K9 Conservationists (Kayla Fratt)

Kayla and Ursa provide updates on their life and play another quick round of hot takes. They take turns pulling a topic from a hat, then they have 3 minutes to give their thoughts on it – then the other person has 2 minutes to add their thoughts. Hot takes covered: Praise based training Head collars Vibration collars

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Lauren DeGreef about the upcoming Canine Olfaction and Detection Science Conference. 

Science Highlight: None this week!

Where to find Lauren: Facebook | LinkedIn

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Conference Registration 

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 today’s episode, Marissa Martino of Paws & Reward and Kayla Fratt of Journey Dog Training discuss a variety of reinforcements you can offer your dog during training sessions and real-life scenarios. This episode goes beyond treats and gives pet parents a ton of other great, creative ideas to use when reinforcing behavior.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Rachel Curtis-Robles and Devin Christopher about dogs detecting insects carrying diseases. 

Science Highlight: Dogs can sense weak thermal radiation

Where to find Rachel: Website  

Where to find Devin: Linked in 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

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

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla provides an update on what she has been doing in Kenya, announces the new K9 Conservationist course, and answers some questions from patrons. Links Mentioned in the Episode: K9 Conservationists Course 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 Fratt speaks with Dr. Simon Gadbois to talk about signal detection theory and his conservation work!

Discussed in this Podcast:

• Dr. Gadbois work in Nova Scotia
• What is signal detection theory?
  • Signal detection theory is a means to measure the ability to differentiate between information-bearing patterns and random patterns that distract from the information.
  • It has been around for a long time
  • Mostly used for physical stimuli vs olfactory stimuli
  • It wouldn’t be useful for clear distinctions or errorless data
  • However, signal detection theory needs a clear yes or a clear no
• What’s the potential problem with proportion or percentage correct data as performance?
• What’s the problem with our basic lineup for training and testing detection dogs as it relates to SDT?
• How can trainers at home put this to use with their dogs?

Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Signal Detection Theory Paper
Memorial University d’Prime Calculator

Where to find Dr. Gadbois:
Website | Lab Facebook Page | Lab Facebook Group

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

K9 Conservationists Website

Go Fund Me

Today's episode includes Kayla Fratt, of Journey Dog Training, interview her amazing client, Caroline. Caroline reached out to Kayla several months ago to work on her dog's behavior concerns. Sonic is a four-year-old chihuahua with a variety of different anxious and fear behaviors. Marissa Martino, of Paws & Reward, joins the episode to hear about their current behavior modification process and offer another perspective.

Kayla chats with Kim Brophey about the study of ethology, and how that creates a different framework with which to look at dog behavior.

Most of our listeners know that Ursa, Kayla and Marissa are all positive reinforcement trainers, meaning they stay far away from punishment at all costs. They would prefer to teach your dog what to do instead of the problematic behavior. Listen as Marissa and Kayla walk you through the 6 reasons to not punish your dog and why your relationship depends on it!

Joins Ursa, Marissa and Kayla discuss the 5 things they do with their dogs that may be different than how most pet parents engage with their 4 legged friends. Enjoy a day in the life of these 3 trainers, getting concepts and exercises that you can implement right away!

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.

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla Fratt talks about considerations when choosing a conservation detection dog, sourcing a dog, and screening a dog. 

Episode suggestion: “Don't sacrifice clarity at the altar of generosity” 

Call to action: Join pateron! 

Discussed in this Podcast: 

Considerations: 

• Make a list of your must-haves from a lifestyle perspective to help which type of dog works best for you. This can be anything from breed type, grooming requirements, size, etc. You should also make a list of “nice to have” and “bonus points”. These are types of things that aren’t a must have, but are still of some importance to you. These are usually aesthetic type desires. 
• You also need to consider your work lifestyle, whether your dog can handle being off leash around wildlife, water, other dogs, people, etc. 
• Consider if you’d want to do outreach work at events with your dog. Would a social dog be more ideal, etc. 
• Travel is something to consider. A dog that thrives on routine may not be best for conservation work. 
• Most trainers in this field prefer dogs that have a high drive for toys 
• Consider what kind of dog you like to work with; high drive, low drive, preference for food reinforcement, preference for toy reinforcement, low energy or high energy personality, etc. 
• Consider the detail level of the work you want to do 
• It’s very important to consider your skill set and experience with dog handling 

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Pandemic Puppy - Where to Get a Puppy
• Pandemic Puppy - Picking a Breeder
• Pandemic Puppy - Picking a Puppy from a Breeder
• Pandemic Puppy - Picking a Shelter Puppy
• Test for Detection Dogs
  

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

K9 Conservationists Website

Go Fund Me

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Brooke Mitchell-Norman. They talk about tourism, communication, education, and how all of that relates to conservation!

Episode suggestion: Don't sacrifice what you want now for what you want most of all.

Call to action: Support a local small business that donates or shares some of its profits with a cause you care about.

How does travel benefit conservation?

• When it is done right, it puts an exact value dollar on a live and thriving wildlifeWhen your favourite species is a top predator, it is in your genes to want to kill it to protect yourself
  There are very few things in conservation that places monetary value on wildlife, nature, and intact ecosystems
  
• A significant number of people are directly and indirectly supported through tourism

Can you tell us about some of the ways that travelers can not just support local communities and put value on live animals but also directly contribute to community science?

• Do your research
• Check the websites; can you tell if the business is locally owned or not?If so, your money will be for the local community
  
• How are they interacting with wildlife?If there are advertisements of people directly touching and interacting with wildlife, such as cubs, that is a red flag
  
• If something makes you uncomfortable, you do not have to do it

Are there any countries with regulations on these things?

• The Galapagos
• Africa
• Be wary of Asia, research elephant tourism

Why is communication and education so important for conservation?

