We have much to celebrate...
Things have been busy here at Working Dogs for Conservation, thanks in huge part to the Arthur L. & Elaine V. Johnson Foundation, which has generously awarded us a grant allowing us to expand the detection directions of our dogs, helping us explore new areas for the use of this unique technology, ask new questions and ultimately make a bigger contribution to conservation. In addition, it has allowed us to grow as an organization, expanding our outreach and education efforts and helping us launch into a whole new and exciting phase.
Many thanks to everyone at the Arthur L. & Elaine V. Johnson Foundation for your support; you have opened a world of possibilities for us and the dogs that live for this work. We could not be doing so much without you.
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Thank You
Wildlife Conservation Network!!
WDC attended this year's Conservation Expo and we are still celebrating this tremendous opportunity....
WDC co-founder Megan Parker, board member Anne Burchenel and conservation dog Pepin traveled to Los Altos, California where they attended three days of workshops, a party hosted by Akiko and Jerry Wang, a day at the Conservation Expo and Market and a garden party hosted by Charlie Knowles, head and co- founder of WCN.
The opportunity to learn more about global conservation efforts and running a successful non-profit coupled with a steady stream of people committed to conservation, not to mention impressed with Pepin's amazing skill set (thanks Pepin, once again, for behaving), was absolutely phenomenal.
We're incredibly grateful for the invitation to participate and extend a special thanks to:
Charlie Knowles
Steven and Florence Goldby
Kennon and Bob Hudson
Walli Finch
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Got Moose?
WDC goes to work in the Adirondacks with WCS, finds plenty...
 Once extirpated from the Adirondacks in the late 1860s, moose recently began making a comeback around 1980; with populations estimated around 500 in 2007, derived primarily from sighting reports. While this is cause for celebration, given the lack of large predators in the area the moose population has the potential to increase rapidly, raising concerns about their potential impacts on forest and aquatic vegetation and the possibility of increased moose-vehicle collisions.
For Heidi Krester, Livelihoods & Conservation Coordinator with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in the Adirondacks, getting a better idea of moose numbers in the area was critical to the understanding and management of the population of this iconic species of the North Woods. Given the terrain and expansiveness of the area this is no easy task. Locating moose in the Adirondacks is like "finding a needle in a haystack," according to Krester and she felt collaring these animals would be both too invasive and too expensive.
Familiar with WDCs work with Dr. Jon Beckmann in the Centennial mountains along the Montana-Idaho border, she thought: "well, why not give dogs a shot?"
Never having trained dogs on ungulates, for WDC co-founders Alice Whitelaw and Aimee Hurt it wasn't clear if the dogs could find moose scat. But also, could they do it in the thickly forested terrain of the Adirondacks?
"It definitely wasn't one of those 'oh, this is going to be easy' projects," said Whitelaw.
The project began in the end of April and though early on in the training the dogs could easily distinguish moose scat from all other ungulates, they had been trained on fall and winter scats from the Adirondacks. The scat the dogs encountered in the field was a mix of old scat from winter and fresh scat from spring and moose diet changes significantly seasonally. So significantly, the dogs didn't even recognize the moose scat there.
"We had to train right there in the field, addressing this little blip on the fly," said Whitelaw, knowing that diet plays a huge role in what the dogs are picking up, it was never seen on quite this scale before.
Blips and all, the project was a tremendous success. "We weren't sure if we were going to find any moose scat, but now we have 141 samples sitting in our freezer waiting to be analyzed." Albeit successful, the pilot study, funded by the Wild Center, the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, did not include money for DNA analysis of scats or for future surveys.
Given the return of moose to the Adirondacks, analysis of the scats found this year would not only allow for better population estimates, but in addition it may reveal landscape connectivity. The scat serves to inform scientists as to whether there is movement through this area or if this is an isolated population.
Finding the funding to continue this project is no small feat. To do the analysis of the scat samples will cost around $30,000 and a random sampling of the entire Adirondacks will cost an estimated $250-300,000 "to do it and do it right," according to Krester.
There is tremendous interest in making this happen by both WDC and WCS and for numerous reasons. Not only are we all committed to making a huge contribution to the understanding and conservation of moose make a comeback in the Adirondacks, but all parties agree it was a fabulous collaboration and long to continue working together in the future.
(Photo: conservation dog Wicket, gets a reward for successfully locating moose scat. Credit: Julie Larsen Maher, WCS)
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This Year's Must-Read:
Noninvasive Survey Methods for Carnivores
"...a timely and up to date resource for field biologists, agency personnel, graduate students, and others seeking to undertake carnivore surveys."
- Island Press
Paula MacKay and Robert A Long, along with WDC co-founders Deborah Smith and Megan Parker, co-authored chapter 7, 'Scat Detection Dogs' of this exciting new text now available.
The chapter highlights WDC's work on kit fox, work with Dr. Jon Beckmann of Wildlife Conservation Society in the Centennial mountains and Dr. Linda Kerley's Amur tiger scent-matching work. In addition, it provides the background on conservation dogs, target species successfully located thus far, the types of questions that are best answered using dogs and... SO much more!!
