Vape-sniffing dog helps detect nicotine, THC in St. Clair Shores schools

At Lakeview High School, the band is getting ready for the school year — and so is Moose.

"This is one more set of eyes, ears and a nose to arrive at some deterrence," said Lakeview Public Schools Superintendent Karl Paulson.

Moose is not your average pup — but a member of security team Zebra K-9.

"A K-9’s nose is significantly more powerful than a human,” said Greg Guidice, Zebra K-9 founder and CEO.

That’s why his nose is being used to not only detect weapons and explosives, but also something often going undetected in classrooms across Michigan.

"One of their biggest issues is vaping and it’s vaping nicotine and THC,” he said.

It's easy to hide in plain sight.

"They look like a pen or they look like a toy," said Paulson.

And it's a growing problem for educators across the state.

"It’s become more prevalent,” said Paulson.

"Most of our school districts have vape detectors in their restrooms, but the issue the superintendent shared with us is by the time the detector goes off, the students have vanished, so then they have to go to film and then they see a group walking out but then they don’t know who has it," said Guidice.

Moose is like a mobile vape detector.

"A K-9 is everywhere the students are, walking right next to them. They can sniff their backpacks their bodies their lockers,” said Guidice.

The dog is a mobile detector that Paulson said is working.

"They’ve been at football games; they were at prom," said Paulson. "Our data in both our middle school and high school has reductions in incidents — is that a direct result of this? I don’t know, but this is the new thing.”

Paulson said THC and nicotine vape incidents from the last school year at Lakeview Public Schools were down 15 to 20 percent.

“Most of our colleagues have seen it go up 15 -20 percent," he said.

According to the CDC, more than 2 million or ten percent of middle and high school students are using e-cigarettes.

Many school leaders over the years have been sounding alarms over struggling to control it.

“We don’t see it as an epidemic, but I want there to be zero," he said.

And the good news is, at least here, their enforcement is a dog.

“They’re a deterrent for bad things, but they’re also somewhat of a therapy dog," said Paulson.