• Connection
• We have to change the message from doom and gloom to storytelling and showing what we are fighting for
• If you connect with someone on a deeper level, they are more likely to listen to what you have to say and support you

What are some misunderstandings?

• That it is “bothering” wildlife, but there are always many layers to the reason for it. If it wasn’t for tourism, a lot of ecosystems would not have continued to thrive
• There are a lot of tourism places that give a bad reputation to the reputable ones

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Lekker Coffee in Rino, Colorado
• Rhino Film: The Last Horns of Africa

Where to find Brooke:  Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Youtube

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

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Ursa Acree about keeping yourself safe around working dogs.  Science Highlight: None Links Mentioned in the Episode:   Aggressive Dog Muzzle Up Project Where to find Ursa: Website  You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Sharon Pomeroy about search and rescue horses. 

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Airscentinghorse.com

highlands-sar.org/

Where to find Sarah: Website | Facebook

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

For the final episode of Canine Conversations before we transition fully to K9 Conservationists, we're talking about consent with Erin Jones. We cover what consent is, why it is important, and how you get - and maintain - a dog’s consent to participate in training or a behavior treatment plan.

Links Mentioned in the Episode

• Genealogy of Obedience
  Erin’s website, Instagram, and Facebook
  

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

K9 Conservationists Website

Go Fund Me

Kayla and Ursa discuss management strategies and training solutions to help make holiday gatherings less stressful for you, your dog, and your friends/family.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Emma Lustig about her first season as a conservation detection dog handler.

Science Highlight: Effect of odorant pre-exposure on domestic dogs' sensitivity on an odorant detection task

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Emma: Instagram 

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

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In today’s episode, Kayla sits down with Erin Jones to talk about separation anxiety. Erin wrote an e-book and created a course for Journey Dog Training all about separation anxiety. She’s got a lot of firsthand knowledge, both with clients and personal dogs, on the topic. Join them as they discuss this challenging behavior issue, provide ways to prevent it, and offer tools and insight into the behavior modification process!

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Natasha Underwood from NHU Ecology and Detection Dogs about continuing education.

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode:  

Dog Handling Training | Kryus | England

College of Scent Dogs-The College of Scent Dogs

Mantrailing Global

Where to find Natasha: Website | Facebook | Instagram

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Joe Spoo about foxtails and working dogs. 

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Meanseeds.com

Where to find Dr. Joe:   Website | Courses 

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back with Dr. Charles van Rees to talk about getting into grad school.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Science Highlight: Trail vs. thicket: Evaluating conservation detection dog performance in varied terrain

Where to find Charles:    Website | Lab Website | Instagram

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Kendra Carter about K9 field first aid.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Nols

Where to find Kendra: Website | Facebook 

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In today's episode, we're going to be discussing a very complex and even controversial topic - is aggression ever "fixed"? This is a matter of extensive debate in the dog training world, and a question that looms large in the mind of any pet parent who struggles with a dog that engages in aggressive behavior. When is your training finished? Is it ever finished? How do we determine if aggressive behavior is no longer a concern? Join Kayla, Marissa, and Ursa as we explore this topic!

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Cesar Estien about urban ecology. 

Science Highlight: None this week 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None 

Where to find Cesar: Website | 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 speaks with Dr. Charles Van Rees about data. They discuss the ins and outs of working with data and how to turn data into information scientists can use.

Episode suggestion:  Take the time to see, smell, and notice things outside!

Call to action: Check out ebird, inaturalist or seek!

What is/are data?

• Information that we can use for inference and for learning things
• Data doesn’t necessarily “teach you things” but it helps you learn an answer to something you’re looking for

Examples of data for conservation science

• Occurrence data: evidence of the occurrence of a species in a specific area
• Abundance data: identifying and counting every individual of every species in a given sector
• Time series data: a series of data points indexed in time order
• Monitoring: the process of watching the changes and patterns in the species

Challenges in data collection

• Biases in both humans vs dogs
  • Dogs have less of a visual bias than humans as they rely on olfactory vs sight to find data
• Important to consider if the questions you are asking from the data are going to be worth it to have dogs involved.
• Sample size: you have to have enough data in order to be able to work with the data
• Trying to collect data in a cost effective way
• You can’t control the data you collect

What happens to the life-cycle of data?

• Analysis
• Publishing
• FAIR principles
• Meta-analyses and reviews
• Policy!
• Or if not, advocacy! Action! Management!

What are ways to collect data?

• Conservation detection dogs
• Radio collars
• Camera traps
• eDNA
• Drones
• Audio surveys
• Netting

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

- Mirror test (Kayla got this slightly wrong - dolphins spent extra time head circling, which may indicate recognition)

- Dogs self-recognition with scent

- Wolverine Way

Whatever thing you were talking about at 22 minutes, gulo?

Where to find Charles: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Nature Guys

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

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Today we’re talking to Hannah Branigan about cueing versus shaping in your training sessions. Now this might sound a bit nerdy - and it probably will be - but it’s actually really important for novice trainers! I know I personally got stuck on this a lot when I was starting out as a new trainer. And Hannah is EXACTLY who I wanted to talk to about this topic.

Hannah is the host of Drinking from the Toilet, one of my favorite training podcasts. She’s also the author of Awesome Obedience and its accompanying field guide. She teaches at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy and runs Wonderpups training. Hannah has a real skill for breaking down training into teenie tiny increments and creating clean loops of training. It’s one of the things I admire about her most.

Join Marissa Martino of Paws & Reward Dog Training and Kayla Fratt of Journey Dog Training discuss one of their favorite topics - scent enrichment! Listen as they discuss why engaging your dog's nose is a great form of mental stimulation, introduce the sport K9 Nosework, and provide you with some DIY scent enrichment activities!

