -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives hosts free three-day trainings for local, state and federal law enforcement K-9 teams.

ATF's National Odor Recognition Training and Testing trains K-9s on critical odor recognition.

Thirty teams recently took part in the sessions. Duchess was one of the participants. She is an LAPD bomb-detection K-9 who is still at the top of her game, even at 12 years young.

"I was really fortunate to have a K-9 like this. They usually start looking at retirement anywhere between 8 to 10 years old but for her to be 12 years old and still going is pretty amazing," said Edwin Dominguez, Duchess' handler.

"Their sense of smell is infinitely better than ours. You can have a gun that's buried, you can have explosives that are buried and the dog will find it whereas a human wouldn't see it or smell it or anything," said ATF K-9 Operations Branch Chief Kirk Dennis.

The K-9 teams are trained to identify different types of explosives.

"They can practice in all these different odors," Dennis said. "Maybe their department doesn't have a certain odor or they don't have access to that. They can come here and they can imprint their dogs on it and then when they feel comfortable, they can take the test and that certifies them for two years."

ATF said the dogs can find explosives, firearms and shell casings at crimes scenes.

They're also deployed to protect the community at big gatherings like last month's Coachella festival.

"So that when you go to like a special event or public safety event, we know that the dog teams all can hit the same odors for explosives," Dennis said.

K-9s receive toys and treats for hitting the right scents. For Duchess, they're rewards that have made the job fun over the last 10 years.

"So after today she'll be certified but for the next six months, after that, in October she's going to retire. She's going to retire with me," Dominguez said.

ATF said another benefit of this training is agencies, whether at a local or federal level, can seamlessly work together if they had to respond to the same major event.