DIA’s K-9 trading cards ensure that fans look, don’t touch on-duty dogs

December 11, 2013

You can look, but don’t touch those friendly looking police dogs at Denver International Airport. They’re on the job working to protect travelers, and can’t use the distraction.

9News reported last week that DIA has come up with a creative solution to petting police dogs: trading cards.

Brian Brown, a technician with the Denver Police Department Explosive Detection Unit has worked with his bomb-sniffing partner, Nnikos, for nearly four-and-a-half years,” the 9News report said.  “He says his four-legged coworker gets a lot of attention, especially from kids.

“We do not let anybody touch the dogs.  Mainly, it’s for liability purposes,” Brown said.  “They’re still working animals. We still have a job to do and … I want my dog to go out and work as hard as he can.  And the best way to do that is not let people touch them.”

In keeping with the “look-don’t-touch” policy, Brown hands out cards to the kids so they can get to know the dogs better without getting too close.

“DIA has developed some pictures of the handlers and the K-9s and put some information about our dogs onto these cards,” Brown told 9News.  “What we try to do is pass those cards out to especially the kids so they have a little bit of a memorable moment with the K-9.”

“Brown says he hasn’t been asked for an autograph yet, but he thinks the cards leave a lasting impression with young travelers.

“They usually love them,” Brown said.  “You’ll see them walking around with their parents and they still have that baseball card in their hands, so you realize they’re probably pretty special to them.”

See the whole story at http://www.9news.com/rss/article/367502/337/DIAs-bomb-sniffing-dogs-get-their-own-trading-cards.

DIA dog-sniffing trading cards handed out to airport visitors. (9News photo)

DIA dog-sniffing trading cards handed out to airport visitors. (9News photo)

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