Are COVID Detecting Sniffer Dogs The Future Of Live Music?

Touring in the Omicron era certainly presents a range of challenges and ethical dilemmas, yet a few artists have developed a new strategy to reduce COVID risk at large shows. 

Eric Church, Tool, Metallica and The Black Keys have recruited dogs that are specially trained to find traces of COVID within the members of the bands, crew, entourage and anyone else within touching distance of the band.

The 12 dogs currently being used are overseen by Ohio-based Bio-Detection K9. They are trained for six weeks and are taught to sniff people's hands and feet, and if they detect the virus they sit down. 

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Bio-Detection company president and Air Force vet Jerry Johnson stated, “People say, ‘What’s that dog doing?' It surprises them and they’re pessimistic, but if you understand the instincts of a dog’s behaviour, it makes a lot of sense.

"Dogs sniff each other to see if that other dog has a virus. We’re training them to look for something they’d be interested in anyway.”

In terms of their success? “Everyone at the loading dock gets sniffed,” Church’s production manager Malcolm Weldon said.

“We’ve had them get a couple of local guys who thought they were negative. Then those guys went and had a PCR test and it came back that they were positive.”

The company claims that the average cost of a dog test is approximately $2 per person and are limited to 200 people per hour.