An Assessment of Decontamination Strategies for Materials Commonly Used in Canine Equipment.

Working canines are frequently exposed to hazardous environments with a high potential for contamination. Environmental contamination may occur in many ways. Contamination may be chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear.

Handler training improves decontamination of working canines with oil-based exposure in field conditions using disposable kits.

Exposure to contaminants in the field is a reality for deployed canines. To date, there is no data evaluating the benefits of training for handlers associated with canine decontamination efforts. The objective of our work was to investigate the impact of handler training on the reduction of oil-based contaminants in working canines.