Terre Pruitt's Blog

I would venture to say that almost everyone has heard of drug sniffing dogs. And Search and Rescue dogs (SAR dogs). Some have probably even heard of fruit sniffing dogs. And also cadaver dogs. But have you heard of Working Dogs for Conservation? WD4C = Working Dogs for Conservation.

In 2000 four women, Dr. Megan Parker, Alice Whitelaw, Aimee Hurt, and Dr. Deborah Woollett, thought they could use the training techniques for dogs that detect narcotics, people, and cadavers as a base to train dogs to smell out things that threaten wildlife and certain areas. Since then they have impacted 45 US states and 36 countries by either actually taking their dogs there or consulting or collaborating. Their dogs have been trained on over 110 distinct scent targets.

They have been trained to detect scat of endangered species which can then be collected and sent for analysis to allow researchers to learn more about specific species. “WD4C has also demonstrated dogs’ ability to discriminate the scat of disease-infected animals from uninfected individuals of the same species.” Which can help with determining which animals are sick and in turn, with proper steps, keep more animals from contracting the disease.

They are trained to find invasive plants in areas in which they should not be.

They can locate beetles destroying ash trees and rodents invading the Falkland Islands.

The WD4C can help prevent poaching by detecting weapons and ammunition.

And the OTHER cool thing is these dogs are rescue dogs. Dogs that were in shelters, dogs that needed re-homing, or just dogs that needed a career-change. Some dogs just NEED to work, they need a purpose, they are high energy, high intelligence dogs that just need stimulation. So this WD4C is doing double good. Rescuing a dog and allowing it to help with amazing things.

According to their website, where I obtained all the above information, there are nineteen people on the team with headquarters in Missoula, MT.

I just learned about this organization and these dogs and I thought it was cool so I wanted to share.

Even though this is a sponsored video it is a nice overview of what WD4C does in a quick 2:15, in case you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcUMddEq9Ro

It amazes me what dogs can do! What do you think?