Apollo finished his last suitcase search the same way he had been trained to finish a working search: he sat. Once the German Shorthaired Pointer gave that final indication, staff marked the end of his seven-year safety career with Southwest Airlines by releasing dozens of tennis balls.
The Dallas Police Department honored Apollo at a retirement event that included a balloon arch and photographs from his working years. After the disciplined final search came the release: Apollo moved among the tennis balls, collecting the reward that signaled his transition out of service.
Apollo was trained through the Transportation Security Administration as an explosives-detection canine. The available account does not identify his handler or establish whether the Dallas Police Department owned or handled him. It also does not specify whether Apollo searched passengers, baggage, cargo or other targets during routine assignments. Those distinctions matter because TSA operates separate training tracks for traditional explosives detection and passenger screening.
Detection work depends on the team
The TSA Canine Training Center trains both federal handlers and state or local law-enforcement officers paired with explosives-detection dogs. Teams can work in aviation, mass transit, maritime and cargo settings. Participating law-enforcement agencies agree to use their TSA-trained teams in the assigned transportation environment for at least 80% of the handler’s duty time.
Traditional explosives-detection handlers generally complete an 11-week course, while passenger-screening handlers complete 16 weeks. Graduation requires proficiency across settings that can include airports, baggage areas, buses, cargo facilities, rail systems and highway vehicles. Teams then return to their duty stations to become familiar with the specific operational environment in which they will work.
That initial qualification is not the end of training. TSA conducts annual on-site assessments and continuously evaluates four elements: recognition of explosive odors, the handler’s interpretation of behavioral changes, systematic search technique and the team’s ability to locate the odor’s strongest point. This is why a sit such as Apollo’s is more than a trick. It is a trained communication within a dog-handler system, although the precise indication behavior can only be described here for Apollo’s final suitcase search.
TSA characterizes these dogs as both explosives-detection specialists and a visible security presence. Its program currently includes more than 1,000 explosives-detection canines working at airports across the United States, while about 300 dogs complete agency training annually. German Shorthaired Pointers such as Apollo are among the breeds commonly graduating from the program, alongside German Shepherd Dogs, Labrador Retrievers, German Wirehaired Pointers and Belgian Malinois.
Breed is only one part of suitability. TSA instructors assess canine and human candidates for their ability to function as a team. Training facilities reproduce operational spaces such as terminals, checkpoints, baggage-claim areas, aircraft interiors, cargo facilities and rail cars. That controlled progression prepares teams for the noise, movement and changing search problems found in transportation work.
Retirement changes the job, not the care obligation
Retirement arrangements differ among working dogs. In one documented 2024 case, a TSA handler adopted his retiring Labrador Retriever after the dog’s final passenger-screening assignment. TSA’s Canine Adoption Program also occasionally places retired government dogs, although much of the program concerns dogs that did not meet working criteria.
Prospective adopters through that program must agree to provide medical care, exercise, training and companionship. TSA also requires adoptive families to understand a retired dog’s history and possible medical needs. Those requirements recognize that leaving operational work does not erase the physical and behavioral demands accumulated during a career.
None of those general pathways establishes where Apollo went. His retirement home, ownership and whether he remained with his handler have not been identified. What is known is narrower but still instructive: after seven years supporting Southwest safety operations, he completed one last structured search, delivered the trained indication expected of him and then pursued a field of tennis balls instead of another assignment.
What’s your dog’s job, official or self-appointed? Tell us in the comments.
By Tom Whitaker — Outdoor magazine editor who has reported on search-and-rescue, herding, field dogs, and working-dog handlers.
