The need for implementation of the Project became evident a number of years ago. For many years officers of the State Border Guard Service at the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter the SBGS) supervising dog handling activities have been gaining and sharing knowledge and experience only between national experts (the SBGS and other Lithuanian law enforcement institutions) and had no possibility to get familiar with innovative dog handling practices related to the EU external border control as well as best practices of the EU Member States. Participation in Erasmus+ program 2015-2016 has given an invaluable experience and was of great benefit to SBGS, and therefore it was decided that the professional development in the dog handling field should be continued under the umbrella of Erasmus+ program. The objective of the project is professional development of dog handling activities: strengthening of cooperation between border guard services in the field of dog handling at the international level, improving of dog handlers’ training programs, enhancing of dog handlers’ competences as well as skills and professional efficiency in use of service dogs in EU external border control (to prevent illegal border crossings and smuggling of excise goods, explosives, narcotic materials across the EU external border).In the framework of the project there are planned 6 study visits to Finnish and Estonian border guard services and their structural units. The participants of the project will be divided into two groups:1. Officers that are in charge of the development and organization of dog handling activities at the SBGS (a visit of three project participants to each Estonian and Finnish border guard services – in total 6 participants);2. Dog handling instructors that provide training to dog handlers with service dogs (two visits of two participants to each Estonian and Finnish border guard services – in total 8 participants).The first group will be composed of the SBGS officers that are in charge of supervising and administering dog handling and whose English Language proficiency level is not lower than A2. The officers have years of experience in the management of dog handling activities and organization of dog handlers’ training courses. The officers have also accumulated a wide practical work experience in Lithuania. One of the tasks of the aforementioned officers is further development and improvement of dog handling activities. In the framework of this project the officers would gain professional experience from their colleagues in Estonia and Finland and that would, without doubt, contribute to acquiring of necessary competences, i.e. mastering of new training methods, application of best dog handling practice in border control: preventing of illegal immigration, smuggling of explosives , weapons, narcotic materials through the external EU border as well as service dogs’ testing methodology. All the acquired competences will be directly used in the project participants’ daily activities. The second group will be composed of the SBGS dog handling instructors that have long years of experience in dog handlers’ training and conducting of advanced training courses and whose English Language proficiency level is not lower than A2. During the training in Estonia and Finland the dog handling instructors will gain new competences needed for their daily work, i. e. will get familiar with new dog handling methodologies of service dogs used for border control. The acquired knowledge, in accordance with the approved training programs, will be afterwards used when conducting training sessions for both the SBGS dog handlers (in total 140 dog handlers, of these training is provided to 92 dog handlers with dogs per year) and dog handlers of other law enforcement institutions of the Republic of Lithuania (on average training is provided to 56 dog handlers with dogs per year).Persons responsible for the management of the project will maintain a direct communication with project partners’ designated officials via telephone and/or e-mail.It is expected that participants of the project will improve their skills and professional efficiency in the fields of dog handling management and activity planning, testing of service dogs as well as development of dog handling programs that are aimed at enhancing of competences in service dogs training methodology on detection of footprints, footprint tracking and detention of border violators.Implementation of the project will make a direct positive impact on the development of the SBGS dog handling activities related to border control. More efficient use dog handlers and service dogs for the EU external border control will ensure greater border security both at the national and the EU level. Efficient control measures carried out at the EU external borders by the SBGS will contribute to the EU’s greater security as a whole.