Retired sniffer dogs that have spent years on police patrol are now working in the private sector in the US – sniffing out teenagers’ bedrooms. Parents can rent a dog and handler for $200 an hour from Sniff Dogs, a firm operating in New Jersey and Ohio…
The company says the animals can smell marijuana from up to 15 feet away and residue on clothing from drugs smoked two days earlier.
The dogs sit when they detect the drugs but they leave the final inspection to the parents.
Pat Winterstein from Washington, New Jersey decided to use the service to search the bedrooms of her three children.
“I trust my kids, but you only can trust them so far…”
This is a positive generational relationship?
John D, if I let one of these hounds loose in your house, would he dance or sit? 😉
Wow. When it gets to that point, I’m thinking that there are deeper problems than a little pot.
That said, for $200 per hour, I wish I thought of it!
If you raise your kids correctly you don’t have to worry too much about this.
Of course you should trust people especially your kids.
However if you don’t verify you are an innocent naive person.
Things may be fine but there is nothing like _knowing_ things are fine.
If things are fine you don’t have to have that nasty ugly confrontation.
You also feel a little better about extending trust to the next step up.
There is a certain segment of the boomer/post boom generation that has taken all the wrong lessons of their upbringing to heart; everyone must be protected from the troubles of life, everyone must conform, and everyone must toe the line. Never mind that these people are basing their vision of how things should be upon a fantasy, and amalgam of old TV shows and old repression. These are the people that are most enthusiastically bringing us the 1984 super state, because they value surveillance over trust, the appearance of no conflict over real peace, and conformity over freedom.
In other words, they have serious mental deficiencies, and we are all going to be living in hell in the long run if they get their way.
#3 – Paddy-O – If you raise your kids correctly you don’t have to worry too much about this.
Agreed. Unfortunately there are quite a few “parents” who are too busy entertaining themselves instead of raising their kids.
#6 I know the type you are talking about. Maybe that’s why the kids of Boomers are overwhelmingly screwed up. At least of the ones I’ve ever hired…
The question is, if your teenager is smoking a bit of pot 1. do you really want to know about it and 2. does it really that matter that much?
#8 PB&J said,
“1. do you really want to know about it?” Yes I would.
“2. does it really that matter that much?”
Yes, the stoners I knew growing up never succeeded in life.
#9 Paddy-O
I understand what you are saying, but I am friends with successful professors who were recreational drug users most of their lives.
I know that if as a kid my parents had brought a drug sniffing dog into my room I would have felt completely unable to trust them, and it would have destroyed all feelings of privacy I had.
I am not trying to support or demonize teenage drug use.
#10 RoflPost “but I am friends with successful professors who were recreational drug users most of their lives.”
Umm, professors aren’t part of the real world. I know and had professors in college who couldn’t find their you know what with both hands, and didn’t need to be able to. The world of academia & tenure shield them from having to be competent.
Any parent that raises their kiddies on the basis of trust is an idiot.
Kiddies are there to be raised, not trusted.
Trust is just an excuse to be lazy. That doesn’t mean you waste time and money on any whacked out suspicion you may have, but rational use of your time does not equate to trust.
I sure hope whatever the hell has infected Americans doesn’t spread to the rest of the world.
# 13 Nth of the 49th said, “I sure hope whatever the hell has infected Americans doesn’t spread to the rest of the world.”
Drug addiction has already spread. Too late.
It’s all about spending time with your kids, knowing who they hang out with and knowing where they are.
#15 syrinx said, “It’s all about spending time with your kids, knowing who they hang out with and knowing where they are.”
Yep, the “latch key kids” syndrome took off with the children of the Boomers as the “me” generation parents both worked in order to maximize wealth. The same generation that invented “Yuppies” and the greed of the 80’s.
All the while letting their children do whatever with no oversight or supervision.
Sorry no mention of privacy in the constitution that I can find.
