Instinct at Work: Australian Shepherds with a Job That Matters

About this episode

This episode explores the role of Australian Shepherds in detecting invasive pests, featuring insights from a nursery inspector and her working dogs.

What if your Australian Shepherd's biggest superpower isn't speed or herding instinct… but their nose? In this episode of The Instinctive Australian Shepherd, host Jacque Tinker sits down with Kallie Bongtrager, a Nursery Inspector and Compliance Officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources—and a handler who takes her working Aussies into the field to help detect one of the most disruptive invasive pests in the U.S.: the spotted lanternfly. Kallie shares what her job looks like on the ground—inspecting nurseries, tracking plant pests and pathogens, and responding to public reports—then takes us deep into the real-world process of training detection dogs on lanternfly egg masses (including the surprising challenges: "dead" vs. "live" eggs, changing scent over time, tiny odor cones, and why trust in your dog matters more than your eyes). You'll also meet her three Aussies: Que (retired, still brilliant, still hungry) Epic (the seasoned field dog with the "freeze-and-dance" alert) River (the young trainee learning the difference between "search" and "follow my footsteps") Along the way, you'll hear a jaw-dropping story about egg masses hidden inside a woodpecker hole and…

People in this episode

Host: Jacqueline Tinker

Guest: Kallie Bongtrager

Topics covered

• Australian Shepherds
• detection dogs
• invasive pests
• conservation
• training
• nursery inspection

Keywords

• Australian Shepherd
• detection
• spotted lanternfly
• training
• invasive species
• conservation
• dog training

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Places: U.S.

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