Types of Detection Dogs--How Many Can You Name?

When I began working on Service and Therapy Dogs in American Society, I was soon struck by the proliferation of service dog types, including the fairly recent category of hypoglycemia alert dogs and the still anecdotal migraine-alert dog category. This is nothing compared to the list of scenting dogs that were assembled by a group of chemists in 2004. They came up with 30 scent detection dog categories. Some of these categories probably only represent a few dozen dogs, but many of them are essential to law enforcement and are found throughout the world. The categories are:

1. Abalone (endangered mollusk poaching) detector dog
2. Agricultural product (importation) detector dog
3. Arson (accelerant) detector dog
4. Brown tree snake (pest species) detector dog
5. Airport/runway detector dog
6. Cadaver (human remains) detector dog
7. Chemical weapon detector dog
8. Citrus canker detector dog
9. Concealed person detector dog
10. Currency detector dog
11. Drug (narcotic) detector dog
12. Explosives (bomb) detector dog
13. Gas leak detector dog
14. Gold ore detector dog
15. Gun/ammunition detector dog
16. GYPSY moth larvae detector dog
17. Land mine trip wire detector dog
18. Melanoma detector dog
19. Missing person detector dog
20. Rotten power pole detector dog
21. Scent line-up detector dog
22. Screw worm detector dog
23. Seal detector dog
24. Search and rescue (warm blood) detector dog
25. Syringe needle (dried blood) detector dog
26. Termite detector dog
27. Tracking (fleeing suspect) detector dog
28. Truffles detector dog
29. Water search detector dog
30. Wildlife detector dog

The list was compiled for an article in the Journal of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. Lorenzo, N., Wan, T.L., Harper, R.J., Hsu, Y.L., Chow, M., Rose, S., and Furton, K.G. (2004). Laboratory and Field Experiments Used to Identify Canis lupus var. familiaris Active Odor Signature Chemicals from Drugs, Explosives, and Humans. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 376: 1212-1224.

For more on the use of detection dogs in conservation projects, see Brown, C., Stafford, K., and Fordham, R. (2006). The Use of Scent-Detection Dogs. Irish Veterinary Journal, 59(2), 97-104. dogs have been used to find dead bats at wind farms. Arnett, E.B. (2006). A Preliminary Evaluation on the Use of Dogs to Recover Bat Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 34(5), 1440-1445. They have also been trained to detect microbial growth in buildings, which can cause respiratory and other symptoms in occupants. Kauhanen, E., Harri, M., Nevalainen, A., and Nevalainen, T. (2002). Validity of Detection of Microbial Growth in Buildings by Trained Dogs. Environmental International, 28, 153-7. A master's thesis filed with South Dakota State University studied dogs trained to find ferrets. The thesis was adapted into an article Reindl, S.A. et al. (2006). Efficacy of Scent Dogs in Detecting Black-Footed Ferrets at a Reintroduction Site in South Dakota. USDA National Wildlife Research Center Staff Publications; Kerley, L.L. and Salkina, G.P. (2006). Using Scent-Matching Dogs to Identify Individual Amur Tigers from Scats. Journal of Wildlife Management, 71(4), 1349-1356 (a unique study in that the dogs were not trained just to recognize tigers, but also to identify individual tigers).

In the Federal Register of October 2, 2013, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported that dogs had been used in an attempt to identify and locate potential natural roosts of the bonneted bat in Florida. 78 Fed. Reg. 61004 (October 2, 2013), at 61007 and 61018.  The dogs were obtained from Auburn University's EcoDogs. 

Certification for Tortoise Detector Dogs?

There seems to be no end to what detector dogs can sniff out. A recent article in a scientific journal looks at how well dogs can find desert tortoises, comparing their skills in this regard against a team of scientists, most with between 15 and 40 years of experience. The dogs were each trained for about ten weeks, eight weeks at home with their handlers during which they were familiarized with the target odor (residual tortoise scent) and two weeks at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in Las Vegas. See Kenneth E. Nussear, Todd C. Esque, Jill S. Heaton, Mary E. Cablk, Kristina K. Drake, Cindee Valentin, Julie L. Yee, and Philip A. Medica, Are Wildlife Detector Dogs or People Better at Finding Desert Tortoises (Gopherus Agassizii)?, 3(1) Herpetological Conservation and Biology (2008). There were ten canine teams to begin with, but four were eliminated. The final dog crew consisted of one Border Collie, two German Shepherds, one Australian Kelpie and two Labradors. Each canine team covered one square kilometer a day, using either a zigzag pattern or contour pattern (following the contours of the terrain). A biologist followed behind each dog team to confirm the dog’s alerts. Dogs were highly trained and were deployed off leash, guided by their handlers’ voice commands. The dogs did not discover more tortoises than the human teams, but were better at finding tortoises in vegetation. The dog teams were more expensive as the handlers were paid $120/day (apparently the scientists worked cheap). The dogs found the tortoises more quickly (in two-thirds the time required for the human teams), but the researchers found that the dogs might not have been able to work much longer in the desert heat because of fatigue. One statement in the paper struck me as of interest to the dog world: “There is the potential, once a certification procedure is in place that allows detector dogs to be trained and used by tortoise biologists and permitted by state and federal agencies, that further cost savings may be realized.” Much like a search and rescue canine team, the dog has to be able to follow complex commands and go where the handler directs from a distance. The need to survey various types of endangered species could lead to a new type of specialty, and provide an intermittent income for at least a few dog teams.

Additional Note. Dogs have reason to be able to find tortoises.  A recent list of candidates for protection included discussion of the Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus Morafkai), noting that most occur in Arizona between 904 and 4,198 feet.  Among the threats to the species listed by the Fish and Wildlife Service were feral dogs, drought, and climate change. 77 Fed. Reg. 69994, 69997 (November 21, 2012)