Canine Conversations

In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla interviews co-founder Heather. They discuss how Heather got into the world of conservation detection dogs, her experience before K9 Conservationists, and how she met Kayla.  Science Highlight: Using Scent Detection Dogs in Conservation Settings: A Review of Scientific Literature Regarding Their Selection We Discuss: Heather's dad, who showed bearded collies when she was a kid Heather's history as a zoology major in college, then working in zoos and wolf sanctuaries How diving way into animal behavior and dog training landed Heather a job with conservation dogs K9 Ellie's temperament and how that challenged Heather to grow How Heather made money and survived financially through unpaid internships How Heather selected Ellie for work - and what she'll do differently next time The pros and cons of working with a dog who's more food-driven than toy-driven What Heather learned in a K9 Nosework class that helped (and didn't help) as a working dog hand