Detection Dogs are More than Man’s Best Friend

Ball -bsessed Koni would make a great Detection Dog.

I read recently that detection dogs in Lassen Park picked up the scent of the endangered red fox. They detected about 85 scat that are being tested genetically at UC Davis. This is good news for the rarest animal in all of North America. There is estimated to only be about 18-35 Sierra Nevada Red Fox in existence. Cameras captured actual video of the fox but this has yet to be confirmed. The Detection Dog Team will be in action next summer, too.

We’ve all heard stories about detection dogs sniffing out drugs, explosives, cadavers and disaster survivors. In the mid 90’s, handlers started training them for conservation tasks such as sniffing out scat from endangered animal species and detecting trafficked ivory. Now their olfactory prowess is being used in the fight against invasive plants and insects. The list of how man’s best friend is helping us just keeps getting longer.

What makes a good detection dog? My friend, Cindy can tell you. She got Koni, a lab, through a good samaritan who had rescued him as a puppy from a homeless person living in her car. Koni wasn’t abused, just skinny. He has turned out to be a sweet, affectional, eager-to-please, ball-obsessed dog and those are the qualities that would make him a good detection dog. He lives for praise.

Although I come across more French broom than Scotch in our area detection dogs can be trained to sniff out all invasive broom. They’re doing this in New York where Scotch broom is just starting to invade and land managers hope to eradicate it before it becomes widespread like it is here and all along the Pacific Northwest. Broom displaces native plants with thickets impenetrable to wildlife and changes the chemistry of the soil around it so that native plants can’t grow there. Broom grows quickly as it is able to fix nitrogen from the air giving a competitive advantage to other non-native weeds. It poses a serious threat to birds, butterflies and biodiversity. Broom contains a high amount of oil, which is flammable and increases the fire hazard. It’s also toxic to livestock and dogs depending on the amount ingested. And those are just some of the reasons why New York wants to keep broom away.

“Our field in the last 15 years has just exploded.” said Pete Coppolillo, executive director of the nonprofit Working Dogs for Conservation in Bozeman, Montana. The organization partners with government agencies, researchers and nonprofits on five continents to provide trained dogs and handlers for conservation projects. Besides helping to detect New York broom they have provided trained dogs to find invasive knapweed in Montana, Chinese bush clover in Iowa, yellow thistle in Colorado as well as invasive zebra and quagga mussels on boats here in California.

Working Dogs for Conservation trains shelter dogs for detection work, screening 1000 dogs for every one they put to work. To make the cut, the dogs have to be not only good sniffers and high-energy, but also seriously obsessed with toys so they’ll stay motivated to work for a reward – the chance to play with a ball.

Because I eat a lot of oranges and lemons I looked up recent papers to see if dogs were still being used to detect citrus greening disease. Sure enough what started 5 years ago with just a few dogs has increased dramatically and many dogs are now being trained. Tim Gottwald, a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture plant pathologist, said during a recent presentation in Riverside that dogs in Florida have been 99% accurate and in tests and just of couple years ago in Southern California backyards, they were more than 92% accurate even when distracted by the homeowners. Because dogs can actually smell the bacteria that causes greening disease within a few weeks after infection well before lab tests can confirm, their work is vitally important.

So when you’re petting “man’s best friend” tonight appreciate all the great things he does for you and for our planet.

Learn Something New Everyday

Century plants in full bloom. Beware of the thorns.

We’ve been told this all our lives but today’s lesson came from a reader in Scotts Valley who shared a harrowing experience she and her husband had when removing the tall, massive flower spike of their century plant (Agave americana) The birds must have planted it many years ago cause they sure didn’t. But now the plant was massive with a flowering spike loved by the bees. iI was time for it to go. So they donned gardening clothes and got out the implements of destruction. That’s when it all went terribly wrong and they ended up in Urgent Care.

Several months ago I was seeing posts all over the internet of proud owners with their once-in-8-to-30-year century plant 15 foot blooming spikes. After blooming the spike dies and pups grow at the base of the plant to continue the life cycle. The thorns on the tips hurt more than you would expect because of their toxic agents. Calcium oxalate crystals and saponins which can cause swelling, blisters and other symptoms upon contact or ingestion. The poor folks who ended up in Urgent Care are still on steroids and miserable. Besides being careful around the thorns of this plants be sure to have some rubbing alcohol on hand to immediately neutralize the toxin.

What other common plants should you watch out for?

Small pets can also be at risk if they ingest parts of poisonous plants out in the yard. Know what plants you have and keep a list. Oleander and foxglove are notorious deadly plants. Here are just some others you might not know.

