Super Sniffers: Dog Detectives on the Job

Informative, Surprising, Inspiring, Fascinating, Bright  

Super Sniffers: Dog Detectives on the Job by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

Published by Bloomsbury USA, Copyright 2014

Dogs can be more than just a part of your family. They have been getting put to work for years with jobs such as herders, hunters, guards, and even detectives. With their keen sense of smell dogs are able to sniff out bombs, detect diseases, find avalanche victims, and much more. Dorothy Hinshaw Patent explores the hard work and training of some very talented dogs as she shares their stories of saving lives. 

Grade level: 3

Lexile Measure: NC1210L

Description: Nonfiction

Suggested delivery: Independent read 

Electronic Resources:

Scholastic News Article

This article, also entitled “Super Sniffers,” appeared in an issue of Science World magazine. The article contains additional information about dogs using their noses to save people’s lives and the training that it requires. 

Penn Vet YouTube video

This is a video of how puppies at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center are trained to become drug and bomb search dogs. Students can watch this video to acquire more information about what goes on during the training of these dog detectives. 

Teaching Strategies

Key vocabulary:

·         Odor – a particular smell

·         Molecule – the smallest possible amount of a particular substance that has all the characteristics of that substance

·         Reinforce – to encourage or give support to a behavior

·         Elite – the most successful or powerful group of people

·         Vital – extremely important

·         Detect – to discover or notice the presence of something 

Before reading: Before adding the book to the classroom library, take a survey of the class about which students have pet dogs at home. Ask students if their dogs or any dogs that they know (fictional or nonfictional) have a special talent. This will activate students’ prior knowledge about dogs and build an interest in the book.

During reading: Have students create concept maps to summarize the main ideas and supporting details from the text. 

After reading: Put students in small groups and have them play a word toss game by writing six vocabulary words from the book on a cube or beach ball. Each student takes turns rolling the cube and has to define whichever word it lands on. Every correctly defined word earns a point for the group.

Writing activity:  Have students pick one specific job for dogs from the book that interests them the most and do additional research on it. Some examples include medical alert dogs or drug detecting dogs. After they gather enough information have them write a short research paper on their chosen topic. 

 Patent, D. (2014). Super Sniffers: Dog Detectives on the Job. New York, New York: Bloomsbury.