SAN ANTONIO — Scores of dogs sniffing for explosives at the Super Bowl this weekend trained their noses in San Antonio.
JBSA Lackland houses the Transportation Security Administration's Canine Training Center and the Department of Defense's Military Working Dog Center.
Most bomb-sniffing dogs in the United States spent at least a few weeks on base in the Alamo city, learning with TSA or DOD trainers.
"To this day - and I've been doing this for 24 years - I have not seen any other mechanism or anything out there that can beat the nose of a dog," said Steven Lopez, the TSA Canine Training Center's deputy director.
Lopez said TSA officials travel across the world, buying animals with nose talent. The dogs must also be self-motivated.
"I always consider our assets - the canines - as athletes," said J.J. Wilson, a training instructor at the TSA's Canine Training Center. "When you train these four-legged animals - just like the (Super Bowl) athletes train themselves - you want the highest quality of canine."
Handlers, who also train at JBSA Lackland, reward successful sniffers with toys instead of treats. The canines are on strict diets.
"These dogs get seen by the vet more than we go to the doctor," Lopez chuckled.
The dogs eventually selected to sniff for explosives practice inside mock airport terminals at JBSA Lackland.
The TSA pays some people to act as passengers during training scenarios that mirror a typical airport experience.
One "passenger" carries a live explosive. Dogs move through lines and crowds of people, and sit or stare when they smell the threat.
"If they're being sent to a venue like (the Super Bowl), they're good. They're really good," Wilson said. He and another trainer stationed at JBSA Lackland, Nicholas Graham, will also work security at the Super Bowl in Phoenix.
There, they expect to reunite with dogs and handlers they worked with in San Antonio.
"It's an honor for us to get together as Americans, as dog handlers and as a support element, to keep people safe," Wilson said.
"We look at it as our top notch, highly-capable athletes providing security for the athletes playing in the Super Bowl," Lopez said. "It all started right here in San Antonio."