Cactus Sniffing in the Desert

David, do you have any dogs at home?

I do currently have a dog at home, a long-haired dachshund, very stubborn, likes to do things her way, but she's adorable.

What's her name?

Lola.

And how well-trained is Lola?

Well, Lola's a dachshund, and when you have a dachshund, stubbornness comes with it.

So she's trained enough to, when she knows she's going to get a treat, she'll do something.

Short but fierce.

Short but fierce, yeah.

Did you know that any sort of dog, pretty much, can be trained for many sophisticated purposes?

Well, I know that dogs are used for all sorts of conservation purposes.

In fact, I remember during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill out in the Gulf, dogs were used to detect oil in seafood.

Wow.

So I know some of our own staff at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have trained them for all kinds of animal scat, scents, and poacher tracks.

Earlier this season, I know we talked about Izzy, one of our canine dogs that works with our game wardens.

But there are other detection dogs Such as Gertie the bee dog and the handler Jacqueline Staub searching for bumblebee nests.

San Antonio Zoo's horned lizard detection dogs program and Texas Tech's zebra mussel detection dogs.

So there's a lot that's happening out there with conservation dogs.

What if I told you that one of our biologists here at the department is using dogs to find cacti?

I can't say I'd be surprised.

I know detection dogs can sniff out just about anything, but do cacti really have a smell?

You know, surprisingly, or at least to me, they do.

I thought that the only stinky type of flowers or beautiful smelling flowers would be roses or something like the corpse flower that you see in zoos and that sort of thing.

But it turns out all plants have smells.

and even the faintest waft of a cactus dogs can pick up.

David, do you have any dogs at home?

I do currently have a dog at home, a long-haired dachshund, very stubborn, likes to do things her way, but she's adorable.

What's her name?

Lola.

And how well-trained is Lola?

Well, Lola's a dachshund, and when you have a dachshund, stubbornness comes with it.

So she's trained enough to, when she knows she's going to get a treat, she'll do something.

Short but fierce.

Short but fierce, yeah.

Did you know that any sort of dog, pretty much, can be trained for many sophisticated purposes?

Well, I know that dogs are used for all sorts of conservation purposes.

In fact, I remember during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill out in the Gulf, dogs were used to detect oil in seafood.

Wow.

So I know some of our own staff at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have trained them for all kinds of animal scat, scents, and poacher tracks.

Earlier this season, I know we talked about Izzy, one of our canine dogs that works with our game wardens.

But there are other detection dogs Such as Gertie the bee dog and the handler Jacqueline Staub searching for bumblebee nests.

San Antonio Zoo's horned lizard detection dogs program and Texas Tech's zebra mussel detection dogs.

So there's a lot that's happening out there with conservation dogs.

What if I told you that one of our biologists here at the department is using dogs to find cacti?

I can't say I'd be surprised.

I know detection dogs can sniff out just about anything, but do cacti really have a smell?

You know, surprisingly, or at least to me, they do.

I thought that the only stinky type of flowers or beautiful smelling flowers would be roses or something like the corpse flower that you see in zoos and that sort of thing.

But it turns out all plants have smells.

and even the faintest waft of a cactus dogs can pick up.