Auburn University is home to a wide array of projects that bring animals and humans together, such as the union between humans and working detection dogs.
EcoDogs, a program utilizing trained dogs at Auburn, was created in 2009 by Todd Steury, professor in forestry and wildlife sciences studying carnivore ecology, and Craig Angle, associate director of Veterinary Sports Medicine Program in the department of canine performance sciences.
Steury said he believes these dogs can help researchers obtain information in a more efficient manner than humans could on their own.
Steury also said he worked with Terry Fischer, chief canine instructor in the department of canine performance services, who started his career in the military working with bomb-detection dogs and said he had his own training and breeding program in Zimbabwe.
Steury proposed his original question to Fischer’s research team.
“Can you train dogs to find skunk poop?” Steury said. “(Fischer’s team) looked at me kinda funny, but they said sure.”
Scat from animals, especially less abundant animals such as most predators in Alabama, can yield an abundance of information for researchers.
Through the DNA contained in scat, knowledge can be gained about diet, gender, population size and inbreeding of a species.
Fischer and Bart Rogers, another canine instructor, handle the dogs in the late stage training.
Auburn has a Labrador retriever breeding program that strives to create “the Auburn dog,” which is used to train EcoDogs.
“The Auburn dog is the ultimate detection machine,” Fischer said.
These dogs spend most of their life at Auburn working to become a VaporWake dog.
Auburn patented the VaporWake training program, which prepares dogs to detect improvised explosive devices and begins with 6-week-old puppies.
Students can help with the exercising and development of puppies through cardiorespiratory fitness: physical activity through puppy play (PHED 1200), a class offered in the School of Kinesiology.
After the puppy development stage, the dogs will be sent to a prison training program until they are 10 months old.
Fischer said this is a beneficial time for both the dogs and the inmates.
“They’ve never felt unconditional love like they have with the dog,” Fischer said.
When they return from prison, the dogs are evaluated, and if they pass they will continue their training.
Fischer states the success rate is about 70 percent and rising.
The whole breeding process is done scientifically.
Pam Haney, Auburn graduate in kinesiology, works with researchers from the Hudson-Alpha Institute in Huntsville to analyze dogs’ DNA taken from blood samples during different stages of development.
“We believe that superior detection dogs are going to have a different genetic makeup than a sub-superior dog,” Haney said.
EcoDogs has also employed canines to help with the control of African Rock and Burmese Pythons in Florida
Currently, dogs are being trained to help the United States Fish and Wildlife Services control illegal fishing on the coast.
Working English cocker spaniels will be employed instead of Auburn’s Labradors, because their smaller size allows them to go places on vessels where humans and larger dogs cannot.
The relationship between working dogs and humans is an ever-expanding field. Dogs have helped diffuse bombs and detect cancer and recently it has been discovered dogs can identify and distinguish between different viruses.
As Auburn’s dog training motto states: “Man’s best friend, man’s best defense.”
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