My colleagues and I were speculating today on how the new Oliver Stone movie "W" would do. Based on the commercials, and Josh Brolin's rising star (he was great in "No Country for Old Men"), I think it'll be huge ... but on the other hand, have you heard what the No. 1 movie in America is? For the past two weeks it's been that lovable chihuahua from Southern California.

You just can't go wrong with dogs in these dog days of Indian summer. Then, during today's conference call, my fellow managing editor James Maguire wondered if there were any "dogs-in-hi-tech" angles, and he was lamenting that he didn't think there were any such stories. Luckily, there IS an elephants-in-technology story, regarding GPS tracking, text messages, and farmers in Kenya. (Read Chris Nerney's blog on the subject.)

Then a memory hit me like a big slurpy dog lick in the chops. There is indeed a dog-in-tech saga. I remembered reading a couple years ago about sniffer dogs being used at airports in Asia to detect pirated DVDs. It sounded insane at the time.

Well, I Googled the story. Turns out there was an important update to the story on Tom's Hardware. This is a very old update, but I had not heard this development, as I regrettably was not following the story as closely as I should. The ominous title is, "Malaysian movie pirates put out hit on sniffer dogs."

How has this flown so under the radar? With the huge success of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," and with the growing legion of young geeks and DVD pirates out three  -- not to mention all the dog lovers  -- how has this idea not been optioned for a movie? Is Benji still available?

Anyway, here's part of the story from Tom's Hardware.

It appears that a pair of very successful anti-piracy sniffer dogs have been too successful for Malaysian crime lords. Mob bosses who specialize in distributing pirated DVDs and CDs are offering a reward for anyone who kills "Lucky" and "Flo," two black Labrador retrievers who busted a huge counterfeiting ring.

The dogs found over a million counterfeit CDs and DVDs in the city of Johor Baru which is near Singapore. Police estimate the discs to have a street value of three million dollars. The police also seized high-speed duplicators and other equipment. Six people were arrested.

The dogs have been trained to sniff out the smell of CD and DVD dyes typically used in mass piracy. ... Police are taking the threat seriously and have put the dogs in protective custody. Crime bosses often put out hits on successful sniffer dogs, although this is the first time we've heard of such a bounty placed on piracy dogs. The hits are usually ordered against drug dogs who find cocaine and other drugs.

Now before you discount this treat on the dog's lives, consider this tidbit from another story on the subject, this one from the Telegraph.co.uk.

Manny, a third dog who had been working with Lucky and Flo, died soon afterwards of unknown causes.