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Ken Ramirez about snake avoidance

Science Highlight: Field quantifications of probability of detection and search patterns to form protocols for the use of detector dogs for eradication assessments

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

Where to find Ken: Website | Instagram | Course

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

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla introduces Dr. Charles van Rees. Charles has been on the show before, but will now make a more regular appearance as K9 Conservationists new Conservation Correspondent.

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Lily Strassberg about organizing training based on target behavior. 

Science Highlight: A Review of the Types of Training Aids Used for Canine Detection Training

Questions discussed:

Why does it matter to think about target behavior when training?

Can you give a few examples of training scenarios that you may use based on their target?

How does the odor behavior itself affect this?

Why is it important to plan to train (not test) our dogs as we prepare to be deployment-ready? 

What other factors may come into play when planning your progression/training plan?

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None 

Where you can find Lily: 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

Join Marissa, Ursa, and Kayla as they discuss dog training myths including: - Comforting a scared dog teaches the dog to be scared - A single dog training class is all the obedience/training your dog needs - Feeding your dog human food teaches them to beg - Shock collars don’t hurt Marissa also had a special announcement: she is leaving the podcast to start her own podcast, all about dog-human relationships. We’ll miss her and hope to have her back as a frequent guest!

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back with Ellen Dymit to talk about their experience with the fieldwork in Guatemala.

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Ellen: Ellen’s Twitter | Taal’s 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 speaks with Jens Frank from the Scandinavian Working Dog Institute about teaching dogs multiple alerts to discriminate between targets. 

Science Highlight: Relationships between personality of human–dog dyads and performances in working tasks 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

Where to find Jens: University Website | SWDI Website | SWDI Instagram | SWDI Facebook  

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Shelby Homer about search and rescue needs in indigenous communities. 

Science Highlight: Canine (Canis familiaris) scent detection of invasive brown bullhead catfish (Ameriurus nebulosus) in lake water samples

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

Where to find Shelby: 4Corners Website | 4Corners Facebook   

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

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with James Helferich and Dr. Lisanne Petracca about the ocelot project in Texas. 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Where to find Dr. Lisanne: Website

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

HOLY SMOKES y'all! A group of ~10 conservation detection dog pros have been quietly laboring for TWO YEARS to make the Conservation Dog Alliance a reality. In this episode, hear from several of the founding members about what the Conservation Dog Alliance will offer. To join the Conservation Dog Alliance, check out conservationdogalliance.org. There will be an informational webinar on July 19 2024, and a recording will be available for eternity on YouTube.

Conservation Dog Alliance member benefits:

1) Meetups and Networking

Conservation Dog Alliance members get access to an inclusive and friendly online community of like-minded folks with whom to share experiences and ask questions about dog training, vetting clients, running a business, and more.

2) Knowledge Base

Members gain access to free customizable templates and other resources to assist in professionalizing their organizations and pursuing their goals. 

3) Continuing Education

Members will have access to educational opportunities such as “Lunch and Learn” Zooms, webinars on a variety of topics, and one-on-one mentorships with experienced professionals.

Today’s episode includes Marissa Martino and the amazing Dr. Chris Pachel, board certified veterinary behaviorist. In the last episode they joked about releasing an app called: What would Dr. Pachel say? They're not releasing an app but they are sharing the next best thing, a podcast episode! In this episode, Marissa presents several common scenarios that most trainers and behavior consultants face in their private practices and then Dr. Pachel shares how he would handle it!

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla hosts multiple guests as they answer one of the top questions conservation dog handlers get: how do you get into the world of conservation detection?

• Jo Lock's reply begins at 4:27
• Lindsay Ware's reply begins at 10:48
• Laura Holder starts at 18:19
• Rachel Hamre's reply begins at 26:55
• Arden Blumenthal starts at 29:55

You can find our guests online here:

Jo Lock:     Website | Instagram | Facebook
Lindsay Ware:    Website | Instagram | Facebook
Conservation Dog Collective:  Website | Instagram | Facebook
Rachel Hamre:   Instagram
Arden Blumenthal   Website | Instagram

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

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In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla discusses the ins and outs of becoming a K9 Conservationist!

Episode suggestion:  It’s okay to not finish a book if you aren’t liking it.

Call to action:   Check out our new merch!!

Suggested by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, create a 3-way Venn diagram of how to get involved.

• Top circle is “what you love.”
• Circle off to the left of what you’re good at
• Lastly, a circle to the right of what the world needs.
• In the center could be some ways you can help save the planet, save some dogs, or be a k9 conservationist.

Smaller ways to help

• Be a more eco friendly dog owner by supporting local, reducing your carbon footprint during travel, etc.
• Volunteer with organizations that protect the land or start your own

Getting in the field of conservation detection:

• Your first 2 steps no matter what are similar if you want to be a handler: learn scentwork/handling/dog behavior and familiarize yourself with field biology and survey techniques
• Volunteer to start to see if its something you’d be interested in
• Education
  • Grad school is one option
  • Getting hired with a bigger organization is another
    • Working Dogs for Conservation
    • Rogue Detection Teams
    • Science Dogs of New England
    • Conservation Dogs Collective
    • WEST Inc
      • Summer gigs for wind and solar farms
      • You get hired with your dog
    • Other abroad organizations
  • Taking courses in person and online, such as Fenzi Dog Sport Academy for Nosework, Rogue Detection Teams, Conservation K9 Consultancy in Australia
  • K9 Conservationist podcast and patreon

Being a handler isn’t your only option, and it’s not for everyone. Other ways to get involved:

• Volunteer with us: course creation, social media, website maintenance - you probably have a skill we need!
• Work in another role like fundraising at another organization
• Biologists can hire us
• Shelter workers can help us find other dogs
• Donations, of course
• Get involved in your local community with the shelter, trail building, PlayCleanGo, wildlife rehab, or just pick up some extra dog poo bags.

