mumbai when twoyearold anthony walks into the restricted area of the customs complex where tonnes of goods meant for exports lie piled up eyebrows are raised not happy with anthonys gatecrash some scorn while some are in awe for anthony the job is well defined sniff out narcotics that are smuggled out of the country concealed inside export consignments anthony a labrador spent six months at the national training centre for dogs at teknapur gwalior before joining the airport customs cargo unit as its first fourlegged help four months ago anthonys handler sachin gurav a customs employee who opted for this assignment because of his love for dogs says it was not an easy task at the training centre i was also raw we stayed together and the first few weeks were devoted to making us familiar with each other else the dog would not have obeyed my instructions initially it was tough for gurav to cope with the gruelling physical training considering that fitness was not a significant criterion for his customs job running five km every morning with anthony was strenuous but challenging he says the last stage of anthonys training involved identifying narcotic substances including cocaine and heroin gurav says the name anthony was not given by him the name date of birth and other features were already mentioned in the certificate that came from the supplier kennel club of india anthony stays with me in my quarters and does not throw tantrums at my family members he says the department spends rs 9000 every month for anthonys wellbeing this includes 500 gms meat egg and a litre of milk every day but no spices and sweets because it causes hair fall gurav points out among the customs aircargo complexes in the country mumbai is the only one to have a sniffer dog we decided to hire one after we came across three cases of drug concealments in the last three years says commissioner exports roopam kapoor the shocking one was of concealment of 22kg hashish inside yams meant for london in july last year kapoor says the presence of a dog would act as a deterrent there has been no consignment caught after anthonys induction he says the dog would bark and rip open the consignment if it contains narcotics says gurav anthony will have gurav for company for the next eight years when anthonys sensing ability reduces he will probably be sold to pet lovers through an auction the life span of a dog is around 12 years and that too in extreme cases he says twentysevenyearold gurav will also have to give up the dog handlers job once he attains 40 because the body will not be agile to handle such a strenuous job i will return to my customs job thats life the labrador who was trained for six months is given 500 gms meat egg and a litre of milk every day but there are no spices and sweets to avoid hairfall