According to Deputy Adam Swail, "Nikki never relaxes. She's always looking for drugs. Nikki is high-strung and wound-up all the time. But that's the way we like it--we need a high-energy dog for this job. (Nikki is currently running around the conference room in frenzied circles, sniffing every crevice.)

"She always has to have something in her mouth. But she can't have her ball unless she finds dope. She doesn't like searching, she likes her ball. (Nikki, unable to find either drugs or her ball, has started to shred a paper bag with her mouth.)

"She works hard. She used to be a guide dog, but she wasn't very good at it. She's too crazy. We don't do a lot of obedience, because you don't want a dope dog to be too polite. She has to be able to get up on counters and into places dogs aren't supposed to go (Nikki is intermittedly jumping atop the table, nosing my bag and whining. Then she begins to circle the room again, checking the corners.)

"She has to search awful places, like airport runways or luggage conveyor belts, engine rooms, or filthy houses. Once she refused to go into a house, it was so disgusting. She's always on call. Nikki spends her whole life waiting to work."--ANNA SIMON