Course: Wildlife Detection Dogs 1: Planning Your Survey

A dog’s sense of smell is at least 100,000 times more sensitive than ours. As a result, detection dogs have been able to demonstrate greater success at locating scats, nests and animal carcasses than human search teams using visual detection. Research suggests that dogs are at least 96 per cent effective, so using detection dogs can both increase the detection rate of wildlife during surveys and reduce the amount of time required to survey an area.

This presentation will provide an introduction to the use of professional wildlife detection dog teams for conservation, ecology, and research, explaining how detection dogs have been used for previous surveys and any pre-survey considerations. This includes: -

• Use of dogs in conservation and ecology
• Establishing your survey objectives
• End-user considerations and expectations
• Animal welfare and safety
• Equipment & contracting specialist dog handlers

At the end of the session, learners should feel confident in contracting specialist dog handlers to undertake wildlife surveys using detection dogs. Please note that this webinar assumes that surveys will employ the services of a fully trained specialist dog handler and does not cover how to train working dogs.

The 90-minute event will consist of a 1-hour presentation followed by a Q&A with the tutor using questions provided by the live audience.

The presentations will be recorded and shared with those who booked alongside Q&A transcripts and relevant links following the event via a password-protected website.

This webinar is the first in a series of 2 webinars delivered in partnership with Conservation K9 Consultancy covering the use of detection dogs to survey wildlife. Part 2 will focus on undertaking your survey.