These best boys and girls just graduated from the ATF's National Canine Academy

All across the country over the past month, proud high school and college graduates have been beaming as they strut across stages to collect their well-earned diplomas.

The same held true in Front Royal, Va., on Friday, where a group of seven Labrador retrievers collected their degrees from the National Canine Training Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

At a graduation ceremony held in the academy’s warehouse-like main hall, friends and family snapped photographs of Class 148, five black Labs and two yellow Labs, who collected their certificates and shiny new ATF badges.

“Every team here has passed the highest standards and exceeded the expectations of the ATF canine program,” lead instructor Shawn Crawford told the crowd. “They’re ready to hit the streets, serve the public and protect their communities.”

During the speeches, some of the graduates rolled around on the concrete floor. Others sat quietly at attention and panted.

The dogs have just completed a 24-week program. The first phase involves basic obedience skills and detecting various explosives, compounds and mixtures. In the second phase, the dog is matched with its handler, an ATF special agent, and together they train to search for explosives in operational environments like schools, vehicles and warehouses.

After the ceremony, as families snap photos with the dogs, Crawford said the canines are now trained to detect, in theory, 19,000 different explosive compounds.

“They get about 25 odors while they’re here,” he said. “We base our methodology on a six-family theory. And if it’s commercial, homemade or military, it’s going to have to have one of these six base ingredients.”

He uses an analogy to explain: “If we train the dog