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

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Marissa Martino of Paws & Reward Dog Training in Boulder, CO interviews Kathy Sdao of Bright Spot Dog Training in WA. In today’s episode, they talk about a very important concept that can make an impact in these 3 areas: Improving your dog’s behavior Improving your behavior when interacting with your dog Enhancing your relationship with your canine companion The concept is called Plenty in Life is Free which may seem contrary to the ever-popular dog training concept: Nothing in Life is Free.

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Stotra Chakrabarti about safari science and his experience working in the field. 

Science Highlight: Faecal sampling using detection dogs to study reproduction and health in North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis)

Links Mentioned in the Episode:  None 

Where you can find Dr. Stotra: Website | 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

For our sixth episode of our odor discrimination series, Kayla talks with Paul Bunker from Chiron K9 about generalization and discrimination.  

Science Highlight: None this week

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

Where you can find Paul: Website | 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 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

Kayla talks to Michael Shikashio about the Aggression in Dogs Conference and Michael's new podcast, The Bitey End of the Dog.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Kim Brophy and Mike Shikashio to answer an important question: what is a dog trainer?

Science Highlight: Relationship between aggressive and avoidance behaviour by dogs and their experience in the first six months of life

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Kim: Website | Facebook 

Where to find Mike:  Website | Bitey End of the Dog 

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 Robin Greubel from K9Sensus about certifying detection dogs.

Science Highlight: None

• A certification is a snapshot of the skills that have proven to be predictors of success in the field
• Some skill sets to consider during testing are refocusing after distraction, independent dogs (handler not assisting in finding the hides), and successful clears
• There are different kinds of detection dogs (conservation, search and rescue, cadaver, etc.), so one type of certification will not necessarily fit all others, so it would be difficult to create one kind of certification for ALL detection dogs
• Being certified does not make you operational, being certified is like getting your learners permit

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Robin: 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 Elizabeth Hiroyasu, Hillary Young, and Grace Lewin about their Dangermond Preserve work. 

Science Highlight: None this week 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None

Where to find Hillary: Young Lab

Where to find Elizabeth: Website 

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Alisa Healy from Dog Forward Training about wildlife chasing.

Science Highlight: Training methodology for canine scent detection of a critically endangered lagomorph: a conservation case study

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Episode with Esther Mathews

Where to find Alisa: 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 is back with our patron Meg Barnes to answer some of her questions!

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Meg: Instagram | Facebook

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

So you’re considering adding another dog to your household - or maybe you already have a crowd. In addition to more love, cuddles, and cute photos, living with multiple dogs can also come with extra hair, extra poop, and extra expense - in addition to a host of other challenges. If you’ve been wondering about - or struggling with - a multi-dog household, join Kayla and Ursa discuss some common pitfalls and how to minimize them.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Caroline Finlay about curlew nest detection dogs. 

Science Highlight: None

Links Mentioned in the Episode:  

Conservation detection dogs sniff out rare curlew nests

Where to find Caroline: Website | Facebook 

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

K9 Conservationists was THRILLED to have the amazing Lauren Wendt of Momentum K9 temporarily join our team to help out in Texas on ocelot surveys. This episode covers many of the challenges and lessons learned on a particularly tricky project. Be sure to listen to our last episode with James and Lisanne for background on ocelots in Texas.

Find Lauren at:

https://momentumk9training.com/

https://www.instagram.com/momentum_k9_training/

https://www.facebook.com/momentumk9llc

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenmomentumk9/

https://www.youtube.com/@MomentumK9

Today I have the joy of talking to Dr. Susan Friedman about the hierarchy of behavior change for dog training. This is so central to what we do - ensuring that our dogs are excellent at the work they do while maintaining the highest quality of life possible for them.

I am SO excited to get to this interview, but first I have to remind you all that our field vehicle repair fundraiser is ongoing. As I record, the van is getting repairs for several damaged cylinders as well as fuel injectors - costs will total around $16,000. Find that link in the show notes on K9Conservationists.org.

Patreon plug but no reviews.

• Dr. Friedman intro
• What is the hierarchy of behavior change?
• What drove you to outline it?
• How can we use this in working dog areas?
• Why does it matter?
• How do you address questions about efficacy, especially with working animals?
• Can this actually enhance the quality of work that our dogs do, aside from just enhancing their quality of life?

Thank you so much for listening. I hope you learned a lot and are feeling inspired to get outside and be a K9 Conservationist in whatever way suits your passions and skill set. You can find show notes and extra information on this episode at K9Conservationists.org and support our field vehicle repairs at our GoFundMe page. Until next time!

Show Notes Here

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla and Dr. Susan Friedman discuss the hierarchy of behavior change with dogs. They discuss what it is and why it matters!

• What is the hierarchy of behavior change?
  Hierarchy of Behavior Change Outline
  
• Why does it matter?
  It creates an effective outcome with the interventions being as unintrusive as possible to the learner.
• Can this actually enhance the quality of work that our dogs do, aside from just enhancing their quality of life?
  Short answer; YES! An enhancement in quality of life will lead to an enhancement in quality of every aspect in their like, including quality of work.
  

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

The Hierarchy & Trainer Skills

Effectiveness is Not Enough: this is a PDF on BehaviorWorks, just Google the phrase and you'll find it. We can't link it.

Where to find Dr. Susan Friedman:
Behavior Works

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

K9 Conservationists WebsiteGo Fund Me

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back with Esther Matthews to talk about succulent anti-poaching detection dogs.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Where to find Esther: Website | Instagram | Dog’s Instagram

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Ursa and Kayla tackle MORE dog training myths, including: 1. Greeting a dog after an absence creates separation anxiety 2. You need to always end training sessions on a good note 3. You need to eat first/walk through doors first/not let your dog on furniture or your dog will be alpha 4. You have to support the hierarchy between dogs 5. Aggression to kids = dominance structure 6. Pinch/prong collars are equivalent to corrections from mom

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Ann McGloon from Seeking Scent about precision tracking and using hide placement to get the most learning application for your dogs.

