About Find It Detection Dogs staff and collaborators

We’ve assembled a team that covers all the bases of a successful detection dog program combining experience in wildlife biology, dog training, biostatisitics, DNA analysis, and field work.

GREG DAVIDSON

Greg Davidson, owner and founder of Find It Detection Dogs, has lived in Colorado for over 25 years where he has developed a passion for helping to conserve wildlife and wild places. Greg earned his B.S. in engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and his M.S in wildlife biology from Colorado State University. Greg worked as a wildlife research biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife where he started a detection dog program. While working for ODF&W Greg incorporated detection dogs for finding prey remains at cougar kill sites to determine prey selection and predation rates. Greg also designed a study using detection dogs for finding cougar scat and used this information to estimate densities of cougars in northeast Oregon. 

GARY WHITE

Gary earned his B.S. in wildlife biology from Iowa State University, his M.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Maine at Orono, and his Ph.D in zoology from Ohio State University. Gary’s research interests include quantitative ecology, estimation of population parameters, and population dynamics. His skills as a biometrician have gained him numerous awards over the years including the prestigious Aldo Leopold Award.  

Gary is perhaps best known for the development of Program MARK. Program MARK has become the most widely used software in analyzing wildlife Mark-Recapture data. 

It also should be mentioned that Gary loves working dogs (the bird dog type) and seldom travels without his four-legged companions.

LUCY NEWTON

We feel fortunate to have such a passionate and accomplished dog trainer as Lucy Newton on board with Find It Detection Dogs. Lucy earned her wildlife biology degree from the university of Maine and has over 20 years experience handling and training dogs which includes:

•  Ten years as a full-time police sergeant, canine handler and instructor. Lucy received awards for life-saving finds made by her working dogs in the areas of human remains detection, evidence recovery and narcotics detection.
• Fifteen years with Search and Rescue. Lucy deployed on hundreds of missing person cases and also provided training to search and rescue dog handlers and their canines.
• Ten years as an instructor for detection courses throughout the country teaching civilian, police, and military personnel how to properly train detection dogs. Lucy also teaches tracking clinics and is a sought after coach for sport dog handlers.

Lucy is a skilled, patient communicator which is truly an asset given that half her students are of the two-legged variety.

WESTERN ECOSYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, INC. (WEST)

As one of the premier environmental consulting companies in the U.S., WEST understands the need for objective research and monitoring to better solve natural resource problems.  And Find It Detection Dogs understands the value of teaming up with the best. 

We are thrilled to have WEST on board as consultants with Find It Detection Dogs.   They have an extremely talented group of biometricians who have worked on natural resource projects throughout the world.  WEST specializes in the use of state-of-the-art statistical principles in the design and analysis of ecological studies. (click here for link to WEST website).

LISETTE WAITES – University of Idaho Laboratory for Ecological, Evolutionary, and Conservation Genetics

Since the DNA analysis of collected samples is just as important as study design and proper field techniques, we recruited Lisette Waits and her lab at the University of Idaho for their expertise and experience in the field of genetics.

Lisette earned her BS in genetics at the University of Georgia and her PhD in genetics from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.  Since joining the faculty at the University of Idaho, Lisette co-founded the Laboratory for Ecological, Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics and has focused on conservation genetics, systematics, molecular ecology and landscape genetics, with particular focus on endangered carnivores.  Lisette has helped to develop many of the laboratory techniques that insure accurate identification of animals from genetic samples.  

A partial list of animals she has worked with include red wolves, grey wolves, coyotes,  cougars, wolverines, black bears, grizzly bears, brown bears, snow leopards, parrots, pygmy rabbits, and several ungulate species.