Australian dog trainer teaches labrador to detect footrot in sheep
An Australian dog trainer has successfully taught her dog to detect footrot in sheep.
The innovative process could help streamline footrot detection if implemented on farms.
Footrot — a contagious bacterial disease in sheep and goats — can be identified by a visual inspection or laboratory testing but is labour-intensive.
Dog trainer Jo Griffiths, based near Naracoorte in South Australia's south-east, has been working with her labrador cross Leroy for the past two years.
Leroy can detect which sheep in a small group is footrot scented, successfully finding the right animal in seconds.
"I tie a [scented] sock to one of the sheep's legs, and then tie clean socks onto all the other sheep," Ms Griffiths said.
It has been a complicated training process, with Leroy needing to learn both the footrot scent and how to work around sheep in the narrow pathways, or races, where sheep are held for inspection.
While labradors are a popular breed, they are not commonly used in farming operations in Australia. But Leroy has an edge on other sheep-herding breeds for this kind of work.
"Leroy loves food because he is a lab, whereas a kelpie would want to work the sheep," Ms Griffiths said.
"I made sure I got a puppy and started desensitising him to sheep straight away.
According to Ms Griffiths, the idea came from Colin Earl, a farmer and researcher who knew how difficult footrot could be once it took hold of a flock.
"You could do a lot of work to eradicate footrot in your flocks and you get it down, and you spend all the time and work and then it resurfaces," Dr Earl said.
"It is time-consuming. The idea came to train a dog which would be able to identify those few remaining sheep."
Dr Earl said he was impressed with the progress Leroy had made, and believed the concept showed a lot of promise as a helpful management strategy.
"This idea can work, I'm sure it could be used across Australia and maybe in other parts of the world," he said.
The next step for Ms Griffiths will be trialling Leroy on a farm.
"Up to this point, my main focus has been proof of concept, [and] we're there now," she said.
"We think that he'll be most useful when you have a footrot eradication program and when you're getting towards the end and you just have a small group left where you're not sure if they're clear or not.
"That's where Leroy can come in, he could detect those last few that often come back, then that would be a great help."
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