Dogs Help Rescue Vineyards
Comments:
The Napa Valley Grape Growers Association has contributed $30,000 to a dog training program that will teach golden retrievers how to sniff out mealybugs in Napa Valley grape crops. The funding covers the first year of what is expected to be a two year sniffer-dog research project led by Dr. Bonnie Bergin and the Assistance Dog Institute.
The mealybugs, which are about 1/8 of an inch long, cling to vines, sapping their energy and reducing the vines' growth and yield. In most cases the bugs are invisible to the naked eye until their population explodes and it's too late to save the crop. Presently, grape growers spend up to $1,000 an acre annually trying to combat the bugs with pesticides and extra sanitation measures. Vintners and Bergin are hoping that man\'s best friend will be able to sniff out the female bugs before they have a chance to breed.
A third of a dog's brain is dedicated to its sense of smell and for years trainers have used this knowledge to teach dogs how to sniff out a number of things including narcotics, explosives, pipeline leaks, and even cancer cells in humans. A dog's keen sense of smell can even alert them to when a human is about to have an epileptic seizure or has diabetes.
On March 3 Bergin demonstrated the research program's current progress during a mealybug workshop held by the Napa Valley Grape Growers. Joy, an eight month old golden retriever, successfully sniffed out a mealybug pheromone pellet that her handler had hidden in a room full of growers and numerous vineyard smells.
Joy was introduced to the smell of the mealybug female's pheromone just a few weeks after birth to teach her that this smell would be an important part of her life. As she grew into a puppy she was taught to recognize the smell and alert her handler whenever she noticed it. Now Joy knows that when her handler commands her to "Search!" she is expected to inspect her surroundings and find the mealybug pheromone.
Bergin describes the relationship between the dogs and their handlers as a life partnership, explaining that if a dog and handler form a close bond then the dogs will be more motivated to help their handlers by sniffing out the mealybugs. Dogs used to sniff the vineyards will need to spend a great deal of time bonding with a single handler, and can't be assigned to go out with a random person each day to check the crops.
Following Joy is the first generation of golden retrievers the Assistance Dog Institute has intentionally bred for the high energy traits that make successful scent detection dogs. Later this year Bergin is expected to begin field tests with the dogs during which they will attempt to search out the mealybug pheromone in grape crops amid the scents of grass, moss, fertilizers and pesticides, and with the added distraction of rabbits and changing wind currents.