Dogs with Jobs: Data on Canine Employment in the U.S. Government

Thousands of dogs work for the US government, detecting explosives or narcotics or working for a range of federal agencies in law enforcement and security. As of February 2022, about 5,600 dogs work for the federal government, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Most of these dogs — 5,159 of them — work for the government, in 40 federal programs across eight departments and three independent agencies, while the other 421 are contractors, working with 24 contractor programs across eight departments and two independent agencies.