Canines have been used by law enforcement agencies for decades to alert their handlers to threats or objects of interest. EXD is working with DHS partners, including the Transportation Security Administration, other federal agencies, and state and local first responders, to provide independent verification of canine teams' performance, as well as ways to enhance overall detection capability.

To improve training for explosives detection, EXD develops low-cost, non-hazardous training aids that can be used to improve and test canine ability to detect new threats. EXD has conducted behavior analysis on canine teams, both dog and handler, to enhance and validate testing methods.