K9 Water Leak Detection

09/01/2026

One of the questions we get asked all the time is: What kind of dog makes a good detection dog? And honestly, this group is a pretty good example of why there isn’t one simple answer.

K9 Water Leak Detection dogs come in different breeds, sizes, backgrounds, and personalities. There isn’t one “magic” breed for the job. What matters much more is the individual dog: drive, confidence, persistence, environmental stability, motivation, and the ability to independently work through a problem.

And when you look at the dogs currently doing this work across the country, you can see just how different the right individual dogs can be. So, we figured they deserved a proper introduction.

Meet K9 Otis with K9 Water Leak Detection, LLC in Oklahoma; K9 Kieran with Vickery K9 in Georgia; K9 Flash and K9 Flare with Dog Day Acres Labradors & Detection Services in Iowa; K9 Pigeon with Drop-Point Leak Detection in Oklahoma; and K9 Eleanor and K9 Lux with K&J Plumbing & HVAC Services in Oklahoma.

All of these K9s and their handlers are certified through the K9 Pipeline Detection Association (K9PDA) for K9 Water Leak Detection.

Different breeds. Different personalities. Different approaches to the work. But all of these teams share the same goal: using trained K9 detection to help locate treated water leaks.

Different dogs. Different teams. One mission. 💧

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Video/Educational Content: Meghan Bodie, Vickery K9

08/31/2026

Flash, Flare, and young Razzle will also be representing K9 Water Leak Detection in Indianapolis. Stop by to meet these fantastic working dogs!

08/30/2026

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the American Water Works Association’s 2026 Water Infrastructure Conference & Exposition in Indianapolis!

📍 Indianapolis, Indiana
📅 August 30 – September 2

Be sure to stop by the K9 Water Leak Detection booth to meet K9 Otis and learn more about how trained detection dogs are being used as another tool in the water industry’s leak detection toolbox.

And don’t miss our presentation on Tuesday, September 1 at 11:00 AM! We’ll be talking all things K9 Water Leak Detection and sharing more about this innovative approach to locating treated-water leaks.

We’re excited for a great few days of learning, connecting, and talking water! See you in Indy!

08/28/2026

Loved being a part of this. Part 2

Podcast Episode · K9 Detection Collaborative · August 25 · 45m

08/23/2026

Only a few weeks left to sign up!

Ever wondered what it looks like when detection dogs, acoustic technology, mapping, and utility expertise all come together on the same leak investigation?

That’s exactly what we’ll be exploring at the 2026 K9PDA Water Infrastructure Innovation Workshop.

Come learn, ask questions, and see how these different tools can work together in the field.

Learn more and register here:

Finding the Invisible: A Case-Study Approach to Water Leak Detection

08/18/2026

One of the biggest misconceptions about K9 Water Leak Detection is that the dog simply follows odor until they’re standing directly over the leak. Odor doesn’t work that neatly.

When treated water escapes from a buried pipe, the odor available to the dog can move through soil, cracks, utility pathways, drainage systems, pavement seams, and other features of the environment. Where odor is accessible to the dog isn’t necessarily directly above where the pipe is leaking. That’s where the handler comes in.

We’re watching how the dog works the entire search area: where they first encounter odor, where they lose it, where they pick it back up, how they move through an area, and where their behavior changes. A canine search gives us information. Instead of trying to investigate an entire property, roadway, or utility corridor equally, we can use the dog’s behavior throughout the search to identify areas that warrant closer investigation.

The dog’s nose is an incredibly sensitive detection tool, but the dog is only half of the team. Knowing how to read and interpret what the dog is communicating throughout the search is just as important.

Want to learn more about K9 Water Leak Detection? Visit vickeryk9.com/detection

08/17/2026

08/14/2026

A great conversation on the growing role of K9 Water Leak Detection and the importance of professional standards and credentialing as this field continues to develop. Looking forward to Part 2!

The certification isn't about proving that the dog can find a leak. It's about giving utilities confidence that the professional team can perform consistently, safely, ethically, and competently.

Lo**ta Shaffer joins our hosts, Robin Greubel and Stacy Barnett, in this two-part conversation to talk all things water leak detection!

It’s a growing niche in the dog training world, but a pretty important one. After all, America's water utilities maintain 2.2 million miles of drinking-water pipe, enough to circle the globe 88 times, and industry estimates put coming rate hikes sharply higher as aging, "non-revenue" leaks go unfound.

Acoustic listening equipment, the current industry standard, can hear a hissing pipe but also every earthworm, bug, and passing car, leaving handlers to triangulate blind. Dogs, calibrated on-site to a utility's own water before every job, can generalize across leaks ranging from a quarter-gallon a minute to tens of thousands, including one Florida job under an interstate that was gushing 70,000 gallons a minute.

Lo**ta traces her own path into the work back to hunting-dog trials and a sister already doing human remains detection. It’s a lineage that Robin, coming from cadaver-dog work herself, recognizes immediately in how hydrology carries odor whether the "victim" is a body or a busted water main.

Lo**ta is working to build credentialing that treats handler-and-dog teams the way plumbers or engineers are licensed, and is portable across state lines. She has a five-year goal of turning "detection dog" into a real, benefits-earning career. Stay tuned for the next episode of K9 Detection Collaborative, which will be part two of the conversation!

https://www.k9pda.org/

08/07/2026