K9 Conservationists

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 | TikT...

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...

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...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Charles van Rees, our conservation correspondent, about getting research published. Science Highlight: None How is getting published in academia the same, or different from other publications? There are two major misconceptions: 1) that it’s the same as other kinds of publishing, 2) that is different than other kinds of publishing (in b...

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 Conservationis...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Dr. Charles van Rees, our Conservation Correspondent, about invasive species. Science Highlight: None What makes a species invasive? Generalists Fast-reproducing Behavioral flexibility Lack predators/pressures Harmful to the ecosystem in general Why do they matter? Conservation implications Economic losses (statistics) How do they work? Arr...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks candidly about some mid-season musings.  Links Mentioned in the Episode: None 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? Management/prevention: stay in contact with the dog w...

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 lo...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Grant Blackley from Orkney Native Wildlife Project about transitioning from airport screening detection dogs to working with conservation detection dogs. Science Highlight: Olfaction-based Detection Distance: A Quantitative Analysis of How Far Away Dogs Recognize Tortoise Odor and Follow It to Source What is similar between airport detectio...

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  | Li...

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...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla hosts multiple guests as they answer one of the top questions conservation dog handlers get: how did you select your conservation detection dog? You can find our guests online here: Jo Lock:      Website | Instagram | Facebook Lindsay Ware:     Website | Instagram | Facebook Conservation Dog Collective:   Website...

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:...

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 Cheeta...

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 beard...

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...

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: Playlis...

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...

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...

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 p...

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 t...

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 method...

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...

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Tony Harvey about intelligent disobedience. Review Highlight: JPinCB says “Kayla’s authentic, enthusiastic interest in all of her guests and topics, paired with her knowledge in a variety of scientific fields makes this podcast fun, interesting, and informative. If you have any interest in dogs, nature, travel, science, even pursuing your d...