Science Highlight: Wildlife detection dog training: A case study on achieving generalization between target odor variations while retaining specificity

All dogs know how to sniff. Do they all know how to problem-solve?

• A lot of dogs, especially pet dogs, have forgotten how to use their nose and their olfactory abilities
• Depends on the dog, but sometimes they need to be encouraged to problem solve.

What concepts can we teach our detection dogs by using hide placement? Why would we want to use placement to teach these skills?

• Olfaction isn’t the only cue dogs are using to solve the problem.
• Location, location, location.
• Train the environment they are going to be searching. This will help create more efficient searches because you are giving them exposure to what they are going to be experiencing on the field.

Patreon Questions:

Janna: How do we incorporate handler movement and hide placement for training? Especially with the goal of accurate but effectively progressing through searches in wilderness?

Megan: How do you teach the dog to differentiate between visual aids and odor? For instance, I came across a company selling scent work hides, but they're in fun shapes and bright colors, which may make the hide more noticeable. If you use things like that in training, how do you guarantee that the dog is searching for the odor and not searching for the hide itself?

Megan: Odor contamination is a big issue in the competition scent work world. Is this a concern in conservation detection? Can odor contamination in the search environment be used to teach the dog to differentiate between residual odor and the actual source of odor?

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

Join Marissa Martino of Paws & Reward interview Dr. Angie Krause of Boulder Holistic Vet discuss the importance of supporting your dog's gut health for physical and behavioral benefits. Dr. Angie introduces the 5 ways you can support your dog's gut health today!

Kayla and Ursa try out a new format they're calling Hot Takes. They take turns pulling a topic from a hat, then they have 3 minutes to give their thoughts on it - then the other person has 2 minutes to add their thoughts.

In this episode, we discuss a day in the life of a conservation detection dog handler on a variety of projects that Kayla has worked on.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Meg Parker from the Center for Large Landscape Conservation to discuss thinking bigger in the world of conservation detection dogs. 

Science Highlight: Factors That May Affect the Success of Scent Detection Dogs: Exploring Nonconventional Models of Preparation and Deployment 

What does it mean to be “thinking bigger” in the field of conservation detection? 

• Work with academics more; ask more questions 
• Get more precise and better sampling 
• Look into better study designs 
• Continue expanding the field 
• Improve relationships with study designers, scientists, veterinarians, etc. 
• Improve welfare and training 
• Think beyond what is easiest and the way things have always been done 
• Where are you in the world and what are the issues there? 
• What can you do to help? 
• Think with a direction in mind and not just always going in and counting. 

Where to find Meg Parker: 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 today’s episode, Kayla and Pine talk about heading outdoors with their dogs. Our guest, Pine Irwin of Irwin Dog Training, specializes in outdoor adventures. She teaches private lessons and leads a group that is all focused on helping dogs excel in the outdoors, from backpacking to shorter hikes. They talk all about safety and benefits of off-leash (and on-leash) hiking with our dogs.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Misa Winters and Tara Wilson about laboratory analysis of scat after field collection. Science Highlight: Duration of urination does not change with body size What can we learn from our scat samples? Genetic analysis (what species, what individual, what did it eat, sex typing) Morphological diet analysis (fur, bones, teeth, plants, insects) Microbiome (bacteria and immune system interaction) Parasites, pathogen analysis (bacteria and viral disease) Hormonal analysis (stress, pregnancy, nutrition, relative age) Age (isotope data) Hormones in particular are great from scat because it is more representative of an animal over time, versus a blood sample which is a smaller snapshot in time and could be skewed by the stress of capturing or darting an animal. What questions from samples are harder/easier to answer? Easier: Species ID from mitochondrial DNA (if you have good reference data) Prey analysis (if you have a targeted strategy - e.g. it’s hard to use a single genetic marker to analyze ALL prey but it depends on if you’re looking for mammals, birds, fish, etc.) Pregnancy (but actually need three assays estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone which can also point to a juvenile or adult). Stress - is it nutritional or environmental (T3 or cortisol) Harder: Individual capture-mark-recapture since it uses nuclear DNA and relies on a good resampling scheme. How many animals are on the landscape? Especially when using prey data, you have to make a lot of assumptions about how many predators can eat from the same prey species. We also know that DNA from prey is not equally represented after digestion, it will depend on the tissue ingested too. Where to find Misa Winters:  Website | Instagram | Lab Instagram Where to find Tara Wilson: 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

Today I have the joy of talking to Kim Brophey about ethology. If you listen to dog podcasts the way I do, you’re probably already a bit obsessed with Kim. Today we’re going to dive into how we can use ethology to better select and meet the needs of our working dogs.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Dopamine Article
• Pop Psychology Podcast
• Beyond the Operant with Dr. Simon Gadbois
• Texas hounds that chase down poachers
• National Geographic, Gene 7R and Restlessness
• Jaak Panksepp TED Talk

Where to find Kim Brophey:

• Website
• Meet Your Dog
• Facebook

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

K9 Conservationists Website

Go Fund Me

Join Ursa and Kayla as they discuss a case study from Kayla's private practice, Journey Dog Training. The case study involves Checkers, the cat, and Bella, the dog, and how Kayla helped them live more harmoniously together!

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Jay Gurden about imposter syndrome! 

Science Highlight: You Are Not My Handler! Impact of Changing Handlers on Dogs' Behaviours and Detection Performance

Why is imposter syndrome so common in the dog world? 

• We care about what we do

• Extra pressure

• Young industry

• Success is related to our dog’s behavior

• No path to success like law school

How do you combat imposter syndrome? 

