By Steve Neavling
Put your paws together for the cutest TSA canine – Alona, a 4-year-old golden retriever.
Alona was voted the cutest canine that works for the Transportation Security Administration.
More than 131,000 people voted in the annual contest on TSA’s social media platforms.
Alona is an explosives detection canine out of McCarren International Airport in Las Vegas. She was named in honor of Alona Abraham, an Israeli woman who was on United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Alona beat out Lexi, a Belgian Malinois from Dallas – Fort Worth International Airport (DFW); Badger, a Belgian Malinois from Chicago O’Hare International Airport; and Lexa, a German Shepard from DFW.
Alona is bilingual and responds to command in English and Spanish. When not protecting travelers, she loves listening to pop music and playing fetch in parks.
The TSA has more than 1,000 canines paired with handlers.
“TSA’s Explosives Detection Canines are an integral part of our mission, and training is no easy task,” the agency said in a news release. “Conventional Explosives Detection Canine teams undergo a 12-week training course, with passenger-screening canine teams undergoing an additional 4 weeks of training. Even after graduating, teams are continually assessed to make sure they can still sniff out any threats to our transportation systems.”
