Welcome To Multi-National K9

After months of training Gary and Rusty arrived on the beautiful Groote Eylandt for the handler training and for Rusty to meet the locals and Ozzie {pictured been held} also trained by Gary, Groote Eylandt’s first Cane Toad Detection dog. With the great dedication of the handlers and the residents of Groote Eylandt we have a great chance of keeping this beautiful part of the word cane toad free.

Here is some good infomation and tips on dog health.

After several months of training Rusty for the detection of Cane toads Rusty is finally finished and is on his way to Groote Eylandt NT for the important job of Stopping the Cane toad on this beautiful Eylandt. Gary Jackson’s mobile from June 28 to July 3, 2010 is 0458912274.

Multi National K9 has a strong commitment for the research and development of trained operational Environmental Protection sniffer dogs.

Previous dogs trained by Gary  have been a massive success including the world’s first Red Ear Slider Turtle and egg detection dog. Angus has been working for Bio Security Qld and has located several nests of eggs from the imported pests and ignoring the 100’s of native turtle eggs. Angus has made a great contribution for environmental protection by stopping dozens of future breeding of these pests and tipping the balance of Australia’s fragile native turtle population.

 Another big success was the training of the world’s first cane toad detection dog for W.A. Nifty has been used to locate hitch hiking Cane toads on the W.A. boarder and recently has been used in N.S.W. and on the beautiful Moreton Island. A second Cane toad detection dog called Ozzie is working on Groote Eylandt and a third Cattle Dog called Rusty is presently in training for Groote Eylandt.

 We are so proud to be able to make a difference helping to protect this magnificent country of ours by the use of sniffer dogs to locate pests or endangered species.

 What about the animals

 Written by Amanda Harris

 My dream is to see sniffer dogs as a key role in natural resource management programs for the future, and to have this cutting edge conservation method used further in the protection of Australian native fauna.

 Worldwide concern about the status of wildlife populations, coupled with the difficulties inherent to tracking and locating such populations, has instigated the development and increasing growth of non-invasive methods for wildlife monitoring and research.  The use of sniffer dogs to track endangered species is proactively incorporated into natural resource management activities in non-protected and protected areas, in a number of countries around the world: North America, South America, Africa, Asia and India. 

 What about Australia?  In Australia research has started and been successful with pest animal management, with sniffer dogs assisting scientists and land protection officers to locate fire ants, crazy ants, red-eared slider turtles and the cane toad.  The efficient detection of these species is crucial, to pest animal eradication programs and the protection of native fauna. 

 My dream is about to become a reality:

Three groups have joined to trial a twelve (12) month pilot sniffer dog research project, at Saddler Springs, a property between Mt Moffatt and Carnarvon Gorge National Parks.  Two Border Collie working dog pups have been sourced, with the aim to train them to track the Northern Quoll in the Carnarvon Ranges.  The three groups are: What about the animals (Amanda Harris and Ann Biasol), Saddler Springs Education Centre (Lloyd Hancock and Paul Cuskelly) and Multi National K9 (Gary Jackson).

 The Northern Quoll Dasyurus hallucatus, (status in Queensland: Least Concern under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 and National: Endangered under the Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999), has had population decline linked with the impact from Cane Toads in Carnarvon National Park, southwest Queensland and Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.  During fauna surveys completed within Carnarvon National Park, Ecologists and Queensland Parks and Wildlife (QPWS) Resource Rangers, have highlighted the difficulty through trapping effort alone, to identify Quoll presence without first finding evidence of Quoll scats, and then the almost impossible task of identifying these scats, across a vast and broken landscape such as the Carnarvon’s. 

 I believe the use of sniffer dogs will assist scientists and resource managers to locate scats and therefore the target species presence, by pinpointing key areas in rugged and difficult to traverse landscapes. The ability of dogs to cover large survey areas and use their high olfactory senses, to quickly locate scats that may be missed by the human eye, will be highly beneficial. 