• Make objective appraisals about what you do know, what you can do, what you’ve proven. If you compare those to your imposter syndrome thoughts, you can see that these are just fake thoughts trying to hold you back 

• Dunning-Krueger effect plays into it 

What are the 5 types of imposter syndrome and how do we combat them?

• Perfectionist: people make mistakes. Mistakes help us learn.

• Superbeing: what does success actually mean? Can you find success in doing your best? 

• Natural genius: learning is normal and can take work. You bring things to the field even if you’re not a natural on day 1.

• Soloist: we don’t have to do this alone. We can build community.

• Expert: it’s about making boundaries with your learning. 

• Everyone: try to create objective appraisals of what you’ve already done and how far you’ve come. Journaling on the good stuff. 

What can we do as mentors/colleagues/mentees to celebrate their worth?

• Talk about having the same thoughts regarding imposter syndrome.

Where to find Jay: Website | Good Guardianship 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Dunning-Kruger Effect

Four stages of learning

Valerie Young's 5 Types of Imposter Syndrome

Dr. Pauline’s Test

The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women

Conquering Confidence 

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

Discussed in this episode: Creating plans for non-trainer dog handlers Working with clients vs working with conservation problems Elephant migration  Chimpanzee project  Remote conservation vs captive conservation  How to get involved with conservation training Working with detection dogs Using the “all clear procedure” Maintaining enthusiasm in “no find” environments Ensuring the learner has all their needs met Putting the dog first

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Brenna Aizen from the Penn Vet Wildlife Futures Program about dogs sniffing out chronic wasting disease.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Science Highlight: Effect of rapid changes in environmental conditions on canine detection of methyl benzoate

Where to find Brenna:    Website | LinkedIn

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Alex Troutman about safe fieldwork while Black.

Science Highlight: Remaining safe conducting Field work While Black (FWB), and Tips for PIs, Universities, and Employers of Black Individuals

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Critters of Michigan

Critters of Georgia 

Critters of Minnesota

Been Outside Book 

Where to find Al: Instagram | X | Website  

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

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.

K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla Fratt speaks with Dr. Nathaniel Hall to talk about lengthy searches for conservation dogs!

Discussed in this Podcast:

• How does a dog’s sensitivity to scent affect their work?
  All sensory systems are learned behaviors, so there will be genetic differences and learning history differences. Because of this, what one dog smells will not be the exact same as what another dog smells.
  It depends on the concentration of the odor on how sensitive your dog will be to the odor. Their threshold of detection of a certain scent will increase if the concentration is reduced over time.
  
• Motivation for long searches?
  Performance is strongly dependent on the frequency in which targets appear
  Reinforcing “all clear” signals can help with motivation in the event that there aren’t going to be a lot of targets for them to find.
  It is important to not over-reward for “all clear” because then “all clear” can start to become more rewarding than finding the scent.
  Make your “all clear” as equal effort as an alert response
  If your dog is pre-prepared for not finding targets over a long period of time, it can help avoid an extinction burst and frustration
  

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

The Canid Genome - 2012 Paper

Where to find Dr. Hall:
Canine Olfaction Lab | Facebook

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

K9 Conservationists WebsiteGo Fund Me

Join Marissa Martino as she interviews dog trainer, Emily Strong of Beaks to Barks and First Train Home. Emily shares the 4 teaching strategies she uses when helping people train their dogs more efficiently! This is a great episode for dog owners and dog trainers!

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% understand target before learning all clear
• Don’t use jackpot rewards for an all clear

What other options do we have for reducing stress and reducing false responses (go-no-go)?

• Teach odor separately from systems of searching so they are not codependent
• Train blank sessions
• Train longer sessions (within the abilities of your dog) so that it is similar to long working days
• Develop independence early

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to find Paul Bunker:  Website | Instagram | Facebook

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

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Leslie Eide from The Total Canine about canine sports medicine. 

Science Highlight: None this week 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

None 

Where you can find Leslie:  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 Dr. Jessica Heckman from Dog Zombie about Breeding Functional Dogs.

Science Highlight: Advancing Genetic Selection and Behavioral Genomics of Working Dogs Through Collaborative Science

What is functional breeding?

• The population is no more at risk of X disease than the dog population as a whole.
• Also prioritizing behavioral wellness over looks or closed stud books. No elevated risk of separation anxiety, etc.

What are common pitfalls breeding programs can run into?

• Not bringing in dogs from outside of the population
• You aren’t going to get to the goal and sit there - you have to keep working at it while you have it
• “It's not about the first generation, it’s about the population and the direction you are moving the population towards” - Dr. Jessica Heckman

What tests are mission critical?

• It depends on the breed/mix
• The very first step would go to the breed club and see what tests they recommends
• Then start talking to other breeders in the breed and learn about what issues the breed has
• For mixed breeds, you should test for everything each purebred parent should be tested for, but it’s hard to say

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Pet genomics medicine runs wild

Where Do Good Dogs Come From

Where to find Dr. Jessica Heckman: Website | Functional Dog Collaborative

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

Kayla and Ursa discuss the tough topic of behavioral euthanasia  for pet and shelter dogs.

Join Kayla Fratt of Journey Dog Training, interview Janee Moore, owner of Boise Dog Sports in Boise, Idaho. In this episode, Janee and Kayla talk about crossover training. A so-called crossover trainer is generally described as someone who started their dog training career using all of the tools available to them, but now relies much more heavily on positive reinforcement and environmental management rather than punishment.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Kerry Ryan from Dog Adventures Northwest about dog boarding.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Science Highlight: Evaluating and integrating spatial capture–recapture models with data of variable individual identifiability

Where to find Kerry: Website | Facebook | Instagram

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

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

For this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Jamie Coon and Nathan Alexander about a paper they published about safety and inclusion for queer ecologists. 

