If you’re passing through Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in the next few days, you might get a glimpse of a local celebrity – in the form of passenger screening dog Eebbers, who last Friday won the Transportation Security Administration’s 2022 Cutest Canine Contest.

What You Need To Know

  • Eebbers, an 11-year-old Vizsla-Labrador mix working at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, won the Transportation Security Administration’s 2022 Cutest Canine Contest

  • Other finalists included Ava and Messi from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C., and Tom-Magnum from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York

  • Eebbers has worked at MSP since he was a puppy and is the last remaining canine from the Lackland Puppy Program who still works for the TSA on a daily basis

  • Eebbers will be featured on the cover of next year’s 2023 Canine Calendar from the TSA, which will include the 12 runners-up for each month of the year

Eebbers, an 11-year-old Vizsla-Labrador mix, is an explosive detection canine working at the MSP airport as a passenger screening dog. He was entered into the 92-dog-strong contest held in honor of National Dog Day on Friday, which the agency said was also meant “to acknowledge the important role TSA’s hardworking canines play in protecting the nation’s transportation system,” and ultimately came out at the top of the pack ahead of three other final contestants. 

The other finalists included Ava and Messi from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport near Washington, D.C.. and Tom-Magnum from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. 

 

Eebbers has worked at MSP since he was a puppy and is the last remaining canine from the Lackland Puppy Program who still works for the TSA on a daily basis. Eebbers helps his handler screen passengers and their belongings for “explosives at the security checkpoint as an added layer of security,” per the TSA. 

Eebbers is also experienced outside the airport walls, and has worked for security at two Super Bowls, a Special Olympics World Games, the NCAA national championship football game, the Indianapolis 500 and a NASCAR event. 

The TSA in 2019 announced it would begin training more floppy-eared dogs – like Eebbers – to use as screening canines, saying the public tends to feel more comfortable around them than dogs with pointy ears. 

“We find the passenger acceptance of floppy-ear dogs is just better,” then-TSA Administrator David Pekoske told the Washington Examiner. “It presents just a little bit less of a concern. Doesn’t scare children.”

There are around 1,000 canines teams trained at the TSA Canine Training Center in San Antonio currently operating around the country. As of 2019, around 70% of those dogs had floppy ears.

Eebbers will be featured on the cover of next year’s 2023 Canine Calendar from the TSA, which will include the 12 runners-up for each month of the year. 

And as thanks for his decade of outstanding service, Eebbers will be retiring this week – and the Minneapolis Airport staff will honor the canine with a send-off service Wednesday at Terminal One.