Wasn’t talking about drug addiction Paddy.
hah hah. Arf of the Barf contesting with Paddy over “guess what I’m posting about.”
Classic.
Bobbo Any parent that raises their kiddies on the basis of trust is an idiot.
Anyone who makes sweeping statements about parenting and how parents raise their kids probably doesn’t have kids. The simple rule of parenting is that there isn’t any simple rules. If you’ve raise one child and think you’ve figured it all out, you have a second child and realise that nothing you’ve learnt before is of any value. And then the third is totally different from the one before that. And so on.
There are some some guidelines that work well as a general rule. One is that if you don’t trust your kids (or at least raise them to believe that they themselves are trustworthy) the chances of them growing up to be trustworthy aren’t very good. If you need dogs to come in an sniff your kids rooms for drugs, then they probably weren’t raised to be trustworthy, but then again, some kids are just dishonest no matter what you do. Certainly I think if it gets to the point where you think you need dogs to sniff your kids room, both you and your kids could probably use some sort of therapy. Or maybe just a good smoke, if that is your thing.
Being a parent now I can say…
If i liked the kid, and we got along, then no, I wouldn’t do this. On the other hand, if my kid was a real ass hole and I wanted him/her to move out as soon as possible, then yes I would use a service like this.
So that’s what my DOG was doing!!
(He never found anything)
#20,
You are still maintaing the delusion that you have some control over your life and how things turn out. Sure you control some things, but the personalities of your kids is not one of them.
Even with regards to recreational drug use. Some kids are going to have a “normal” reaction to alcohol and pot, and some kids will have a problematic reaction.
I am fairly certain that nothin you do as a part will determine the outcome. But, absolutely you can influence it.
Trust is tough – it’s a two way street. My kids have to trust me and vice versa, and I have to earn it everyday. I only have one rule for raising my kids – the same rules apply to me and them. Other than that I just wing it.
Last night I went out for some scotches with friends. My daughter was studying for midterms so she was home and offered to pick me since I wouldn’t be driving. I drank reasonably and responsibly and she teased me about scotch being and old man’s drink while driving home.
If she can trust me then I can trust her. On the other hand, getting a dog to do your thinking for you is just stupid.
#20–peanut==everything you say is contained within what I said. And i said much more.
No reason not to use the dogs because you don’t trust YOURSELF!!!!
I’ll let you ponder that in your search for equality/sameness between parent and child.
QB–the trust involved is a bout very different things and therefore not equateable. One entrance to evaluating the subject is to recognize kiddies start out completely dependent on their parents. Do you trust the kiddie not to roll off the table? From there things progress and switch until at the end of days, the kiddies are wondering if you are going to spend their inheritance on get rich quick schemes. Should your kiddies trust you not to roll off the table?
Clear cut as some sage has posted.
bobbo queried:
“Do you trust the kiddie not to roll off the table?” Personally, I let my kids roll off the tables. They only did it once.
“Should your kiddies trust you not to roll off the table?” Yup. And if I did they would the right to laugh their guts out at me and say ‘I told you so’.
Real high tables over pits filled with spikes and alligators?
I think not.
Really, really high tables surrounded by wood chippers and social workers. I’m not sure which was more dangerous.
I get what you’re saying but I think you’re mixing teaching and trust. Again I’ll come back to the same rules apply to me and them. I don’t jump down empty elevator shafts and neither did my kids when they were small. However, we might throw over ripe watermelons down there to explore the concept. 😉
I cannot defeat any perry that suggests terms of an argument should be defined. Takes all the fun out of posting mindlessly, or in advocacy, if thats not redundant.
This is a terrible idea, and will destroy many parent / child relationships. When I was 16, my mother took me to the Dr’s office to have a drug test. I didn’t know that was why I was there until I read my chart sitting in the waiting room. The test came back negative because, at the time, I had never done any drugs. After that, I figured “Fuck it, everybody from teachers to my parents already think I’m doing drugs, why not try it?” Not to mention the fact that it took me years and years to get over it.