Science Highlight: None this week

What unique barriers do LGBTQ+ folks face when it comes to ecology, and fieldwork in particular?

• Strain of identity disclosure

• Negative fieldwork experiences and career trajectories

• Cis/heteronormativity

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Best practices for LGBTQ+ inclusion during ecological fieldwork

 American Ornithological Society 

Where you can find Nathan: Twitter

Where you can find Jamie: Twitter | ResearchGate 

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 our long time patron Tayllor Pittman about selecting and preparing dogs to be demonstration dogs.

Science Highlight: Detection Distance and Environmental Factors in Conservation Detection Dog Surveys

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Fill in the Blank Episode

All Clear with Paul Bunker

Where to find Tayllor: Instagram | Facebook

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 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.

K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Simone Mueller about Predation Substitute Training.

Science Highlight: Performance of Pugs, German Shepherds, and Greyhounds (Canis lupus familiaris) on an odor-discrimination task

What is predation substitute training?

• A force free protocol to stop predatory chasing.

What are the steps?

1. Management/prevention: stay in contact with the dog while out, keep the dog on-path, perimeter training
2. Tools: calmness around wildlife, so the dog can still think and perform alternative behavior (stand and watch). The deal is you can stand/watch but not chase. All parts of predatory sequence are inherently reinforcing, so we can allow them to eye/stalk without chase/bite
3. Alternative reinforcement, outlet through predation games
4. Interrupter (recall)

What are the first signs of predation?

1. Observing - there is no trigger yet, but they are looking for one. This is the time to get involved.
2. Stalking - they are focused on the prey, tense and arrow shaped body language, creeping forward
3. Chase - high level of arousal, hard to train anything here
4. Capture & consume - ideally you will never get to this point

Links Mentioned in the Episode: None

Where to find Simone Mueller: 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 Miranda Turenne from Pacific Assistance Dogs Society about Assistance Dogs.

Science Highlight: Canine Olfaction: Scent, Sign, and Situation

How do you prep dogs for new/green handlers?

• Selection of the dogs is important
• Dogs that are highly biddable and highly task oriented
• Building foundation skills to fluency
• Training system created with the transfer to the client in mind
• Clean cues, proofing, generalization

How do you prep handlers for dogs? Can any handler (any dog) do this transition?

• Service dogs are not always the best choice, so the client must be prepared for a lifestyle change with a lot of work
• Proper matching helps with preparation
• Educational hours to ensure client is prepared with how to care for the dog
• In person hand off course to learn the tasks and behaviors as well as care
• Continuing education

What causes hiccups?

• Training
• Incompatibility
• Reinforcement history
• Lack of training mechanics in clients

Do you offer brush-up training or support?

• As much or as little as the client needs/wants
• Yearly recertification

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Training Without Conflict

Where to find Miranda: Website | Advanced Dogs Instagram | PADS Instagram | Miranda’s 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 Gregory Herin from Getxent to discuss Getxent tubes. 

Science Highlight: Noninvasive Identification of Herpetofauna: Pairing Conservation Dogs and Genetic Analysis 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

• University of Otago Graduate Thesis 
• Getxent Product Sheet

Where to find Getxent: Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter 

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

Join Marissa Martino and Ursa Acree discuss the the common problems pet owners run into when using food rewards during training. They walk through the 8 problems in detail and offer solutions to support your training process!

How does being an exotic animal trainer and zookeeper relate to dog training? Kayla Fratt and Emily Martin discuss how the zoo field has made Emily a better dog trainer, the most challenging animal Emily has ever trained, and much more.

Join Marissa Martino as she interviews the amazing Dr. Chris Pachel! They discuss what a veterinarian behaviorist is, what the process is when working with one and how to incorporate the dog's existing care team: trainers and veterinarians. Sometimes, it truly takes a village!

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Charles Van Rees about data. They discuss the ins and outs of working with data and how to turn data into information scientists can use.Episode suggestion: Take the time to see, smell, and notice things outside!

Call to action: Check out ebird, inaturalist or seek!

What is/are data?

• Information that we can use for inference and for learning things
• Data doesn’t necessarily “teach you things” but it helps you learn an answer to something you’re looking for

Examples of data for conservation science

• Occurrence data: evidence of the occurrence of a species in a specific area
• Abundance data: identifying and counting every individual of every species in a given sector
• Time series data: a series of data points indexed in time order
• Monitoring: the process of watching the changes and patterns in the species

Challenges in data collection

• Biases in both humans vs dogs
• Dogs have less of a visual bias than humans as they rely on olfactory vs sight to find data
• Important to consider if the questions you are asking from the data are going to be worth it to have dogs involved.
• Sample size: you have to have enough data in order to be able to work with the data
• Trying to collect data in a cost effective way
• You can’t control the data you collect

What happens to the life-cycle of data?

• Analysis
• Publishing
• FAIR principles
• Meta-analyses and reviews
• Policy!
• Or if not, advocacy! Action! Management!

What are ways to collect data?

• Conservation detection dogs
• Radio collars
• Camera traps
• eDNA
• Drones
• Audio surveys
• Netting

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Mirror test (Kayla got this slightly wrong - dolphins spent extra time head circling, which may indicate recognition)
• Dogs self-recognition with scent
• Wolverine Way book

Where to find Charles: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Nature Guys

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

Hello and welcome to the K9 Conservationists Podcast!

We've got a new name! As our loyal listeners know, we recently lost my beloved cohost Ursa. After giving it a LOT of thought, I've decided to pivot the focus of this podcast. Rather than focusing broadly on dog behavior, the K9 Conservationists podcast will focus on the field of conservation detection dogs. We'll interview wildlife biologists, community scientists, dog behavior researchers, and handlers throughout this amazing field.

