discussion / Conservation Dogs  / 19 June 2021

Training and usage of detection dogs to better understand bumble bee nesting habitat

With Murder Hornets being located on the west coast of the USA this research could offer some lessons learned:

Three main considerations around future training and usage of detection dogs were identified. First, dogs might benefit from transitional training via exposures to known natural nests, regardless of species. However, it may be too difficult for people to find natural nests for this, and prior work demonstrated the ability of dogs to generalize and find natural nests after testing to artificially-buried nest material. Second, confirming a dog’s nest find, via resident bee presence, is nuanced. Third, future study design and objectives must harness strengths, and reflect limitations of detection dog surveys and search strategies, as extensively discussed in this paper.