06/19/2026
From our grantees at Working Dogs for Conservation
Working Dogs for Conservation (WD4C) was in Arizona for another season of searching for the federally protected black-footed ferret. This is just one example of the unique work of WD4C, where they train rescued, rehomed, and career-change dogs to become highly skilled conservation canines, using their noses to protect wildlife and wild places.
This black-footed ferret work is an advanced project that presents numerous challenges beyond just finding the target species. This work also requires incredible fitness and endurance of the dogs to cover large distances and search into deep burrows, repeatedly requiring strength and flexibility. It also requires excellent focus, including working around and not disturbing any wildlife encountered.
This work was coordinated to coincide with recently released, captive-raised black-footed ferrets as part of a larger collaborative effort to save the species. When deployed in this way, the teams are searching for where the ferrets may have moved after being released, for continued monitoring. They survey thousands of acres of prairie dog habitat, called prairie dog towns, where the ferrets live and hunt. The dogs check countless burrows, sniffing each one, searching for ferret activity. When the dogs do smell ferret (and remember, they're also completely ignoring prairie dogs the whole time - this is a high level of difficulty and advanced training project!), they have a “change of behavior” or an alert to a specific burrow, which is then marked and monitored further. The dogs were very successful this year so far, and WD4C looks forward to helping to further expand the collective knowledge base on this species as they continue this partnership into the future.
This is a wonderful example how the support of Doris Day Animal Foundation not only helps support domestic animals, but wildlife and conservation as well through their support of organizations like Working Dogs for Conservation.
