Life Sciences Commons^™

How Behavior Of Nontarget Species Affects Perceived Accuracy Of Scat Detection Dog Surveys, Karen E. Dematteo, Linsey W. Blake, Julie K. Young, Barbara Davenport

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Detection dogs, specially trained domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), have become a valuable, noninvasive, conservation tool because they remove the dependence of attracting species to a particular location. Further, detection dogs locate samples independent of appearance, composition, or visibility allowing researchers to collect large sets of unbiased samples that can be used in complex ecological queries. One question not fully addressed is why samples from nontarget species are inadvertently collected during detection dog surveys. While a common explanation has been incomplete handler or dog training, our study aimed to explore alternative explanations. Our trials demonstrate that a scat’s genetic …