The state of Texas has made no bones about its stance on securing border, often clashing with the federal government when it believes not enough is being done. One of the key tools in the state’s arsenal is the Department of Public Safety (DPS) K-9 program.

According to Fox News, the Texas DPS currently fields 74 canine teams throughout the state. Of those, 51 specialize in drug detection, nine are trained for explosive detection and 13 are dedicated tracking dogs. It’s a large K-9 team — but then, Texas is a big place. For the furry members of the corps, it all begins at the DPS training facility in Florence, Texas.

“We take a dog from a green dog that knows absolutely nothing and transform that dog into a working machine,” said Lieutenant Boyd Lamb, a 19-year DPS veteran who has been a member of the K-9 program for 12 years.

Much of that transformation involves exposure to real-world scenarios. In some cases, canines undergo helicopter deployments or other forms of training designed to simulate the environments they’ll encounter in the field.

Right now, many of the state’s 74 teams are engaged in Operation Lone Star, an initiative aimed at stopping drug smuggling and unauthorized border crossings. Tracking dogs, in particular, play a crucial role in locating individuals attempting to evade apprehension. The training — for both handlers and dogs — is intensive. Each team completes nine weeks of joint instruction, while the dogs also undergo a “pre-training” phase that can last anywhere from six to 15 weeks.

It’s a lot of training, but it’s a big mission.