Wildlife detection dog training: A case study on achieving generalization between target odor variations while retaining specificity

Wildlife detection dogs are required to correctly discriminate target wildlife species odor from nontargetspecies odors (specificity), while enabling some degree of target odor variation (generality). Becausethere is no standardized training protocol, and little knowledge on training efficiency, we conducted acase study to test a dog’s training efficiency in detecting 2-week-old wild otter (Lutra lutra) feces (spraint)odor among feces odors from 6 other large mammal species that often share the otter’s natural habitat,including fox (Vulpes vulpes), hare (Lepus europaeus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), and cattle (Bostaurus). The dog was trained using a standard multiple-choice carrousel in a stepwise protocol. Westarted with odor samples from fresh captive otter spraints and progressed toward 2-week-old spraintsfrom wild otters among other mammalian dung odors and tested for specificity and generality after eachtraining step. We show that training on only 2 variations of spraints from captive otters enabled the dogto detect all desired spraint odor variations in our protocol, indicating a rapid generalization to variationsof spraint odor the dog was not trained on, while retaining specificity. Testing such concept formation oftarget odors should be included in detection dog training and certification and could serve as a qualitycontrol measure of detection dog performance