I hope that you decide to stick along for the ride. I plan to bring the same level of enthusiasm, nerdiness, and dog-centric thinking to this endeavor. I've got episodes in the works: on the humane hierarchy with Dr. Susan Friedman, the body language of scentwork with Steve White, a fascinating episode on combining thermal imaging and scent detection dogs, and SO MUCH MORE.

I really, truly want to thank all of our listeners for the support thus far. I dearly love Canine Conversations and will miss producing it, but my long-term career goals are firmly oriented towards conservation detection dog work. Journey Dog Training will still be here to provide support in the form of phone calls, courses, webinars, and free blogs, but more and more of MY time will focus on conservation detection dog work.

To that end, I'm thrilled to announce the launch of the K9 Conservationists nonprofit. We just filed for 501(c)3 status and hope that you'll continue supporting this podcast and the nonprofit through Patreon. This will help us cover the costs of not only this podcast, but also our new field vehicle that lets Barley, Niffler, and I do our important work. Once we've paid off the vehicle, supporters of the nonprofit can expect to help us offer subsidies on our consultant services. That will help us get involved in amazing projects that might not have been able to afford conservation detection dogs otherwise!

So with all those announcements out of the way, let's do a quick refresher. What the heck IS a conservation detection dog? How do you get involved? What's the work like? How do you select a dog for this work? We'll cover all of this in much more detail going forward, but I'll get the basics out of the way here.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/fund-the-k9-conservationists-field-vehicle-repair?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet

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.

K9 Conservationists Website | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

I am SUPER excited to finally be able to share five (5!!!) episodes in SPANISH for all of our hispanohablante friends around the world. If you're not a Spanish-speaker, feel free to skip these episodes and you'll get an English episode as normal the following week. Thank you so much to Daniel Castillo for being a gracious co-host and to Camilo Sierra for volunteering to translate. Abrazos!

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, they may start to conclude a certain concentration of odor and start alerting to only that strength of scent
• It may be too easy or too hard
• Genetics is a big deal, but training is a bigger deal

What are ways we can fix it?

• More balanced training sessions - both sourcing and alerting
• “Show me” cue
• Ignoring fringe alerts and encouraging them to keep working/”keep going” cue
• Working to get the “show me” cue or the “keep going” cue out of the behavior chain

What are the downfalls of the “show me” cue?

• Can cause your dog to rely on the handler to source
• Can become a prompted cue to alert
• It is important to make sure it doesn’t become part of the behavior chain

How do we build sourcing into our training?

• Set up for success
  • Smaller and shorter puzzles easy for them to source
  • More complicated puzzles to get them back into the sourcing mindset
• Increase the challenge level for the dogs skill level to keep the flow going
  • Too easy may be boring, too challenging may be too frustrating
• Hide placement is important in training sessions
  • The training doesn't come from the human, the training comes from the hide

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Sourcing Odor with Stacy Barrett
• Signal Detection Theory with Dr. Simon Gadbois

Where to find Stacy Barrett:  Website | Podcast | 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

En nuestro cuarto episodio en español, Kayla y Daniel hablan sobre ejemplos de investigaciones cuales utilizan perros detectores de conservación. Gracias a Daniel y Camilo para su ayuda en estos episodios!

Join Kayla Fratt of Journey Dog Training interview Susanne Shelton of Austerlitz German Shepherds and Danielle Spady of Avid Aussies. They discuss neonatal socialization and how important this process is when breeding dogs.

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks about breaking into the field of conservation detection dogs. 

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Science Highlight: None

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Kat Serafina about plants and puppies.

Links Mentioned in the Episode: 

Science Highlight: An approach to identify bias in scent detection dog testing

Where to find Kat: Website | Facebook

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist |  Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla Fratt talks about off-leash etiquette in order to keep your dogs, yourself, others, and the environment safe.

Discussed in this Podcast:

• Off-leash is a privilege and owners carry a responsibility when utilizing that privilege
• Ensure your dog has solid recall, especially around distractions
• Look for signage; follow the law - if the trail or area is on leash, there’s a reason for it
• When you arrive at a trail, observe your surroundings
  • Are there lots of cars indicating lots of people? Do the cars have bike racks? If so, is your dog reliable around bikes?
• When in doubt, use a long line
• Not only do you have to think about the safety of other people and dogs, you also have to think about the environment
• Your dog should not chase any wildlife; even if they don’t catch it, that is undue stress on wildlife
• Do research on what animals live in the environment you’re in to ensure yours and the wildlife’s safety

Links Mentioned in the Episode:
None

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

K9 Conservationists Website

Go Fund Me

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 will work
• Known target types in which dogs have been successfully used in other projects
• Go with an experienced team to ensure best accuracy if it is something new

What is the importance of training samples beforehand?

• Reliable training samples is important for the dog to be able to detect for your project
• It is important to have a sample from the location you are working in
• Variety in samples is important (sexes, different individuals, etc.)
• The fresher the sample the better, but sometimes it's not possible
• It is important to note samples will always differ from live odors when on the job

Why is it important to let teams know about past difficulties with projects?

• Some previous difficulties may not be relevant to a dog’s work, but it is good to know to ensure that the teams are able to help with the project

Why are realistic timelines so important for researchers to understand?

• It takes time to train a dog on a new odor
• Projects may have various limitations
• There are travel considerations - vaccines, etc.

Why do some scientists think detection dogs dont work?

• Study design may limit teams
• Expecting the method to perform the same way other methods do
• Patience is needed as it takes time to get the dogs ready on a scent
• Limited funding for teams

What are the risks of the dogs being invasive?

• The standards the dogs have when working are high
• Dogs could not do their job if they were a risk for chasing wildlife

What are some preventative measures to take for both the dogs health and the wildlife’s health?

• Vaccinations
• Ensuring your dogs have everything they need - fresh water, proper food, etc.
• Daily checks to ensure they are healthy
• Be prepared to stop work if they are sick or injured