Airport security

TSA moving to all floppy-ear airport dog force because pointy-ear dogs ‘scare children’

The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of swapping out pointy ear dogs for floppy ear ones in an effort to put more of the public at ease when interacting with its canines.

"We’ve made a conscious effort in TSA ... to use floppy ear dogs," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said during a recent tour of operations at Washington Dulles International Airport northern Virginia.

"We find the passenger acceptance of floppy ear dogs is just better. It presents just a little bit less of a concern," Pekoske said. "Doesn’t scare children."

Around 80 percent of the 1,200 canines TSA uses nationwide are ones with droopy ears versus the 20 percent that have cone-shaped ones.

TSA employs the second-highest number of dogs of any federal agency. Dogs retired daily from the agency this year due to the force's aging population, but TSA is using it as an opportunity to grow its floppy ear population, which are technically classified as sporting or hunting breeds.

Over the past 12 months, 80 percent of the dogs TSA purchased from vendors were sporting breeds. Christopher Shelton, branch manager of the TSA canine training center in San Antonio, Texas, said part of the reason TSA has purchased more "sporting" dogs is because breeders are increasingly raising these types of dogs.