Canine Conversations

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Kate Graham from Katalyst Kennels about breeding detection dogs. Science Highlight: Effects of maternal investment, temperament, and cognition on guide dog success What health testing is important in the field? Pay attention to health conditions in the breed, like orthopedics (OFA hips and elbows), echocardiograms, and eyes Look at the breadth of pedigree, not just the dog itself General genetic testing to find carriers What about successful sporting dogs with less-solid pedigrees? Looking for dogs that work independently, highly motivated, and handler resilient in terms of performance Then see if the health related issues can be bred with a complimentary pedigree Behavioral issues are not worth the risk Sometimes this won’t be successful, but other times it will be Links Mentioned in the Episode: Where to find Kate Graham:  Website | Instagram | Facebook You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at pat

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Jo Lock of Nose No Limit and Conservation Dogs Collective regarding her paper about using antecedent arrangement to help reduce bat fatalities on wind farms. Science Highlight: The relationship between number of training sessions per week and learning in dogs **Link the Jo Lock paper Links Mentioned in the Episode: Where to find Jo Lock:  Website | Instagram | Facebook | Conservation Dogs Collective You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this bonus episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Mary Wykstra from Carnivores, Livelihoods and Landscapes, about the work they are doing with Actions for Cheetahs in Kenya. Links Mentioned in the Episode: Where to find Mary Wykstra: Website | Facebook | Vaccination Facebook Page | Go Fund Me You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Lindsay Ware of Science Dogs of New England about breed selection for unique uses, big game tracking, and more! Science Highlight: Effects of learning an increasing number of odors on olfactory learning, memory and generalization in detection dogs Different dogs place different priorities that we really have to be on top of How do you start training a dog for tracking? Similar to the conservation world with hides, but instead they are mock trails using animal blood or animal hooves The goal is to not be 100% realistic, but to be able to gradually increase the difficulty Train alongside an experienced dog Links Mentioned in the Episode: Last Track: Trailer - YouTube United Blood Trackers Tracking Dogs for Finding Wounded Deer Where to find Lindsay Ware:  Website | Instagram | Facebook | Tracking Facebook You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website |

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Isabelle Groc about her book Conservation Canines: How Dogs Work for the Environment. Science Highlight: Performance of detection dogs and visual searches for scat detection and discrimination amongst related species with identical diets Have you read Conservation Canines: How Dogs Help the Environment yet? Isabelle Groc put together this lovely book to highlight many of the working dogs around the world, from conservation detection dogs to livestock guardian dogs. I had a blast learning about her book-writing process. If you don't have the book yet, order it! It's gorgeous and a great read. Links Mentioned in the Episode: Isabelle Groc Book list Where to find Isabelle Groc: Website You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla hosts a panel of conservationists, dog behavior consultants and trainers, and ecologists. Our panel guests this episode are Dr. Charles van Rees, Ken Ramirez, Ursa Acree, Kim Brophy, Laura Holder, and Dr. Erim Gomez. Questions asked: What kinds of applications are currently practiced in conservation dogs work that might surprise those of us who don’t know about them? What are your top 2 or 3 professional ethics you feel are the most important in the work you do with animals (including humans)? What are the top things that you most wish your ecologist colleagues knew about dogs and dog training, that would make your collaborations easier or more productive? Where do you see this profession going in the future? Do you see an opportunity for pet dogs to become involved in conservation work on a large scale as a way to “give dogs jobs”? From your current knowledge of the “working dog world,” where do you see the biggest opportunities to provide these incred

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Paul Bunker about all clear procedures. Science Highlight: An assessment of the effects of habitat structure on the scat finding performance of a wildlife detection dog What is an all-clear response? The dog’s formal response to let the handler know there is no odor to alert to What is a go-no-go response? The dog’s NON-formal response to let the handler know there is no odor to alert to What’s a situation we may want to teach this for? Odor recognition tests Teaching them that they can still get rewarded for no odor, which reduces stress Good to check for contamination Teaches them to be confident in leaving a search area with no target present knowing they will still be rewarded What components make for a successful all clear? Ensure it is maintained and refreshed Prepare your training session in advance. Progression plans are extremely important. Variable reinforcement with your dog’s reward hierarchy The dog must 100% understan

