A dog is a man's best friend, but dogs play a much more critical role for Auburn University researchers: they locate species in greatest need of conservation around Alabama.
By sniffing for their scat, or poop, dogs can provide specific information about species' habitats and lifestyles.
Todd Steury, assistant professor of wildlife ecology in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, started the program EcoDogs, which trains Labrador retrievers to recognize a specific species' scat in order for further research to occur.
"We train the dogs to find scat from species that we're interested in studying," he said. "And we can use that information to determine the habitat use of the animals we're studying, how many there are, where they are, that kind of thing."
When taking the dogs out to look for the scat, the dog's handler will walk a triangular transect that is about three kilometers in total distance. The dog will track back and forth through the transection and cover about 12 km.
"It takes the dog about four hours to cover that period," Steury said, "but once it's done we're pretty sure that we've found every scat within that transect."
The researchers are interested in finding scat from a variety of species, including striped skunks, eastern spotted skunks, long-tailed weasels and black bears, and one dog is currently being trained to find invasive root fungus.
Both the eastern spotted skunk and long-tailed weasel are species of greatest conservation need in Alabama.
Each dog is trained to find a specific species' scat and alert its handler by sitting down.
"The handler then comes up and tells the dog to search again, and the dog then touches the scat with its nose," Steury said.
Each dog has one specific handler to ensure their relationship is strong and close.
"They really do essentially talk to each other," he added, "and so, in order to make sure that team works really well, we always make sure that the same handler works with the same dog."
The dogs are bred specifically for detection by the Canine Detection and Research Institute and trained to locate the specific scat by Terry Fischer, the chief canine instructor.
Fischer said the amount of time it takes to train a dog depends on the specific task the dog will be used for.
"A lot of it is learning out in the field," Fischer said.
At this point, the program is still in the training phases, but interesting observations have been made, said Steury.
"We found out striped skunks actually use latrines," he added, "which means they poop in one place all the time."
The main goal of the program is to locate these species and learn more about their lifestyle to prevent further endangerment.
"What I'd like to do with bears and skunks and weasels and all these species," said Steury, "is sample the various regions around Alabama and determine what habitats they're using and what they're not using."
The program currently has six detection dogs and three handlers to find the species.
Bart Rogers, a handler, has been working with the dogs since late October and says he loves what he does because every day is new and exciting.
"You always have to think. You have to think two or three steps down the road and every day is different," Rogers said.
Currently, Steury and all involved are perfecting the program and preparing to locate as many species as possible.
"The ultimate goal of the program is to try and stop more species from ending up on the endangered species list," said Steury. "I'm a conservation biologist, so I'm interested in trying to save as many species as possible."
For more information on EcoDogs and those involved visit ecodogs.auburn.edu.
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