Scat Dog Background

Cheetah Scat Dog - Background

	Field researchers studying the movements of wild cheetah encounter massive difficulties in finding and identifying cheetah. Ideally the field researchers find marking posts frequented by cheetah, they set camera traps and then they have a photographic record of the cheetah (enabling individual identification and also assisting with the process of catching and collaring the cheetah). However the areas are vast and finding marking posts is incredibly difficult. I was approached by Kelly Marnewick (a boffin field officer at De Wildt Cheetah & Wildlife Trust) to train a dog to find cheetah scat and thus the marking posts. We have taught many dogs to identify various scents, but never anything like this. To the best of our knowledge this has never been done in SA before. The challenge continued when the candidate dog was announced to be Kelly's pet - a Staffordshire Bull Terrier known as Diesel. No disrespect intended to SBT's (or to Diesel), but SBT's have never been used for scenting work. They are not specifically designed for this work as a bloodhound or beagle is. However, I do love a challenge and so we started!
	The work started in September 2006. After excellent results on the training grounds using scat from captive cheetah we moved to larger areas. Diesel showed tremendous drive and apart from his inexperience in learning to use the wind he was performing very well. Then we started with scent discrimination exercises. Scat from brown hyena, African wild cat and caracal was placed in the target area together with the cheetah scat. Diesel made one incorrect indication - and that is the only one to date.
	In December 2006 we embarked on our first field trip in the Thabazimbi region. The plan was to visit known marking posts and to see if Diesel indicated. As luck would have it, the cheetah had not been visiting the marking posts. But we were prepared for this with some scat brought along just in case. Scat was placed and left to age and then Diesel would be walked along the road to see if he indicated.
	Diesel did not perform as well as Kelly and I had hoped and he missed a couple of placed scats. This was mainly due to the harsh conditions and his relatively low fitness and stamina. The travel also exhausted the little guy and I don't think he slept a wink for two days. We also encountered some other problems, including thorns from hell, thick bush, rogue elephants and of course snakes. After this trip we decided that the long lead was not feasible!
	So the first trip was a little disappointing, but we knew what we had to work on. Diesel started roadwork to increase his stamina and harden his feet. I must say that Kelly is a star handler who implements everything I ask - this makes my job so much easier. Thanks Kelly! The next trip was outstanding! The cheetah still weren't really co-operating, but Diesel found every scat without fail. To test his discrimination abilities I placed a scat in a tree, at the foot of which was a brown hyena latrine. Diesel scented the scat and sat right under the tree, staring intently into the branches and ignoring the hyena scat on the ground. Bingo! After each track Diesel gets watered and rested for a bit. Here he and Kelly are in front of the superb vehicle which was donated by Sasol Chevron.
	The last trip in May 2007 took us into virgin territory. Kelly knew that cheetah had been moving in this area, but a marking post had not yet been found. After a frustrating first day Diesel hit the mother lode!
	He was even able to take us to places where the cheetah had sprayed and scratched the ground. Kelly & I were ecstatic and we did a little jig on a dry dusty road in the middle of nowhere.
Since this article was written Diesel has been on a number of field trips and is working like a trouper! Click here to view the current story.