A chocolate brown Labrador dog was the star of the show at a press conference held at the Ottawa airport this morning.

Forget that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day was there — all eyes were on Shelly, a sniffer dog employed by Canada Border Services Agency, who sat at the minister's feet throughout the press conference.

This was, perhaps, due in part to the fact that the minister did not have anything new to announce.

Shelly performed a staged drug search at the end of the event and was rewarded with a yummy treat after she detected a bag of marijuana that was planted in one of the bags of luggage.

Shelly's star power is recognized by the CBSA, which has created a wallet-sized card of their canine helper.

The card features a flattering full-colour picture of Shelly with a red maple leaf in the background.

The cards are distributed to schoolchildren mostly, but reporters like them too.