Dogs have long been prized for their incredible sense of smell, and in the last few decades we’ve really begun to test the boundaries of their noses. It turns out dogs can sniff out all sorts of stuff; game animals, people, illegal substances, even cancer cells. The world of detection dogs is always expanding, and recent additions to this impressive group of pups includes the conservation dogs at the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
This team of dogs is made up of a Belgian Malinois named Fagen and two American Field Labradors, Dia and Peat.
From left to right, Fagen, Dia, and Peat, out in the field. Photo by Krysti Sabins.
The Trail Conference works to build and maintain public trails, as well as advocate for natural spaces, conservation, and stewardship. In the Northeast, invasive species are one of the most prominent threats to our wild spaces. Invasive species are organisms, often plants or insects, which are moved from their native range to an area of the world where they have no effective population controls. With nothing to keep them in check, their numbers explode, causing them to outcompete native species for resources. This causes a reduction in biodiversity and a degradation in habitat for native plants and animals.
Researchers and land managers are fighting hard to remove invasives and to prevent the introduction of new species, but when you’re looking for one teeny tiny plant in an entire forest, or just a few brown fly eggs on a sea of tree trunks, it can be easy to miss what you’re looking for. This is where the conservation dogs come in. These canines have been trained to track down the scents of several different plants, insect eggs, and even animal scat, all for forest protection and research purposes. Targets include scotch broom, oak wilt, kudzu, and spotted lanternfly, just to name a few. In 2022, the dogs collectively searched over 309 acres in 98 hours for invasive plants and found 704 plants with their noses that likely would have been missed by human searchers who were relying on eyesight alone.
Even in a forest blanketed by barberry, Dia is able to reliably locate invasive sticky sage. Photo by Arden Blumenthal.
Fagen sniffed out this inner wing of a spotted lanternfly that likely would’ve been missed by human searchers. He’s a dedicated and athletic worker and willing to get to spots that people might have a hard time reaching. Photos by Josh Beese.
When a dogs finds their target species they’ll alert to its presence and be rewarded with their favorite toy. Here, Dia has found invasive crested late-summer mint. Photo by Kathleen Walz.
The invasive scouting work the dogs do often targets new and emerging invasives, with the hope that there is still time to stop a new infestation before it starts. The dogs can search an area to see if invasives are present and treatment is needed, and after treatment has occurred they can search it again to make sure the target species was eradicated. This effort is critical in preventing an isolated incident from becoming a widespread problem. They’re also capable of tracking down rare and endangered plants in need of extra protection, like small whorled pogonia.
Peat and Arden Blumenthal were on the hunt this past summer for small whorled pogonia, a rare, native orchid. Photo by Arden Blumenthal.
Even though they have quite an impressive resume already, the dogs can be trained to both add on and subtract scents to their repertoire, making them a valuable asset in the dynamic worlds of conservation and field research. If you have a project you want the dogs to help out with or if you want your property surveyed for emerging invasive species, you can reach out to NY-NJ Trail Conference Conservation Dogs Program Coordinator, Arden Blumenthal at
For more footage of the dogs in action, you can check out some videos produced by the Trail Conference that explain how the dog team works with their handlers. The first is a summary of what the dogs do and how they do it, and the second focuses specifically on their efforts to track down sticky sage. The conservation dogs were also mentioned in a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation documentary about invasive species called Uninvited. You can watch Uninvited here. Last but not least, you can find a homepage for the trio on the Trail Conference’s website.
