The dog squad sniffing out the critically endangered Baw Baw frog
(Read the whole article and see the photos here)
Rubble is a seven-year-old border collie — a classic working dog.
Rubble has always had a higher calling — first as a search-and-rescue dog, and now as a conservation detection dog.
Rubble and brother Uda are employed to sniff out some of Australia’s most elusive and endangered native animals
The dogs were called upon by Zoos Victoria to help sniff out one of the country’s most critically endangered species — the Baw Baw frog
Dogs are often used to detect the presence of animals that live above ground. They’ve been used in northern Australia to detect cane toads.
But Mr Gilbert says using dogs to find a native amphibian species that lives underground is as rare as the Baw Baw frogs themselves.
“Dogs are very, very rarely used for amphibians. There’s only a couple of examples worldwide that have utilised dogs and it’s certainly a first for Australia,” he said.
The first challenge is training the dogs.
To start with, the dogs are trained to locate the smell of a frog swab on a ‘scent board’.
When they recognise the smell, the dogs drop and indicate with their nose. They are then rewarded with a treat.
After that the dogs are given limited and strictly controlled training with real frogs from the captive breeding program.
Ms Edwards says there is no actual interaction between the dogs and the frogs.
“As soon as they find that smell and do that drop they look to us,” she said. “So they’re not actually looking to the animal for the reward, they’re looking back to us for the reward.”
(Read the rest of the article and see the photos here)
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