K9 Conservationists

06/02/2026

Before coming to K9 Conservationists, Tooma was an all-star researcher at the . He contributed to research on how exercise affected olfactory acuity, which involved trotting on a treadmill while sniffing a port from an olfactometer. Tooma still loves his treadmill and you can read all about this work here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159126000614

Tooma also worked on a project detecting buried odors to see how different depths and soil type affect detection of a buried odor. According to Liza Rothkoff, PhD student at the lab, "Iitooma was the best dog on that project regardless of odor depth and soil type!"

The c4 project's goal was to measure olfactory acuity thresholds to different c4 volatile compounds (parts of the scent picture). It was found that dog detection sensitivity ranged 1000-fold.

Tooma will be an excellent sport, companion, or detection dog in a different role. The projects that K9 Conservationists has coming up are simply too remote and rugged for a dog with any physical constraints, but he is not ready to hang up his harness. This little guy is a bucket of energy who thrives on training and enrichment. He relaxes well in the house, crated or no. He's a top-tier cuddler if you don't mind some extra ear kisses, and is whip-smart. If you're interested in adopting Tooma, reach out at [email protected]

05/29/2026

Another aspect of Skipper’s apprenticeship is generalization to different diet items and discrimination between wolf s**ts and other s**ts. Even when we introduce nontarget odors at home and dozens of positive training samples, this stage is important to solidify in the field. His first few days in the field were marked with what I (Kayla) call “clarifying questions.” He would pause at a spot where a bear had munched on a salmon last fall, sniff for a while, and glance at me. Is this it? When I indicated that salmon bones don’t pay, he moved on.

While I took care to introduce Skipper to s**ts of all ages and prey contents, all of the training s**ts had been frozen and thawed, stored in plastic bags. This changes their odor profile, muddying it.

Skipper had two big wins last week as part of his apprenticeship. In one, he sourced odor and located a wolf s**t full of wiry black hair (pic 1). A large bear claw was clearly visible: these wolves had feasted on a black bear. Black bear is a relatively common diet item for Alexander Archipelago wolves, but Skipper had not been exposed to many s**ts containing bear previously. We’re thrilled that he made the leap to this new diet item without missing a beat!

Just a few minutes later, we rounded a huge cedar to see three huge piles of bear s**t. Skipper investigated those s**ts, but moved on to source odor on logs and vegetation nearby (slide 2). He started circling, body getting long as he tried to locate his target. When he stopped, an old wolf s**t lay between his paws (pic 3). This wasn’t the first bear s**t Skipper ignored, but we're thrilled to have such a clear example on video. Good job, Skip!

05/27/2026

We've been reflecting a lot on Tooma's successes. While his career was shorter than we'd like, he's make remarkable contributions to science over the years. As part of our team, Tooma was a main dog on the Dune Marten Project with PhD student Dax. As Dax was analyzing results last week, he texted co-founder Kayla this exciting finding: Tooma (and Barley) found 132 confirmed marten s**ts, which Dax said is "More than all s**ts from that area combined over previous years. That’s insane."

Tooma has an incredible nose and wonderful work ethic. He's also worked on the Island Wolf Project, and many projects with Texas Tech including a buried odor project, C4 sensitivity project, and work determining how exercise affects olfactory acuity (all 3 with Texas Tech). He had several other important roles as a younger dog.

Stay tuned for more Tooma appreciation posts as we help him search for his next adventure! If you have worked with Tooma and have memories or "wins" to share, reach out. We'd love to keep the Tooma love rolling. He's a very special dog who deserves the very best.

We envision him excelling at nosework, barn hunt, bedbug, mussel, or any number of other detection roles where it's easier to give him rest and access veterinary care than on Alaskan islands or the Guatemalan highlands. Tooma's body might not be able to keep up with super rugged, remote fieldwork far from veterinary care, but he's still extremely well-suited to a sport role or a role that is more "urban." K9 Conservationists is dedicated to finding him the perfect next home. Tooma comes with oodles of training, including in physical therapy skills to keep him chugging along.

If you're looking for a wonderfully social, cuddly, smart, and trainable dog, he's your guy. Reach out to [email protected] if you'd like to learn more about adopting Tooma.

05/26/2026

Onboarding new dogs to projects is a long process. Despite extensive screening and home-based training, there is an “apprentice” phase on a dog’s first field deployment. This period—ranging from days to weeks—helps identify gaps in training or understanding that can’t be replicated at home. Last year’s apprenticeship revealed that Niffler is afraid of some fresh wolf s**ts, a behavior not seen with frozen training samples.

Skipper’s apprenticeship has been remarkably smooth. Although he is our youngest and least experienced dog, he was hand-selected for this gig. His apprenticeship began with a week of introductions to Alaska’s sights, smells, and sounds around town.

