Abstract
Simple SummaryConservation detection dogs (CDDs) are trained to locate biological material from plants and animals of interest to conservation efforts and are often more effective and economical than other detection methods. However, the financial costs of developing and appropriately caring for CDDs can make them inaccessible for smaller conservation organizations. Training skilled volunteers to work with suitable pet dogs may help increase accessibility. We sought to further develop the skills of 13 volunteer dog–handler teams that were trained in a previous study to detect myrrh essential oil in controlled laboratory conditions. We recorded the proportion of targets found, false alerts made and search duration of the dog–handler team group through progressive training stages outdoors that increased in size and environmental complexity. First, teams searched various-sized areas before and after 12 weeks of search training on a sports-field. Next, teams searched various-sized areas before and after seven weeks of training in bushland. Overall, teams found approximately 20% fewer targets in each unfamiliar context, compared to performance in familiar contexts. However, teams typically found 10–20% more targets after a period of training compared to baseline searches. Search performance varied between teams, yet six teams found at least 78% of targets after training in bushland. Our results help to validate our stepped approach to training and highlight the need to train volunteer CDD teams to work in various-sized areas and environments.Conservation detection dogs (CDDs) are trained to locate biological material from plants and animals of interest to conservation efforts and are often more effective and economical than other detection methods. However, the financial costs of developing and appropriately caring for CDDs can nonetheless prohibit their use, particularly by smaller conservation organizations. Training skilled volunteers to work with suitable pet dogs may help address this constraint. We sought to further develop the skills of 13 volunteer dog–handler teams that were trained in a previous study to detect myrrh essential oil in controlled laboratory conditions. We assessed search sensitivity, search effort, search precision and false-alert instances through progressive training stages increasing in size and environmental complexity. First, teams searched various-sized areas before and after 12 weeks of search training on a sports-field. Next, teams searched various-sized areas before and after seven weeks of training in bushland. Overall, search sensitivity decreased by approximately 20% in each unfamiliar context, compared to performance in familiar contexts. However, sensitivity typically improved from baseline performance by 10–20% after a period of training. Six teams found at least 78% of targets after training in bushland, yet sensitivity ranged from 29% to 86% between teams. We maintain that the foundational skills developed previously were necessary to prepare volunteer teams for field surveys involving conservation related targets. However, our results highlight the need to also train volunteer CDD teams in search scale and environmental contexts similar to their intended working conditions.
Highlights
Conservation detection dogs (CDDs) are trained to locate biological material from plants and animals relevant to conservation efforts [1]
In order to account for any practice effects arising from assessing the influence of search scale on performance in Simple Field Conditions (SFC), we examined the influence of search scale in an unfamiliar complex field condition (CFC), which again revealed a decrease in search sensitivity and increase in false alert rate
This study demonstrates that dog–handler teams in a volunteer-based conservation detection dog (CDD) model can be trained to successfully search different field conditions
Summary
Conservation detection dogs (CDDs) are trained to locate biological material from plants and animals relevant to conservation efforts [1]. Compared to existing survey methods, CDDs can be more effective and more economical in determining the presence/absence and abundance of plants and wildlife in a relatively non-invasive way [4,5,6,7,8]. We are aware that procuring and training working dogs, while meeting their housing, nutrition, veterinary and welfare requirements, imposes considerable time and financial costs. These costs are prohibitive for many organizations that could benefit from CDD use. Working dogs are often kenneled when not working, which can lead to sub-optimal welfare [13,14] and compromised working performance
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