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with James Davis about his work with Padfoot Science Highlight: Detecting Small and Cryptic Animals By Combining Thermography and a Wildlife Detection Dog What is some advice for someone hoping to jump into the industry? Be realistic about your expectations Don’t rely on this line of work to hold a steady income or to sustain you financially How do you keep your dogs safe in the field? Use snake avoidance training - teach the dog to avoid snakes by rewarding the behavior of them stepping away from the snake Links Mentioned in the Episode: Paul Bunker Book Cadaver Dog Handbook Where to find James Davis: Website | Facebook | Instagram You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Sarah Stremming and Erin Jones regarding what we owe our working dogs, and what they owe us. Science Highlight: Buzzing with possibilities: Training and olfactory generalization in conservation detection dogs for an endangered stonefly species Where to find Sarah Stremming: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Podcast | TikTok Where to find Erin Jones: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla and Charles speak with Kyoko Johnson about her work at Conservation Dogs Hawaii. What are some threats that Hawaii is facing? Hawaii is in the middle of the pacific ocean. One of the major principles of conservation is island biology, which is how species and organisms are not able to easily get there from other places It cannot be “fixed” by just allowing other species to arrive, as they would be considered invasive species and the island is much more sensitive to those Is there anything unique about Hawaii’s wetlands? There are some unique wetlands due to orographic rainfall from the volcanic activity Because there is a lot of water and a lot of sun, it’s so quick for invasive plants to take over 80% of the coastal wetlands were lost due to development Why are invasive species so dangerous to Hawaii? The island struggles more than other places with invasive species On the plus side, it can be easier to square off invasive species and make safe zon

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks to Jennifer Hartman and Heath Smith from Rogue Detection Teams about working with behaviorally “challenging” dogs for conservation dog work. Episode suggestion:  Pay attention to your bedtime routine. Call to action: Go for a walk somewhere new. Once dogs are able to work at a job, a lot of the behavior problems melt away. Making sure their needs are met can change the behavior. Links Mentioned in the Episode: None Where to find Rogue Detection Teams:  Website |  Instagram | Facebook | YouTube You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks about mistakes, failure, and errors. This week’s science highlight: You Are Not My Handler! Impact of Changing Handlers on Dogs’ Behaviours and Detection Performance. Everything is just data; it’s just information Now we have all sorts of interesting questions to dig into - was it search conditions? Target odor? Study design? Time of year? Training sample quality? Dog-project fit? Criteria? Splitting? Timing? Stress or exhaustion? Handler interference? While applied behavior analysis isn’t always the answer to all training issues, it’s a great place to start. Remember the ABCs of applied behavior analysis: antecedent, behavior, consequence. If you’re seeing behavior in your dog that you consider an error, there’s likely an antecedent or a consequence that’s cueing or reinforcing the behavior somehow. There are so many ways to frame the concept of failure, errors, mistakes. As much as possible, strive to set your dogs up in training

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back for part two with Kyoko Johnson from Conservation Dog Hawaii and Jennifer Hartman from Rogue Detection Teams to continue their talk about things to know before hiring a conservation detection dog team. This week’s science highlight: How Behavior of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy of Scat Detection Dog Surveys. Covered in this episode: What hazards might the dog-handler team be facing in the field? How can these be mitigated or avoided? What levels or types of risk are unacceptable? How does the use of CDDs compare to other methods in its level of acceptability to the local community, esp. Indigenous cultures? Where are samples going to be sent/analyzed? What ancillary data, in addition to detections, should be collected by the handler (e.g., time, weather conditions, related field samples of vegetation or soil)? Can the dog teams access the study area to train and/or do risk assessments prior to project start? Is there funding secur

