Smuggled cell phones are a serious problem in prisons; they allow inmates to engage in criminal activity, including threatening witnesses, from inside their cell. And as cell phones have gotten smaller, they've gotten easier to hide.

But now, thanks to man's best friend, smuggling cell phones into prison is going to get a lot harder.

Last April, a Maryland prison official started training dogs to sniff out cell phones. It isn't clear what exactly the dogs are sniffing for, though it's probably a combination of odors from various parts. Maryland now has three dogs specifically trained to seek out cell phones.

Hopefully the next step will be training Fido to find my keys, wallet, cell phone and employee ID, which I tend to lose on a rotating basis.

[Via the Washington Post]

Post by Brittany Petersen.