Meet Dozer, Agriculture-Detector Dog
The latest weapon against pests threatening California’s $2 billion agriculture business is Dozer, a canine trained to sniff out fruit insects. (KCRA News) (3:32)
Pest Hotline: 1-800-491-1899
Click on a dog's image above to visit the detection dog team's page.
Detection Dog Tahoe | Los Angeles county
In L.A. County’s canine workforce, you’ve got your glamour hounds– dogs who can sniff out a multimillion dollar drug cache faster than you can say “film at 11.” And you’ve got your rough-and-ready patrol dogs—the ones renowned for collaring runaway bad guys in mean back alleys.
But where, oh where is that rare breed of dog who can take down a rogue shipment of dandelion greens, bok choy and parsley? To which the county agriculture department says: Meet Tahoe.
Tahoe, a purebred Labrador who weighs in at 70 pounds, has been making his share of finds, too, recently detecting an unmarked shipment of leeks coming from Michigan, according to Carranza, his handler.
It’s important work—and something that humans just can’t do. Unless a produce shipment is leaking, smelly, “taped weird,” or “coming from a high-risk area,” human inspectors have to rely on correct labeling to tell them what to inspect, says Rieger, the teams’ supervisor. But with dogs sniffing out the packages—correctly labeled and otherwise—as they come down the conveyor belt, human inspectors can devote more energy to properly investigating what they find.
“I love it,” says Carranza, 49, a 20-year department veteran. “Right now, I think it’s better with my dog. I’m not alone.”
Source: Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky's Blog - 2010
Photo: Handler Rogelio Carranza and Detection Dog Tahoe
Read Supervisor Zev Yaroshlavsky's blog on Los Angeles County's detection dogs!
Los Angeles County 4-H Pet Symposium
Los Angeles County 4-H hosted its annual Pet & Science Symposium on Saturday, October 11, 2014, from 10am to 2pm. This FREE event was for both 4-H members and the general public. The day included speakers and displayed on a variety of pet-related topics and science. The event was held at Belvedere Park, 4914 E. Cesar E. Chavez, Los Angeles, CA 90022.
Detection Dog Tahoe's demonstration was exceptionally popular and the kids learned a lot!
Source: Los Angeles County University of California Cooperative Extension
Photos provided by: Dawn A. Fuller, Los Angeles County 4-H Program Coordinator
1-800-491-1899
