BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Bellingham Police K9 Rudy is a veteran of police work, but only now is he sniffing out one of the deadliest drugs on our streets.
Drug overdoses are a daily reality in the City of Bellingham and much of western Washington.
The deadliest drug of them all is the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
"We respond to multiple overdoses every day," said Jeremy Woodward, Bellingham officer.
Given the fact drugs are so easy for addicts to find across Whatcom County these days, police are discovering a new way to detect them.
"Without having a dog or some sort of detection device to detect fentanyl, it's really hard to get it off of the street," said Woodward, Rudy's trainer and partner.
Thanks to a new law enacted this year, drug dogs already working to find cocaine, heroin and meth are now being trained to sniff out fentanyl.
It can take Rudy just a few seconds to find what might take a human hours if they find it at all.
Fentanyl is so deadly just a dozen pure grains can kill you. Overdoses hit record highs in Whatcom County and across the state last year.
Videos posted to YouTube show law enforcement officers around the nation collapsing after being exposed to fentanyl during traffic stops.
Dogs like Rudy are the latest and perhaps most useful tool in both getting the drug off the street and keeping police safe.
"If my dog alerts to a bag or backpack or something inside of a vehicle, then I know I need to put gloves on or take specific precautions before I handle that item because it's probably going to be drugs, and potentially could be fentanyl," Woodward said.
The lethality of fentanyl and the fact the opioid overdose antidote Narcan does not work on dogs raises the question of how they can sniff out such a dangerous drug without overdosing themselves.
Woodward said dogs' noses are so sensitive they can detect fentanyl levels that are so small they're safe.
"They can smell this minute odor that we can't, even if it's just paraphernalia," Woodward said. "That's what they alert to."
Currently, law enforcement in Bellingham, Whatcom County, Lake Stevens, Marysville and Anacortes have fentanyl sniffing dogs on duty.
More are currently being trained.
Rudy and Woodward said they are proud to be helping take a bigger bite out of our area's drug crime.
"I've learned dogs can do some incredible things you never would have thought possible," Woodward said.