06/13/2026
Pure Bred dogs help researchers in finding more information on these seals.
Labrador Retrievers, Stout and Indigo, never retrieved a duck from icy water for this assignment. Instead, they helped unlock the secret lives of seals hidden beneath Arctic snow.
A decade has passed since the pair raced across Alaska's sea ice searching for ringed seal lairs. The black Labrador Retriever siblings would be senior dogs today, but their legacy lives on. Researchers continue to use dog-assisted methods to study ringed seals in Prudhoe Bay, combining canine noses with modern monitoring equipment to better understand how these Arctic seals use a habitat increasingly affected by climate change.
Back when the project began, Stout and Indigo were part of an innovative effort to solve a problem that had long frustrated wildlife biologists. Ringed seals spend much of the Arctic winter beneath sea ice, surfacing through breathing holes they maintain in ice that can be several feet thick. They also excavate snow-covered lairs where they rest, shelter from harsh weather, and give birth to pups. Finding these hidden structures across vast expanses of frozen ocean is no easy task.
The Labs, however, possessed exactly the tool scientists needed: extraordinary noses.
The dogs were trained using scent from ringed seals and taught to search into the wind while researchers followed behind on snow machines. Once given the Inupiat command "Natchiq," meaning ringed seal, the Labs fanned out across the ice. When they detected the scent of a breathing hole or lair, they surged toward the source, leading scientists to locations that might otherwise have remained undiscovered.
Their success was remarkable. During the study, Stout and Indigo helped researchers locate more than 130 seal structures, including breathing holes, haul-out lairs, and pupping lairs. The discoveries provided valuable information about seal behavior and habitat use, helping scientists better understand a species that spends much of its life hidden from human view.
The project also highlighted a side of the Labrador Retriever that many people rarely considered at the time. Labs had always been appreciated as hunting companions, service dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and detection dogs, but Stout and Indigo demonstrated that the breed's intelligence, trainability, stamina, and scenting ability can also advance wildlife conservation.
In the end, these two black Labs did far more than find seals. They helped open a window into a hidden Arctic world. And years later, as researchers continue to build on methods that dogs like Stout and Indigo helped prove effective, their contribution serves as a reminder that some of the most important discoveries in science begin with a dog following its nose.
Read more here: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=1081
