ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Ever since 9/11, many concerned people have thought long and hard about how to detect and stop terrorists before they strike. One answer could be right under our noses or more correctly, under the noses of man's best friend.</s>COOPER (voice-over): His name is Nitro, a labrador mix in training to become a soldier in the war on terror. Actually, it's his nose that's in training. Nitro is learning to sniff out explosives. Nitro and dozens of other dogs, are taking part in a new non profit program in southern California, called Pups for Peace, co-founded by Mike Herstek (ph).</s>MIKE HERSTEK (ph): Good he's on it. Good he's on it. Right around the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, it occurred to me that we would be needing explosive detection dogs. There was a shortage of these dogs. And that these dogs were an effective tool.</s>COOPER: In the wake of suicide bombings in Israel and the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., Pups for Peace began a pilot program, donating dogs to Israel, where they patrol malls and bus stations, civilian targets of suicide bombers.</s>HERSTEK (ph): A lot of what you see out here isn't incidental. You see like the file cabinets, the bus, the trailer, luggage, rubble heaps. These are all trading scenarios for the dogs, the sort of scenarios the dogs will encounter in real life.</s>COOPER: Herstek (ph) and his trainers look for energetic dogs, who love to hunt and fetch. After learning to sniff out explosives, the dogs are trained to sit and stare at the location. Their reward, playtime. Israeli security officials say the program is a success.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a tremendous boost to the protection of our people. Every suicide bomber now understand that if he sees a dog in the vicinity, he got a problem.</s>COOPER: For Nitro and the other dogs, locating explosives is just a game. For the rest of us, an important weapon in the war on terror.
Can Dogs Help in War on Terror?