Kennel Club Dogs Sniff Out Cherry Disease
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The Wenatchee, Wash., Kennel Club has had many accomplishments and projects in its 60-year history, but Ag Dog classes and a focus on dog detection services is personal for many of its 160 active members. As a 501c3 they are doing their part to battle little cherry disease (LCD), a devastating problem for sweet cherry growers in Washington and Oregon.
With a new training center, the club holds 33 classes a week from puppy and agility training to tracking and scent work. When they learned about dogs being used to detect Citrus greening, a disease decimating the citrus industry, members created a 20-week pilot project (2021) to train companion dogs to identify LCD.
“We took it on as a service project to the fruit industry,” says Lynda Pheasant, project coordinator. “Our whole goal is to train LCD detection dogs to be an economic and efficient early detection tool for control and eradication of LCD.”
As the name implies LCD results in small, colorless, flavorless cherries. The infected tree has to be removed to prevent it from spreading. With early detection, diseased trees could be identified before they leave the nursery or have a chance to infect other trees in the orchard.
Networking with a professional detection dog trainer and industry experts, volunteers worked with their dogs to respond to samples of (healthy and diseased) leaf and branch samples.
Six of 11 dogs successfully discriminated between diseased and non-diseased, exceeding expectations by chance. Two were more than 90 percent accurate. Breeds included an Australian shepherd, border collie, a black German shepherd, Entlebucher Mountain dog, Rhodesian Ridgeback and yellow lab.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wenatchee Kennel Club, Wenatchee, Wash. (ph 509-886-3647; wkc@wenatcheekennelclub.com; www.wenatcheekennelclub.com).
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Kennel Club Dogs Sniff Out Cherry Disease MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT Pest Animals The Wenatchee Wash Kennel Club has had many accomplishments and projects in its 60-year history but Ag Dog classes and a focus on dog detection services is personal for many of its 160 active members As a 501c3 they are doing their part to battle little cherry disease LCD a devastating problem for sweet cherry growers in Washington and Oregon With a new training center the club holds 33 classes a week from puppy and agility training to tracking and scent work When they learned about dogs being used to detect Citrus greening a disease decimating the citrus industry members created a 20-week pilot project 2021 to train companion dogs to identify LCD “We took it on as a service project to the fruit industry ” says Lynda Pheasant project coordinator “Our whole goal is to train LCD detection dogs to be an economic and efficient early detection tool for control and eradication of LCD ” As the name implies LCD results in small colorless flavorless cherries The infected tree has to be removed to prevent it from spreading With early detection diseased trees could be identified before they leave the nursery or have a chance to infect other trees in the orchard Networking with a professional detection dog trainer and industry experts volunteers worked with their dogs to respond to samples of healthy and diseased leaf and branch samples Six of 11 dogs successfully discriminated between diseased and non-diseased exceeding expectations by chance Two were more than 90 percent accurate Breeds included an Australian shepherd border collie a black German shepherd Entlebucher Mountain dog Rhodesian Ridgeback and yellow lab Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Wenatchee Kennel Club Wenatchee Wash ph 509-886-3647; wkc@wenatcheekennelclub com; www wenatcheekennelclub com
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