K9 Conservationists

Latest Episodes:

Growing as Consultants for Scat Dog Teams: A Co-Founder Conversation Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we sit down with Heather Nootbaar and Rachel Hamre, cofounders of K9 Conservationists. We dive into the work we did in Kenya, especially what Heather and Rachel worked on after Kayla went home. We also discuss what we found surprising, inspiring, challenging, and fun about working with Action for Cheetahs in Kenya. We talk about our future hopes for the team with Action for Cheetahs and what we're hoping to do better next time we're hired as outside consultants for a scat dog program.

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Combining a Love of Dogs with Conservation with Co-Founder Heather Nootbaar Aug 02, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla interviews co-founder Heather. They discuss how Heather got into the world of conservation detection dogs, her experience before K9 Conservationists, and how she met Kayla.

Science Highlight: Using Scent Detection Dogs in Conservation Settings: A Review of Scientific Literature Regarding Their Selection

We Discuss:

Heather's dad, who showed bearded collies when she was a kid
Heather's history as a zoology major in college, then working in zoos and wolf sanctuaries
How diving way into animal behavior and dog training landed Heather a job with conservation dogs
K9 Ellie's temperament and how that challenged Heather to grow
How Heather made money and survived financially through unpaid internships
How Heather selected Ellie for work - and what she'll do differently next time
The pros and cons of working with a dog who's more food-driven than toy-driven
What Heather learned in a K9 Nosework class that helped (and didn't help) as a working dog handler
The hiccups Ellie and Heather experienced during their first wind farm job
How Kayla and Heather met and joined forces
Where Heather is excited to see the field progress in the future

Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Ep. 15: Puppy Temperament Tests Aren’t That Predictive With Dr. James Ha

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Get to Know K9 Conservationists Co-Founder Rachel Hamre Jul 26, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla interviews co-founder Rachel Hamre. They discuss how Rachel first got into dog training, her many jobs as a field tech, how she and Kayla met, Rachel’s season handling Barley, and her journey with her new dog Suki. Science Highlight: Why Sniff Fast? The Relationship Between Sniff Frequency, Odor Discrimination, and Receptor Neuron Activation in the Rat (https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.90981.2008)

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Detection Puppy Raising Questions with Meg Barnes from Detection for Good Jul 19, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla answers some questions from Patron Meg! We discuss when and how to introduce alerts, target odors, and a variety of life skills. We also talk about whether or not sports and other "hobbies" may harm your detection K9's performance and much more.

Science Highlight: Search strategies for conservation detection dogs

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Playlist of all of Niffler's training sessions

@detectionforgood on Instagram

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Safe Animal Interactions with Skylos Ecology Team Jul 12, 2022

Show notes

In this bonus episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with the Skylos Ecology Team, Tracey Lyten and Fiona Jackson, to discuss how to work safely around wildlife and livestock.

What are your expectations/goals around detection dogs and wildlife? Safety is top priority! Teaching the dog that the animal is there, they can acknowledge them, but not disturb them We don’t just want the dogs to bother wildlife, but we want them to be able to work around them as well It’s important for the handlers to be prepared for any and all hazards that you may come across

Why is appropriate behavior around wildlife important? Safety for the dogs and wildlife. Ensuring the job can get done and proper data can be collected. To give clients confidence in the method and remain professional and ethical in the business.

How do you select a dog that would be able to learn these skills? Testing dogs natural instinct around other animals; it takes a lot of work to teach a dog to not chase if they have the drive for it, but it is possible. Their life at home will have an impact on work.

What are skills taught to dogs to work in the conservation detection line of work? Emergency stops and recalls. Wait, out of sight stays. All skills from a distance. Car/road safety. Good manners around other domesticated animals. General wildlife interaction training, aka just existing with them and not chasing, etc.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Sylos Ecology Team: Website | Facebook | Instagram | ACDN Conference

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Growing as a Handler with Edwin Kimutai from Action for Cheetahs in Kenya Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Edwin, a conservation dog handler at Actions for Cheetahs in Kenya. Kayla spent 6 weeks with Edwin and Naomi helping move the program forward before Heather and Rachel (also from K9 Conservationists) arrived to spend about a month each with the program. Stay tuned for more updates!

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find ACK: Website | Facebook | Vaccination Facebook Page | Go Fund Me

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Learning and Laughing with Naomi Kung'u from Action for Cheetahs in Kenya Jun 28, 2022

Show notes

In this bonus episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Naomi, one of the conservation dog handlers at Actions for Cheetahs in Kenya that she spent 6 weeks with before Heather and Rachel arrived in Kenya..

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find ACK: Website | Facebook | Vaccination Facebook Page | Go Fund Me

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Leveraging Terrier Instincts with Miriam Ritchie Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Miriam Ritchie from the New Zealand Department of Conservation about leveraging your dog’s instincts to conduct a job.

Science Highlight: Impact of weather conditions on cheetah monitoring with scat detection dogs

Patreon Questions:

Taylor: Are they hunting the rodents? Does that affect her selection?

Taylor: How has the welcome been with this project?

Megan: How do you introduce the rodents in training? Do you use wild caught, captive bred, or domestic animals in training?

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

The success of using trained dogs to locate sparse rodents in pest-free sanctuaries
Where to find Miriam Ritchie: Instagram

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Collaboration, Invasive Plants, and Insects with Arden from New York New Jersey Trail Conference Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Arden from the New York New Jersey Trail Conference about her work helping build coalitions and use detection dogs to mitigate invasive insect and plant infestations.

Science Highlight: Detection dogs in nature conservation: A database on their world-wide deployment with a review on breeds used and their performance compared to other methods

Patreon Questions:

Megan - How did you get land managers on board?

Bronwen - What’s the best way to collect and store insect samples? Are there special considerations about decay?

Megan - What unique challenges are there to working with insect targets for detection dogs?

Ashley - Aside from identifying and removing invasives, what is NYNJTC doing to prevent their spread?

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Insert the Doug video

Where to find Arden: Website | Instagram

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

Clean Training for High Drive Dogs with Sarah Owings May 31, 2022

Show notes

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Sarah Owings from Cyber Dog Online Training about clean mechanics for training and working with high drive dogs.

Science Highlight: Detecting small and cryptic animals by combining thermography and a wildlife detection dog

Why do mechanics matter?

Clarity shapes all learning. The clearer you are with your dog, the more successful they will be.
Before you blame the dog, be sure your mechanics are clean and communication is consistent and clear.

What problems can poor mechanics cause?

Dogs may steal food or toys from you, bark, whine, zoomie, etc.
This is all from a lack of communication

What are some human-end behaviors that can cause miscommunication?

Lumping criteria (ie. jumping too many steps at once)
Having no criteria/winging it
Sessions that are too long
Lack of reinforcement strategies

What are some mechanics or exercises to improve handler to dog communication?

Make sure the criteria is doable and raise the criteria slowly over time
Reinforcement pattern games; can you give a dog a reward and they will know exactly where it’s going to be (in the mouth, tossed, on the ground, etc.)?
If your dog is sniffing around a lot for the rewards, treat in a dish on the ground to clean up the loop

Are there situations where switching up the type of food or toy is a good idea?

Switching to a lower value reward may just be a crutch. It is important to find what was causing the frustration, because chances are it wasn’t that the reward was too high value.
If you are having issues, you may be holding out longer than the dog can handle. The dog needs to know how to earn the reward, no matter what.
Choice of reinforcement can make your delivery mechanics better or worse.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Sarah Ownings: Website | Tromplo | Facebook

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.