ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Dogs are pretty amazing for plenty of reasons, including for using their sniffers to keep us safe.

“In the bomb world, nothing Is like it seems,” said David Saiz, a bomb technician and patrolman with New Mexico State Police. “I can see a box in front of me, but I don’t know what’s in it. His nose can straight through that box and he can let me know, what’s going on inside that box. Much faster than I can get my hands on.”

NMSP has added Rosco to its canine explosive detection team. Rosco, Vector and Riddick all had to go through a 12-week process and have continued to train everyday.

“They each have their own specific role but they all three are trained to find explosives,” said Victor Flores, the assistant bomb squad commander with NMSP.

Flores said the opportunity to get Rosco came along when they saw the need for another canine.

“Rosco, he came from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. So [we’re] lucky we were able to adopt him,” Flores said. “Word of mouth from a friend of mine told me, NASA has this free dog, they’re willing to give him to a law enforcement agency.”

The three canines are trained to reach areas NMSP human officers can’t – in just seconds.

“It would take them a few seconds, it doesn’t take them very long. It all depends too on how long is our search area. They can find it fairly quickly but all depends on how big the search area is,” Flores said on concerts and large events, like Zozobra. “Other agencies actually reach out to us, requesting these canines as a resources, as a tool to help them make sure that the area is safe for the entire public.”

Getting them trained isn’t always easy.

“They pretty much have the comprehension of like a toddler, if you will. So it’s all just about repetition, repetition and consistency. The more reps we get them, the better off they’ll be,” Saiz said.

Once the canines detect an explosive, they’ll notify their handlers. Some of them don’t just detect explosives, however. Vector has been with NMSP for a little over three years and is a “dual-purpose canine.”

“Meaning he has two jobs. One of them being explosive detection and the other one being, patrol work, meaning like apprehending violent individuals,” said AJ Romero, a certified bomb technician, canine handler and patrolman with NMSP.

Vector is making history with the other dogs. This is one of the first times NMSP has had three canines at once.