ABC
A conservation detection dog is one of the important tools being used in the search for injured koalas from bushfires on the New South Wales Mid North Coast.
Taylor is a four-year-old English springer spaniel, that has been in training since eight weeks of age.
“Every time she smelt koala poo or koala fur, she’d get her favourite reward which, as a puppy, was a tennis ball and treats,” trainer Ryan Tate said.
“What we essentially train the dog to do is enjoy that love for sniffing the environment but to discriminate a particular smell so every day out in the field for her is the best day of her life.”
At four, Taylor is becoming an old hand.
Taylor is trained to prioritise the scent of the live animal and sit as close to it as she can. (TATE Animal Training Enterprises)
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