Detector dog Rose is happy to keep Tasmania safe from biosecurity threats.
All dog owners share a special bond with their pets but one particular branch of NRE Tas shares a much stronger bond than most – Biosecurity Tasmania’s Detector Dog Unit.
International Dog Day, celebrated annually on 26 August is a day dedicated to honouring and appreciating that special bond between humans and hounds.
Senior Biosecurity Inspector (Detector Dogs) Ryan Goodger said that they currently have a team of 10 operational handlers and 10 detector dogs working across the North, South and North-West.
“All our dogs are multi-handled, meaning each dog works with two or three handlers across the week,” he said.
“Our teams undertake an eight-week training course, but training continues in the field over the next year and throughout their working life.
“Dogs can take 12-18 months to reach field proficiency, and during that time they will see a range of seasonal target odours like mangoes and lychees that you just don’t see in Tasmania over winter.”
Detector dog Ruby ready to put her nose to work.
Dogs are selected for the program based on their high play and food drive as well as their ability to work around crowds of people in busy airport and freight environments.
Dogs selected for these characteristics genuinely enjoy coming to work each day with their handlers.
When asked what makes these dogs so special, Ryan said, despite all the noise, movement and distractions within the airport environment, our dogs can still find that old apple core, the single bulb of garlic or the tiny flower, hidden or forgotten inside someone’s bag - they constantly amaze us with what they can find.
“They can also find the plants wrapped up in layers and the tomatoes inside your lunch box,” he said.
“Over their working lives the dogs will generalise from their initial training odours to potentially thousands of different species of plants and seafood that they have never seen before.
“It makes this job incredibly rewarding. We come to work each day knowing that we are making a difference to the community, industries and environment of Tasmania.”
It’s important to remember that when you see a Biosecurity detector dog at the airport, they are working hard to try and pinpoint that single piece of fruit giving off its odour amongst the crowd of people and other smells, noise and movement.
It’s an incredibly hard job they are trying to accomplish, but you can make it easier for them to stay focussed by not touching or talking to them.
Senior Biosecurity Inspector (Detector Dogs) Ryan Goodger puts Rose through her paces.