Working Dogs Forge Ahead For Wild Sheep Conservation

"To a dog, there is no such thing as 'fresh air.' 

By Chester Moore

  
Canine researcher and author Alexandra Horowitz made that observation in one of her best-selling books, and it encapsulates why Working Dogs For Conservation (WD4C) is making strides on behalf of wild sheep. An ongoing Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) Grant-In-Aid project that included $28,750 in 2023-24 funding seeks to use highly-trained dogs to quickly detect crucial information at bighorn captures-namely the presence of the deadly respiratory pathogen Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi).
 

Into the Unknown 

"When we started this work, we didn't know everything we didn't know. It was uncharted territory," said WD4C Executive Director Pete Coppolillo “Initially, it needed to be clarified how the dogs would detect Movi infections or how variations in infection indicators such as nasal swabs and ELISA (antibody) tests would affect their training and performance. The dogs were trained on positive samples from wild sheep on both a nasal swab and an ELISA test.”
 
While this strategy led to high accuracy, it also significantly limited the pool of training samples. In response, the team shifted to training with samples from only nasal swab-positive individuals. This change was a "curveball" for the dogs, and their accuracy dropped considerably. 
 
"Clearly, there's a difference in the odor profiles, which correlates with their immune system response (the ELISA results). The dogs' struggles helped us understand that," Coppolillo said.
 
This led to adjustments in training protocols, and by early 2024, the dog's performance had rebounded. Leo, a project veteran, achieved 100 percent accuracy in recent tests, while Fenton, a newer addition, hit 85 percent. Overall, the dogs averaged 83 percent accuracy.

Leo alerting on positive bighorn sheep scat during training at WD4C facility

 

Adapting to Real-World Conditions 

During captures individual sheep get multiple swabs, with the later swabs containing much less material for analysis. 
 
"To be blunt: there's not a lot of snot left at that point, so we had to adjust and help the dogs work at much lower concentrations of odor," Coppolillo said. 
 
The experience gained over the past year has provided the team with a clearer picture of how to train the dogs to be accurate and valuable for wildlife managers, guiding future directions.

Riggs using the olfactometer

The next phase involves effectively integrating this detection capability into wildlife management workflows. Each sheep population, manager, and capture operation is unique, necessitating a tailored approach to ensure canine detection methods align with specific objectives.
 
"If we do that well, it's my prediction next year we'll be training a couple of Movi teams to ride circuit and provide their services to every capture operation that wants them," Coppolillo said. 
 
The team also plans to continue researching and testing non-invasive methods like scat detection which could in theory allow for habitat-level Movi detection. 
 

Whose Best Friend?

 Dog lovers would argue their furry friends are man's best friend, but they are emerging as great allies to wildlife as well. Here are a few stunning examples.
 

• Researchers at Colorado State University believe dogs could be a powerful ally in detecting Chronic Wasting Disease, which could have big implications in managing mule deer, whitetail, elk, and moose.
• WD4C have used dogs to sniff out brook trout on a private ranch in Montana that wanted them removed. By placing brook trout and rainbows in underwater cages in different areas of a stream, the dogs distinguished brook trout from rainbows with stunning accuracy from the bank. 
• Two Labradors from London were sent to Thailand to help sniff out pangolins, one of the top animals traded in black markets worldwide. Pangolin scales were mixed in with other items the dogs normally smelled until they were able to distinguish them.

 
As pressures on wildlife grow, dogs are rising to the occasion to help where needed. Any breakthrough in disease detection in wild sheep is welcomed and provides hope in the ongoing battle against their greatest nemesis: Movi.
 
"There is still work to be done, but WSF is excited to support this project," said WSF President & CEO Gray Thornton. "The ability to translocate wild sheep to new ranges with high confidence that we're moving healthy sheep and not spreading disease along with them is crucial. In addition, if we can eventually detect infected animals without captures and handling, what we invest in these testing captures can be put to other uses, like habitat enhancements."
 

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State, Tribal & Provincial Cooperation

By the end of 2024, WD4C are slated to have participated in captures in Nebraska, South Dakota, Nevada and Arizona. The dogs have undergone scent imprinting using training samples from wild sheep provided by officials from Montana, Idaho, British Columbia, Nebraska, and South Dakota. WD4C also reports collaboration with tribal partners. Results from tribally-managed animals will first be shared with Oglala Sioux Parks and Recreation and the Tribal Council to frame and approve plans for current analyses and future work. In addition, a second tribal intern from Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota came to help at captures this year and helped with Movi discrimination work.

 

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Contributing Author: Chester Moore is an award-winning wildlife journalist and lifelong hunter from Texas. He operates the Higher Calling Wildlife® blog and podcast and contributes to many outdoors publications.