Dog Training Brisbane QLD Australia

Sniffer Detector Dogs have been used in the past for the war on drugs, explosives, termites and other native wildlife.
That concept will now be used by the Cape Otway Centre for Conservation Ecology (COCCE)
A team at Cape Otway have enlisted a dog to track a declining native species – the Tiger Quoll ( Dasyurus masclatus) the largest carnivorus marsupial on the Australian Mainland.

Tiger Quoll numbers in the Otways are so low that the enviromental authorities have not detected the marsupial preditor for “about seven years”.

Cape Ottway have been busy with Martin Dominick from The K9 Centre over the last year training two year old Badger.

Badger who is an Australian Shepherd , his handler Kellie and three tiger quolls that are kept onsite in a custom built sanctuary will insure that Tiger Quolls will not become a statistic.

Staff feed the quolls a varied diet each of which are about 12 months old, providing fresh scent for Badgers Tiger Quoll Detection Dog Training Program.

Once Badger discovers a litrine site the team can infer the type of habitat that the tiger quolls are usingand hence which areas have the highest priority for protection.

DNA exctracted from the scats can then be used to indentify individual Tiger Quolls and we can then perform a cencus of the population.

“Badger is doing really well – we’ve got him where he is sniffing out the scats” says Kellie “hes always raring to go, Hes loving it and will do anything for that treat”

Martins  says, “The project is proving succesful. With Kellie and Badger as a team and the support form the crew at COCCE Badger will be a great assett.”