ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Jodi has the disposition of an energetic kid sister: sweet and loving and endearingly clumsy.
The 18-month-old black Labrador retriever likes to tear sticks to smithereens and rub her belly over the grass, and sometimes when she runs, her paws seem too big for her body.
But there's another side to her, and it's all business.
Jodi is Alaska's only ``accelerant dog,'' able to sniff out a microliter (one-twentieth of a drop) of flammable kerosene, lighter fluid and gasoline from beneath mounds of charred debris.
She behaves like a puppy until she enters a fire scene; then she becomes dignified and serious. She walks silently but deftly across the piles of ash.
Following her is like trailing a shadow: She sniffs, tugs on her leash and veers into a burned-out bedroom, leaping on the bed with an eerie grace. Within seconds, she crouches into sitting position, her rear end carefully positioned inches from the debris.
``Good girl!'' says Bridget Bushue, deputy chief of fire prevention and Jodi's handler.
``She supposed to sit when she alerts, see? But she doesn't like to in this debris,'' Bushue says, opening a food pouch attached to her belt and feeding Jodi treats as she explains that arson dogs are taught to give a passive alert whenever they locate a trace of a flammable substance.
They immediately sit and point their noses in the direction of the strongest concentration of accelerant.
As if to verify this, Jodi, still on leash, heads to a large, open area that might have been the living room and quickly crouches again. She has found the last hit of the practice session, but Bushue allows her time to sniff along a charred beam jutting in the middle of the floor.
A fire scene, Bushue says, can be used as a training site only once.
``She'll remember every hit. If I brought her back in a month, she'd go bam, bam, bam to every treat site.''
Because dogs on arson duty are rewarded with food whenever they locate accelerants, they regard fire as something of a holiday.
``You should see how excited Jodi gets when she hears the fire trucks,'' Bushue says with a laugh. ``You can just hear her think, 'Oh goody, now it's snack time.'''
Food rewards are one of the major differences between an arson dog and a police dog. Most law enforcement dogs are fed as normal pets. Accelerant dogs, however, work for grub.
They are fed only after locating and alerting on small drops of kerosene or gasoline or lighter fluid hidden in sidewalk cracks or pieces of burned carpet.
Training sessions are staggered throughout the day and evening, and each requires careful planning. Bushue must go out ahead of time and place minute drops of accelerant around a chosen area, using a variety of materials, from scorched carpet and fabric to pieces of wood and tin cans.
Then she straps on the food pouch, calls for Jodi and they're off to sweep the area.
They do this two times a day, every day of the week, and they'll continue for the next 10 years.
``It's a huge commitment,'' Bushue says. ``The first weeks were difficult. It was still winter. I couldn't hide anything in the cracks because, well, they were all covered in snow.''
Due to her sporadic feeding schedule, Jodi is weighed twice a week. If she is under or over her ideal weight range, food portions are adjusted.
``You want to keep her a little bit hungry,'' Bushue says. ``She has to be ready in case there is a fire. If she has just eaten a huge meal, she might look over and think, 'Big deal.'''
With a nose far more acute than a person's, Jodi is able to pinpoint accelerants in the exact spots of their distribution. And she can do it faster than an investigator, who must first rule out any other cause.
Arson dogs are unable to verify an occurrence of foul play. All ``alerted'' evidence is verified in a laboratory before confirmation of a crime occurs.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began the accelerant canine training program in 1989, and it has expanded to include 60 teams throughout the country.
Brad Earman, special agent for the local ATFE bureau, is pleased with Jodi's progress. Because of Alaska's location and the logistics involved in getting a quick response from an arson team, it's imperative for Alaska to have its own team, he says.
``We cover one-fifth of the land mass of the United States here,'' he says, ``and it just made sense for ATF to supply an arson dog to the fire department.''
Earman feels good that Bushue and the Anchorage Fire Department are willing to make the commitment, and he's a little envious too.
``I'm jealous of any job at ATF or the fire department that has a dog,'' Earman says. ``It's the most rewarding thing out there in law enforcement.''
The Anchorage Fire Department applied for an arson dog over a year ago and, after a rigorous series of applications and interviews, was accepted into the program last year. In February, Bushue flew off to Front Royal, Va. for five weeks of intensive training. Sessions took place every day, with a variety of classroom and fire scene experiences.
By the second week, the dogs were living with their handlers. Jodi had known only life in a kennel and seemed overwhelmed by the comforts of Bushue's hotel room.
``She just stood there when I first took her in, and it was like she was thinking, 'Wow.' She didn't know what to make of it. Especially the bed. She loved the bed but kept rolling off,'' Bushue says.
Once training was completed, Bushue and Jodi flew back to Alaska, where Jodi got her first taste of snow. Bushue e-mailed instructors and other handlers for advice and emotional support, then buckled down and carved out a routine.
Over the past few months, Bushue has grown optimistic about the future of the partnership. She sees Jodi as a member of the family and a valuable arson-solving tool. The extra effort required for feedings is nothing more than, well, a little extra effort.
``It's nice, especially now that the weather is warm,'' Bushue says. ``We go down by the duck pond, and Jodi, she really likes it there.''
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