Iain, Indeed, scary stuff. However, to respond to the very bottom of your message - the use of dogs is not a useless shortcut. It is a quick efficient way of screening incoming mail or large volumes of luggage at airports. Dogs are trained to detect plants, fruit, meat, narcotics, explosives, and probably a few more articles of concern. It takes a lot less time for a dog to sniff my suitcase rather than having a person open it and look through it. Having a dog sniff all the incoming mail means that it all gets searched. Of course, the right dog would need to be sniffing. If only narcotic and explosive sniffers are on duty, then plants will slip through undetected. We have Detector Dogs in Canada, and I've had dogs sniff my car when I've driven into the U.S. I believe Australia uses them too. Diane Whitehead Canada >