The service dogs are responsible for keeping watch and detecting suspicious signs within 100 meters of the US president.

Dogs used to protect the US president are often carefully selected and undergo rigorous training. Illustration photo: AFP

Every time the US president travels abroad, a large team of human and material resources is mobilized. To ensure absolute safety for the head of the White House, in addition to elite security and secret service personnel, sniffer dog teams are also an indispensable element.

In Western countries, people often call the police dog team the K9 Unit. The dogs are often carefully selected and must undergo rigorous training if they want to become members of this force.

Earlier last year, ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to India, the US Secret Service also brought a highly trained K9 unit to the capital New Delhi. According to the Express Tribune, the security agency deployed up to 40 dogs to protect Mr. Obama.

The sniffer dog team is a key force in the US commander-in-chief's escort. They are often tasked with detecting suspicious signs and searching for potential dangers within a range of about 100 meters around the president.

The Secret Service K9 unit was established in 1977 and is funded by federal funds. It has about 75 dogs, each costing about $9,000. They are trained for about five months at a facility of more than 1 million square feet in Maryland before being accepted into the force.

The working dogs of the US K9 Unit are mainly German Shepherd and Belgian Shepherd breeds. In addition, K9 only accepts adult dogs. Their outstanding skills are to sniff out, intervene and quickly deal with attackers.

The US presidential guard dogs can smell even traces of old explosives, such as RDX, black powder or improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Their reaction time is also very quick and flexible. As soon as they receive the command, they will immediately control the target in the blink of an eye. The average running speed of the US K9 service dogs is about 40 - 50 km/h. Their bite is considered very dangerous. Once they bite the target, they will only release it if instructed by the handler.

According to the description of the US Secret Service, service dogs are usually friendly and close when around children but will become aggressive and act decisively when facing dangerous objects. Their eyes have a range of observation up to 270 degrees and they "run as fast as a bullet". That is why even military soldiers prefer to use service dogs. A K9 Malinois dog even participated in the mission to destroy terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

US service dogs also receive salaries and promotions during their service. They retire after about 10 years of service. While on presidential duty, some dogs may even stay with their owners in luxury hotel rooms.

According to VNE