"What did you bring, Jasper?"

"I brought my favorite squeaky toy. Here, try it." Squeak! Squeak!

"This is fun! How about you Cassie, what did you bring?"

"I managed to snag a few table scraps. Sierra, they're for later!"

"Who cares?"

"All right you pigs; scoot over."

A few minutes later found the three, two-year-old dogs sprawled out on the floor, full and content.

"Who has a story to tell?"

"I do."

"Go for it, Cassie."

"Ok, before I start, you have to know that California produces half of the nation's fruit."

"Why do we have to know that?"

"I'm getting there, Sierra! As I was saying, a beagle named Angel was donated to a group called APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). She had to take a temperament test, which she passed, to allow her to go to a special training school. At the school, she was taught how to sniff for illegal items."

"For what kind of illegal items did she sniff?"

"Good question Jasper. She was taught to sniff for fruit, vegetables, and meat."

"Why?"

"Remember when I told you that California produces half of the United States' fruit? Well, if pests get into foreign fruit and lay eggs, and if that fruit is taken onto a plane and carried to California, the pest is spread."

"How does it spread?"

"You know how eating buggy fruit repulses humans. If a tourist brings a bug-filled apple onto the plane without knowing it, when he does bite into it and discovers the bugs, he'll throw it away. Some of the bugs might survive, and before we know it, they're all over the place."

"Go on with the story, Cassie."

"When she graduated from the training school, she was matched up with a partner right here in Los Angeles."

"Where did she work?"

"I'm getting there, Sierra. She and her partner worked at the international terminal of Los Angeles International Airport, searching people's baggage for illegal agricultural products. For the next few years everything went well and she helped her partner confiscate hundreds of fruit. But then, she realized that work wasn't fun anymore. Her partner immediately noticed and decided to retire her. She was adopted by a family that already had a beagle. The minute she was brought to her new home, my dad ran out to greet her. They've been close ever since."

"Your dad is friends with her! What does your mom think?"

"Angel is my mom."

"Cool."

"I'll second that, Sierra. But, if they use small dogs at the airport, what about the rest of us dogs who aren't exactly beagle-sized. Can we still sniff at the airport?"

"Unfortunately, I think you're too big. If they started using big dogs, some people would be too scared, but you could work in the post office."

"Doing what?"

"They use big dogs to climb on the conveyer belts."

"Why would they want us on the conveyer belts?"

"To do the same thing I'm doing. You sniff for agricultural products that people are sending in the mail."

"That sounds interesting."

"Cassie, what about the dogs that are medium sized?"

"Well, you could work at the border, Sierra."

"Which border, and why do they need sniffers at the border sniffing for agricultural products?"

"The United States/Mexican border; and, they need sniffers because people bring agricultural products with them to eat while they're driving across the border. Or sometimes, people try to purposely sneak fruit into California to cause diseases and pests to spread."

"What are you talking about, kids?"

"Hi, Mom!"

"Hi, Cassie, Jasper, Sierra."

"Angel, is it true you used to be a search dog at LAX?"

"Yes, Sierra, a very long time ago."

"What was it like? Are you sorry you were retired early?"

"I'm not sorry about my retirement, but sometimes, when I'm bored, I think about what I would have been doing if I was still working. It was a fun job. And people seemed to really enjoy having us around the airport, even if we were sniffing their luggage."

"How did your partner know when you found an agricultural product?"

"I was trained to sit as close as possible to the piece of baggage. When my partner saw me doing that, she would inspect the luggage, and then confiscate whatever agricultural product was in it."

"Oh! Cassie, I almost forgot why I came down. You were accepted into the training school. You begin training next month."