Hero Portland Dog Retires in Style

Lila the Arson Dog ends long and illustrious career with treats, gifts.

On the eve of her ninth birthday and day of mandatory retirement, The City of Portland reports that Portland Fire & Rescue's Arson Dog Lila celebrated her illustrious seven year career with a bowl of food and a personalized dog bed covered in fire bureau badges.

Part of the Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosive (ATF&E) Accelerant Canine Detection Team Program (ACDT), Lila is a black Labrador that has been a working dog since the age of eight weeks, where she began her career in a guide dog training program in Texas. After being moved to the ACDT Program, she was paired with trainer and partner Lt. Fabian Jackson, an ATF&E Task Force Officer and member of Portland Fire & Rescue whom she lived with throughout her career.

Working on cases with Lt. Jackson from Ferndale, Wash. to Pheonix, Ariz., Lila built a career investigating everything from car fires to large commercial building fires. Arson dogs undergo rigorous training to detect dozens of different accelerants in suspected arson situations. Their noses are so powerful that they are able to find trace amounts of combustible substances, amounts so small that they evade computer detection.

Fire dogs live under strict regimes and literally work for their food, being exclusively fed on a reward system. Lila will live with Lt. Jackson in retirement, getting to enjoy all of the privileges your bread and butter Labrador gets to enjoy for their entire life.

Good dog!

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