Pick up your copy at:
Island Press Bookstore |
Finny Fund  For everyone, there is a once-in-a-lifetime dog; the dog that shows you a better way to do just about everything. And then there is Finny, who did just that again and again while balancing a rich detection career and a regular tour of the veterinary schools of the West. For the dog who...
At 8 years-old was diagnosed with lymphangiosarcoma in his abdomen and underwent surgery
to remove it and his penis. With a whole new way to pee and about a 15" incision, he enthuisiastically returned to his first love,locating desert tortoises, wolf, bear and cougar scat, in addition to black footed ferrets. He beat
the odds and it hasn't ever returned, compliments of Colorado State University.
At 10 years-old was diagnosed with a brain tumor and underwent about 4
weeks of radiation. After making an impressive come-back, he again returned to following his heart, locating wolf, bear and cougar scat as well as desert
tortoises, compliments of Washington State University.
At 10 1/2 years-old (4 months after his brain tumor treatment), while working on the desert tortoise project, he made a wee leap over a
tiny draw and blew out his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in his knee and thus had a Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) at the Las Vegas Veterinary Referral Center.
At 12 1/2 years-old, currently, he is happily (as per the Finny way!) enjoying retirement.
...we've created the Finny Fund. A donation to the Finny Fund helps Working Dogs for Conservation provide the kind of top level emergency veterinary care that keeps these dogs doing what they do and love most...working to save wild life and wild lands. To make a contribution to the Finny Fund: Click here |
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Working with detection dogs to benefit
science & conservation
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To learn more, visit us on the web:Working Dogs for Conservation
Help us grow:
Donate
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Spotlight on Spot
Conservation dog moonlights as superhero, alerting to fires & floods in addition to foxes...
WDC co-founder Deborah Smith tells the story of wonder-pup Colt...
Some detection abilities cannot be trained - they occur naturally. Case in point - Colt - a 7-year old black-tricolor Australian Shepherd. Colt is highly trained for his day job with WDC. His specialty is discrimination work where he differentiates between scents of a variety of species from around the globe, and his repertoire spans from kit foxes to snow leopards to lupine plants. Worked in controlled settings, Colt assists us in determining "proof of concept," allowing us to assess if dogs are initially capable of detecting a particular scent of research interest before they are field-deployed. Additionally, he is trained to help us sort target from non-target samples from a line-up of scent containers, and match biological based scents. Typical of his breed, Colt is intelligent and energetic, and learns new duties fast.
It is off the job and outside of the conservation arena, though, where I discovered Colt also has a human-assist ability. Colt began to demonstrate a variety of distinctive barks to alert us to various neighborhood on-goings. By listening to Colt, I learned that his different barks indicated different situations. Colt's low tone straightforward steady bark was used to announce common activities taking place outside such as visitors to the house, people and dogs walking by, or neighbors working in their yards. Yet on rare occasions, Colt displayed a high tone rapid bark, which I soon translated as an urgent matter is at hand.
This bark earned Colt five merit badges for saving life and property and an at home title of "Neighborhood Watch Dog." Colt's record includes alerting us to a serious flood situation and the neighbor's cattle on the loose. In addition, one night his 911 bark roused us, leading us to the far pasture to save a horse in serious colic. But the most notable of all Colt's alarm warnings occurred this past year. On a dark night in early February, his alarm bark rousted us from an evening reprieve. Upon reaching the yard, we saw the neighbor's chimney had caught fire. Sparks and flames were spouting 6-7 feet into the air and scattering both over the rooftop and on the tree branches, surrounding the house. This particular night Colt's communication saved thousands of dollars in property damage and human lives.
Some things cannot be taught. Colt is a Conservation Dog who gave himself a "second" job at home - detecting urgent matters. He developed a one of a kind bark to announce them to us and this time all I had to do was train myself to take the time to pay attention.
So remember dog owners - not all barking is annoying. Listen to your dog. In what ways does he or she communicate to you?
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Our Holiday Wish List
We're happily dogged around here, with our entire cadre of dogs occupying a special place in our lives. Our dogs not only work with us, they play with us and teach us big lessons beyond developing detection skills.
With this unique relationship comes a lot of care and responsibility.
To keep up with the physical demands of field work, we feed our dogs the best and provide top quality veterinary care, going beyond what that of the average dog receives.
This year, we are dedicating the holidays to the dogs!
Help us give them what they deserve:
Help us keep our dogs working
(and doing what they love)
A donation to the Finny Fund helps cover veterinary emergencies--from rattlesnake bites and torn knees on the job, emergencies are real possibilities we do our best to avoid and provide the best when they unfortunately do occur.
Help us keep our dogs healthy
We feed nothing but the best, high quality food and supplements for the demands of work and even more so when the dogs are on-project.
This costs $1250 per dog per year and is critical for their proper care.
Help us keep our dogs happy
In addition to food and veterinary care, to keep our dogs safe and happy we need crates, search vests, bowls, beds, leashes, toys (lots!, the coveted reward for a job well-done)!...
Donate
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