Working Dogs for Conservation Foundation (WD4C)

First and foremost, we put dogs to work to save wildlife and wild places. Throughout our history, we have worked in over 20 countries and virtually every major habitat on earth. Our goals are to protect wild populations and wild places, to end wildlife trafficking, and to stop invasive species.

We also set the standards for our field. From canine performance, to the highest standards of care and quality of life for our dogs. Finally, we operate as a transparent and inclusive organization, committed to helping others achieve the high standards that we set for ourselves and our field.

Our work is broken into three major strategies: Impact, innovation, and leadership.

Impact: We work and take our dogs where their unique skills will benefit wildlife and wild places. From the forests of Cameroon, to the high mountains of Chile, to the grasslands of Wyoming, our dogs help protect habitats for wildlife and reduce threats to their populations. Whether stopping the spread of invasives, ending the brutal illicit trade of wildlife, or helping find and protect endangered species habitats, our dogs move conservation forward (with some help from their trainers and handlers, of course).

Innovation: We are always finding new ways for dogs to magnify and extend their impacts. Our list of "firsts" is impressive: from invasive weeds, to detecting fish in streams, to diseases in free-ranging wildlife.

Leadership: We are committed to the idea that the world needs more dogs saving more wildlife in more places. We recognize that our field is larger than us. When we develop a new method or work in a new place, we help others do the same and have similar impacts. Our "open source" approach means that everyone can join in the process of putting dogs to work to save the world.

Throughout our history we have remained laser-focused on training and deploying the world's best conservation detection dogs. Our staff's academic qualifications, scientific publications, and conservation achievements are unparalleled. We work in partnerships so that we can stay focused on the dog work. We have established a nationwide network for rescuing high-drive, talented dogs. We have an extraordinary set of partners and professional relationships with government agencies, local non-profits, international NGOs, industry and the private sector. WD4C is uniquely positioned within our field and the conservation sector.

WD4C has an extraordinary and diverse track record; far too long to list here, but a few examples highlight the breadth and importance of our accomplishments.

For endangered species, our dogs helped demonstrate the presence and distribution of grizzly bears in the Centennial mountains of Montana and Idaho, even in places they had never been detected. That information enabled land, livestock, and wildlife managers to adjust their practices to allow coexistence with bears. Those actions included increasing protections for and closing roads in 40% of the mountain range, implementing conflict prevention for livestock, and initiating a monitoring program for bears.

Our anti-poaching dogs are equally impressive. Ruger, for example, a dog rescued from the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, has put hundreds of poachers out of business in Zambia. He has done so by detecting and seizing scores of guns and ammunition, and by alerting his handlers if anyone tries to smuggle ivory, rhino horn, bushmeat, or even illegal timber.

One final example comes from Rio, one of our first generation of dogs. Rio specialized in detecting the scats of San Joaquin kit fox, an endangered species living in California. When the largest solar farm in the world was proposed in kit fox habitat, Rio (with some help from his handler), pioneered methods for detecting and counting the fox population. Over the years Rio helped monitor how construction and operation of the solar farm affected kit fox, and most importantly, enabled managers to tailor their practices to ensure that the construction of climate-friendly energy was also wildlife-friendly. The third generation of kit fox dogs is still in the field helping sustain the population of this elusive species.