Hydrangea leaves, flowers and branches contain cyanide. Lantana foliage and especially their unripe berries also contain dangerous toxins while delphinium leaves and seeds contain toxic alkaloids which decrease as the plant ages. Sweet peas, lobelia, impatiens, carnations, calla lily, mums and bleeding hearts also have plant parts with come degree of negative effect if ingested.

Surprisingly, even some vegetables contain natural toxins. Diseased celery and green potatoes as well as potato leaves and sprouts produce a very strong toxin. Raw, green, young asparagus shoots can cause dermatitis and the red berries that form on their feathery branches are poisonous. Large quantities of tomato leaves and stems contain alkaloid poisons. Livestock have died from eating the foliage. I guess the deer that browse your tomato vines aren’t ingesting enough to cause them harm as they seem to know just when you have another set of buds for them to nibble.

Trees are not the most common cause of accidental poisonings around the home but a few species may present a hazard.

The black seed inside apples contain cyanide although you have to eat large quantities for them to be deadly. Peach kernels, bark and twigs contain cyanide also as do apricot, cherry and plum pits.

Many of us are including native plants in our landscapes to attract wildlife and save water and resources. Here are some common native plants that you should be aware of if you have small children. The following plants have toxic parts: Coffeeberry, California buckeye, sWestern azalea, Elderberry, California buttercup, Berberis, Prunus, California poppy, annual lupine.

You don’t have to eliminate plants around the home that have natural toxins. Humans have lived for centuries around gardens and orchards. Just be prepared by knowing what plants grow on your property.

Sheet Mulch Away Your Old Lawn

Save water and time by replacing your dying lawn with un-thirsty plants.

I don’t know why I’m amazed when I come across an old lawn that was sheet mulched away. After all, it’s a tried and true method to remove a lawn and make way for a new spectacular, low water-use, pollinator-friendly garden that will also be beautiful. The latest sheet mulching project I encountered recently wasn’t done by a professional landscaper but by a gardener like you. Here’s how to do it.

This simple technique eliminates a lawn or invasive ground cover by smothering them with layers of compost and renewable materials like cardboard or paper.. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Mow the lawn down to 1-2 inches, leave the clippings in place and soak with a hose if the soil is dry. If dealing
    with ivy, blackberries or vinca remove as much of the top growth as you can.
  2. Flag the locations of sprinkler heads you will be keeping for your new plantings and cap off the ones you won’t
    need if there is an irrigation system in this area.
  3. Add an inch of compost to speed up the decay of the grass. If your lawn borders a driveway, path or sidewalk
    you’ll have to remove about 3 inches of soil along these edges and back about 8-12 inches so that the new mulch doesn’t slide off into the sidewalk. This is not necessary with ivy.
  4. Put down 2-3 layers of newspaper or one layer of cardboard overlapping the edges by 6-8 inches to prevent regrowth at the edges. You can buy recycled cardboard in rolls for larger projects or find your own at appliance or bicycle stores. Wet the cardboard or newspapers to keep them in place as you go along. It’s best to use cardboard or newspaper that will break down quicker. Don’t use plastic sheeting because water and air cannot penetrate it.
  5. Add a 3 inch layer of mulch such as wood chips from a tree trimming company. You can use compost, straw or
    shredded plant material. If you have bermuda grass or other weeds like oxalis you will need to layer about 8 inches of mulch to smother them.
  6. Water thoroughly.

If you can wait a month or more to let the decomposition process get going so much the better. If you just can’t wait you can begin planting now by scraping away the mulch and poking a hole in the cardboard or newspaper where the plant is to go. Then add some compost to help the new plant become established. Be sure to plant high enough to prevent crown rot and keep the mulch a couple inches away from the stem. The top of the root ball should be 1-2 inches above the soil and just below the mulch.

Modify the sprinkler to drip and remember to adjust your irrigation system run times to accommodate your new plantings.

This is a basic “lasagna” method for lawn removal. If you are planning to replant with water smart grasses you would choose finer composted mulch instead of wood chips. Either way the process works on the same concept as a compost pile. As the lawn dies from lack of light, it decomposes with the activity of beneficial worms, insects and microorganisms coming up from the soil and doing their job to break down the nitrogen and carbon in the sheet-mulch layers. It’s a win-win situation for the environment and your water bill.

Water conservation starts with losing or reducing the thirsty traditional lawn and reducing irrigation.Transform your landscape into a resilient garden that not only saves water but acts to build the earth into a living sponge that harnesses rainwater and replenishes the aquifer at the same time. Attracting wildlife to your new beautiful garden is a bonus.

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