LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Some lucky dogs who pass through security at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas may meet the Transportation Security Administration’s cutest canine of 2023.
“I think that’s a good-looking dog,” said one traveler of Dina, 2023’s winner of the government organization’s ‘Cutest Canine Contest.’ “I really do.”
Out of more than a thousand dogs that work for the TSA, the Las Vegas-based bomb-sniffing pupper was declared the winner. Dina reminded another Las Vegas traveler of a furry friend from his past.
“I used to have a dog like this at my grandma’s named Spooky,” he said.
Dina, a three-year-old German short-haired pointer, has been working with her handler Nick at the TSA for just over a year.
“Everybody knows Dina. Everybody knows that she’s just a silly little girl that wants to get her ears rubbed,” said Dina’s handler Nick. “But at the same time when it’s work time, she’s ready to go.”
While working dogs like Dina, trained to detect the scent of explosives at airports and mass transit sites, are friendly, they should only be touched and fed by their handler.
Dina will be the cover girl for the 2024 TSA canine calendar, and if passengers at the Las Vegas airport Wednesday have a say, her reign as the TSA’s cutest canine will be undisputed.
“I think they got it right,” said another person passing through the airport. “The cutest dog ever.”