Next, he learned to:
1. Locate wolf s**ts never handled by humans (pic 1). First, Barley locates a few s**ts, then Skipper is brought into the odor cone. Handlers support sourcing and mark correct indication. This stage was challenging for Tooma and Niffler, but Skipper showed a clear behavioral change on his first wild s**t.
2. Relax and recover during boat rides. Selected for his adaptable, easygoing temperament, Skipper slept through his first ride and has since handled Pacific swell and chop with ease (pic 2).
3. Safely load and unload from the ADFG boat. Kayla previously taught Skipper to be lifted, placed on objects, and handed between people—the boat was the final missing piece.
4. Troubleshoot complex odor pictures. While Skipper has extensive odor puzzle training, some conditions can’t be recreated. On day 1, he encountered moss-covered s**t (pic 3) and a very old s**t flattened by a vehicle (pic 4). He handled the moss well but worked HARD to source odor on the flattened sample. Soon, his search strategy became slower and more deliberate!
5. Remain focused despite wildlife distractions. Skipper has encountered river otters, a seal “periscoping,” low-flying gulls and ravens, and the calls of sandhill cranes and wolves. We've invested heavily in neutrality to wildlife, and it has paid off.

So far, he has focused on high-density s**t areas and has found 59 s**ts! Next he'll do longer searches and work in more variable weather. He still has much to learn, but his future is bright!

05/24/2026

The third year of the Island Wolf Project is in full swing! For 3.5 months every summer, Kayla heads up to Alaska with her detection dogs as part of her PhD fieldwork. Under the supervision of Dr. Taal Levi at Oregon State University and in partnership with Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Kayla is studying the diet, movement, and community ecology of the Alexander Archipelago wolves. Research questions center on the island biogeographical effects on wolf diet, logging effect on prey availability, and wolf movement between islands. Our initial results show that some wolves regularly visit four or more islands as part of their territory, while others disperse over 200km as the crow flies, crossing at least five different bodies of water in the process.

These wolves are unusually small and dark-coated, adapted for life in the “sea forest.” This study collects wolf s**t across 25 islands in the Alexander Archipelago, with the dog team commuting by boat across the Pacific ocean to reach remote study sites in the US’s largest national forest and the world’s largest remaining temperate rainforest.

This year, the dog team consists of Professor Emeritus Barley and his apprentice Skipper. Barley has been part of the team from the beginning, though as he ages he is searching the choice (easier) terrain and taking more days off to let the young guys learn the ropes. We’ll discuss Skipper’s apprenticeship phase more in upcoming posts. Kayla is joined by field technicians Didac (.sniff) and will soon be joined by Mallory (), Robyn (.robyn) and Bella () as part of our rotating cast. These field technicians aid in the care of the dogs, camera trap servicing, data collection, GPS track cleaning, and s**t sample preparation for the lab. Another group of technicians, mostly Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees, are helping to do transects searching for deer pellets to get a measure of prey availability. We are so grateful to have a wonderful team behind our amazing dogs, and thrilled to work in such a unique and exciting ecosystem.

05/22/2026

Volunteer opportunity! Niffler is looking for a ride from Missoula, MT to southern Michigan (just north of South Bend) between now and June 23 for an exciting detection project. We can offer up to $1,200 in mileage reimbursement and incidentals. We are also open to working with transport companies, but Niffler would appreciate a more family-style approach.

He is a wonderful traveler, quiet and clean in the car and hotels. He loves long walks through corn fields and digging in the sand during breaks. He plays well with other dogs and is respectful with cats.

We will be excited to share more about Niffler's new project when all details are ready. His original plans were to travel with his handler, but due to some last-minute shifts his handler is coming from a different location and is no longer able to shuttle him.

05/20/2026

This is a difficult announcement for us to make, but one rooted in our commitment to putting our dogs’ welfare first. Tooma has made tremendous contributions to conservation, and now it’s his turn to enjoy a retirement of comfort, enrichment, and being deeply loved.

Iitooma (pronounced ee-too-muh, or “Tooma” for short) joined K9C after a thorough health evaluation, like all our new recruits, to confirm that he was physically suited for working life. He came to us with experience in other working dog organizations.

However, over time Tooma exhibited increasing resource guarding behavior and unwillingness to move from positions of comfort despite dedicated positive reinforcement and management interventions from our qualified trainers. Since pain often causes behavior changes, we pursued additional diagnostics with our veterinary specialists. Those evaluations revealed muscle atrophy and pain secondary to degenerative joint disease.

