Conservation detection dog Billie searching for bird nests on the Zumwalt Prairie, Oregon

About Our Dogs

Chevy in heaven. This is what it's all about for him!Our dogs are typically rescued from animal shelters since the type of dog that excels in detection work usually doesn’t make a good household pet. These dogs have boundless energy and are highly driven to work and play. Giving these dogs a home and sense of purpose is one of the more satisfying components of our work, knowing we’re rescuing a dog that would have been difficult to place or euthanized.

We use an on-target training method. This means that we train the dog to connect its obsessiveness towards a play object (such as a tennis ball) to the scent we are trying to find (scat, carcasses, nests, eggs, etc.). We teach the dog to learn that the eyes and ears mean nothing when it comes to earning the reward object and to rely only upon its nose.

This creates a highly efficient detection dog that relies less on the handler than those trained by other methods.

A typical day for our dogs involves a mixture of training and exercise. Even with experienced dogs, we give daily “tune-up” sessions in which we reinforce the dog’s current target scent. A properly exercised dog is important not only in being able to keep up with the rigors of field work, but it has been demonstrated that a dog in good physical condition maintains its ability to detect scents at a higher level than a dog who is not is not in good physical condition. 

Find It Detection Dogs Training Facility

Our training facility is located in the mountains of northwest Colorado on 160 acres surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest. This gives us the opportunity to train on-site replicating many different types of field scenarios. During the winter months, we make frequent excursions to the desert areas of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to train the dogs in varying  climate and terrain.  

Our indoor kennels with outdoor runs provide our dogs with protection from the elements while granting outdoor access during nice weather. 

We also take pride in our completely off-the-grid training facility. All our power is generated on site through solar and wind powered systems.