Pest Detecting Dogs

Scott and the pest detector squad

                             
Detecting for pest incursions is still going on in Zealandia after the violent storm a few weeks ago which caused a tree to fall and breach the fence.
I met up with Department of Conservation predator dog ranger Scott Theobold and his three little pest detector dogs on the way out of the Sanctuary.
The little dogs surprised me. I had always imagined they would be of the robust outdoor dog type - sort of like hunting dogs but with higher aspirations. Noble sorts of breeds. But in fact not at all. These three looked like your average family toy dog pet. They were little stiff legged, border terrier crosses bred and trained to sniff out mustelids and cats.
Crete, Brown and Buck wore little orange high visibility vests to show they were working dogs, plus muzzles and very cute they were. The muzzles were to make sure Sanctuary inhabitants such as the takahe were extra safe. The dogs have had intense avian aversion training but wore the muzzles just in case they were tempted.
Crete sniffs out cats, stoats, weasels and ferrets. Brown's speciality is cats and Buck who is one is learning to track cats, stoats, weasels and ferrets. Crete is the oldest at nine and Brown is five.

They travel throughout New Zealand tracking down pests wherever they are needed.

dogsCrete, Brown and Buck like working after rain as all scents will be fresh. When I met them they had checked about half the valley and had found nothing untoward.
Lets hope it stays that way.