In October 2020, Kayla and Barley flew to Maine to compete in a dog human survival challenge now published on National Geographic and Disney+. The show is called Called to the Wild and depicts dog human teams competing to thrive in the wilderness. In this episode Kayla talks about her experience on the show and tells you where to find the show online.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks with Kyoko Johnson from Conservation Dog Hawaii and Jennifer Hartman from Rogue Detection Teams about things to know before hiring a conservation detection dog team. What are some things scientists should consider before hiring a conservation detection dog team? Lower density finds are easier for dogs Dogs are often used near the end of a project vs the beginning or brought in to target a more specific area It is important they have their question ready and prepared in order to figure out if dogs will be useful to the project or not Conservation detection teams are understaffed, so sometimes it’s best to consider other options that are more feasible Pros of detection dogs? They can be used in tandem with other methods, which can be very successful Detection dogs are non-invasive They are not biased Dogs can narrow down species easier How to know if the dog will be able to successfully collect data? It’s not possible to guarantee that it

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks to Stacy Barnett about fringe alerts in detection dogs. What is fringing? When a dog alerts to odor outside of the preferred range of where the indication should be, aka too far away The final response begins where sourcing ends, so with fringing, the sourcing ends prematurely, making the alert farther away from the scent than is preferred Why does it happen? The behavior chain of sourcing and alerting is off balance Over-enthusiastic for the search Over emphasising the alert/not enough emphasis on sourcing the odor Different kind of setting with work/trial vs training For a trial or working a job, you are under different stressors and you aren’t able to control the environment and set up When under pressure, your behavior may be different which can be difficult for your dog to work with Differentiation of odor concentration If working in a situation with different odor concentrations, t

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks to Dr. Merlin Tuttle about bats and wind farms. Episode suggestion: Come to conversations ready to learn and ready to be curious. Call to action: Research your utility company and ask about green energy options in your area. More than 3 million bats a year are being killed by wind farms, none of which are labelled as endangered What can listeners do to get more involved? Be more knowledgeable about who you support. Ask them questions! Reduce the power you use! “Why run animals to environmental irrelevance before doing anything?” Links Mentioned in the Episode: Win Friends Not Battles Female bats harmed disproprotionately by turbines Where to find Dr. Tuttle:  Video Library | Photo Library | Website  You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks to Dr. Erim Gomez. They nerd out about amphibians, diversity, and academia! Episode suggestion: Try something new, even if it’s small! Call to action: Update your amazon smile to benefit K9 Conservationist! How could dogs help with amphibian research? Humans can’t see as well as dogs can smell, so dogs would be more accurate Dogs would also be able to help pinpoint the location in a safer way, vs humans having to dig around to find one Links Mentioned in the Episode: Spadefoot Toad Roguefungus Where to find Erim: Instagram | Twitter You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks about her experience and advice on how to “make it” as a K9 Conservationists handler. Call to action: Join us on Patreon or make a monthly donation. Links Mentioned in the Episode: Lonely Conservationists Essay You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla and Charles speak with Nate Marshall. They talk about bats, wind farms, and why you should care about the conservation of bats!  Episode suggestion: Win friends, not battles.  Call to action: Build a bat box.  What should we like about bats?  They are around everywhere in multiple types of ecosystems  They eat insects, fruits, fish, crustaceans, and blood  The variation and diversity in bats is truly astonishing  1 in 5 mammals in the world is a species of bat  How many different species?  There are over 1400 species, the number still increasing due to discoveries Are they nocturnal?  Not all species are! Some are, others are day-dwelling  Same with echolocation; not all of them do it  What do they eat?  Mosquitos and other mosquito sized insects, which helps our ecosystem  They also eat other pests, like moths  Fruit; they help disperse seeds  Nectar; they help poll