Tooma has responded well to medication and physical therapy, but we made the difficult decision (with help from our veterinary team) to retire him earlier than hoped. Tooma is happy, active, and loves to work, but it would not be safe or fair to ask him to continue working full-time, as our work often involves long days in rugged, remote environments far from veterinary care.

Tooma is a 5-year-old English Cocker Spaniel weighing 37 pounds. He is looking for an active retirement home where he can continue using his brilliant nose, body, and brain for fun. As a seasoned working detection dog, Tooma is essentially a turn-key sport partner with an exceptional foundation in odor work, toy skills, and training. He would be an ideal dog for someone looking to get started in lower-impact activities like nosework, barn hunt, trick training, and other enrichment-based sports that allow him to keep using his exceptional nose and love of learning. He would likely excel as part of a detection team for mussels, wind farms, or bedbugs. He is not a good candidate for high-impact sports such as agility or flyball.

Tooma is an affectionate dog who loves to cuddle with his people. He has lived successfully in several multi-dog households with dogs of different sizes, ages, sexes, and breeds. He is respectful with dog-savvy cats and chickens. He is whip-smart, highly trainable, and enjoys working for both toys and food.

Like many spaniels, Tooma can resource guard, but is manageable with a force-free, thoughtful, and coachable handler. He is soft but does well with gentle handlers of any gender.

He is a great traveler and is open to qualified adopters across the USA. That said, we would love to place Tooma in the western Montana or Oregon so we can continue to provide support through dog sitting, training, and the occasional reunion.

K9 Conservationists will provide lifetime support to help ensure a smooth transition regardless of where his new home is. If you think you might be the right fit for Tooma, please email [email protected] with subject line “Tooma Application” and tell us a bit about your home.

05/16/2026

Today's group coaching call was an absolute blast.

We started off with S and F working on inaccessible hides and discussing marker timing. We then moved to more discussions of marker timing with hard-to-confirm turtles for L and S. A and Z were working on confidence on rubble-pile-like searches; A and V are working on safer toy play in similar situations. Finally, we talked about partnership and confidence for T and K.

May 2026 Group Coaching Recording by K9 Conservationists on Patreon. Join K9 Conservationists's community for exclusive content and updates.

05/16/2026

Nuestro tecnico de campo en el Proyecto del Lobo de la Isla, Didac, tambien es fundador de Biosniff. Con sus perros rastreadores, él ofrece servicios de perros buscadores en Catalunia, España, y Europa oeste. Hace una semana, Didac y Kayla fueron entrevistados para un articulo sobre los perros detectores en conservacion en ambos lados del oceano.

Our current field tech on the Island Wolf Project, Didac, is also the founder of BioSniff. Alongside his detection dogs, he offers detection dog services in western Europe. For those of you who read Spanish, Kayla and Didac were recently interviewed about the work of conservation dogs across the ocean.

Los equipos científicos utilizan unidades caninas para estudiar biodiversidad y el impacto humano sobre los ecosistemas

05/11/2026

⛑️ 𝐈𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 🐾

Our conservation detection dogs are athletes — and the work they do depends on staying strong, healthy, and supported every step of the way. Behind the scenes, we’re incredibly lucky to have veterinary teams who help make that possible.

💚 A huge thank you to 𝐃𝐫. 𝐘𝐮𝐤𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 at West Hill Animal Hospital, who care for Barley, Skipper, and Niffler. Their speciality in rehab and sports medicine has been instrumental in keeping the boys healthy and field-ready. They played a key role in Barley’s recovery, and now, as this seasoned veteran begins to slow down a bit (though he’s not quite ready to call it retirement), their care continues to help him stay strong, comfortable, and able to do what he loves.

🧡 For Scottie and Ellie, we’re so grateful to 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐚𝐦 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚 and her expertise in physical therapy and conditioning has helped build strength, prevent injury, and keep both dogs performing at their best.

❤️ And a special shoutout to Red Sage Integrative Veterinary Partners — especially 𝐃𝐫. 𝐑𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐧 — for their thoughtful, science-driven care. Their team stays closely aligned with the latest research and brings a deep understanding of 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬, supporting many search and rescue and other high-performance teams. It means so much to know our dogs are cared for by professionals who truly understand the physical and mental demands of their jobs.

💙 We’re also grateful to Boulder Veterinary Hospital, Becca’s trusted general practice clinic, and to 𝐃𝐫. 𝐌𝐞𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐧 at Medicine in Motion for chiropractic care that helps keep her girls moving and feeling their best.

From routine wellness care and rehabilitation to hydrotherapy, advanced treatment options, and preventative conditioning, this support isn’t just about recovery — it’s about 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐠𝐬.

Thank you for keeping our dogs strong, comfortable, and ready for whatever the field throws at them. 🐾