 Part of this trial will be to demonstrate the use of sniffer dogs in wildlife survey methodology, to allow the costly and labour intensive methodology of trapping and camera survey to be more targeted and efficient.  Results of this study could assist scientists to document populations, and develop improved recovery plans, for species such as the Northern Quoll.

 Currently this pilot project is in the development stage, while the puppies and I begin an extensive training and development program with Multi National K9, and we continue generating further support and advisory from Zoos, Wildlife Sanctuaries, QPWS, Universities, Quoll Researchers and Conservation groups. 

 The continuation of this dream will hopefully be to develop trained dogs for the detection of a number of species, and the possibilities are endless.  Some of these being, but not limited to: bandicoots, yakka skink, kowari, rare snails, the detection of rare plants and even noxious weeds.

TWO young Australian combat engineers on their first deployment in Afghanistan have been killed by a bomb in the army’s worst combat loss in a single day since the Vietnam War.

A bomb detonated during a patrol on Monday morning, killing Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, and Sapper Darren Smith, 26, both from the Brisbane-based 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment.

Sapper Smith’s bomb-detection dog, Herbie, was also killed in the blast.

We must never forget those who have given their lives in the cause of protecting our country. This is the supreme sacrifice and being a member of our armed forces has many uncertainties and huge risks. “What a brave group of Australians”. My heartfelt sympathy goes to their families and friends. We must look after their families and never forget what they have lost. Herbie also lost his life and we often forget that animals play an important role in conflicts by saving lives as a dog squad member. Rest in Peace Jacob, Darren and Herbie. Lest we Forget

Rusty is the middle of an intensive training program learning the skills for detecting Cane Toads. Rusty is originally from Sydney and was selected by Gary as a suitable dog for this very important task.

Over the next  four weeks Rusty will complete the cane toad detection training and then will accompany Gary Jackson to the beautiful Groote Eylandt in the NT in this important task of keeping the Eylandt cane toad free.

Philip Mitna from the “Royal PNG Police Dog Constabulary” spent

the day at Multi National K9 selecting K9’s for their breeding and

training program. After a great day at the kennels and a quick tour

of the RSPCA we introduced Philip to Ozzie the world’s 2nd Cane

Toad Detection dog.  Ozzie is at MNK9 for a refresher program

from his home at Groote Eylandt in the NT. Philip and Ozzie got

on like a house on fire and in no time Ozzie was finding Cane Toads

for Philip.

FORELL – K9 EDUCATIONAL SERVICES – Von Forell K9 Education

We had a terrific time at Hervey Bay conducting the “dog bite prevention seminar”. Our host Mr. Alex Popovick from “The Fraser Coast Regional Council” was fantastic and put together a great educational package for the animal control officers and the lovely Veterinary Nurses.

After several dog evaluations it was the students turn to jump in the body bite suit and get bit by a trained law enforcement dog. A great day for everyone in a beautiful part of Australia.

Ozzie has a lot to thank Louise Laurens for today at Multi National K9. 12 months ago Ozzie was surrendered to Moreton Bay Regional Council; Ozzie failed the tests for rehousing and was going to put to sleep. Fortunately for Ozzie Education Officer Louise Laurens recognised Ozzie’s incredibly high retrieval drive on a ball. Louise knew that this high drive is perfect for training as a detection dog.

Louise brought Ozzie into MNK9 for testing and Ozzie passed with flying colours for detection training, within days Ozzie was in training as a Cane Toad detection dog. Ozzie completed his training and with Gary Jackson flew to his new home on the beautiful Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory. Ozzie has since become a local celebrity doing many demonstrations of his cane toad detection skills from the heads of the mining companies to school children. Ozzie is on the front line of keeping cane toads off Groote Eylandt.

Ozzie is the Worlds 2nd Cane toad detection dog trained by Gary Jackson at Multi National K9, the first cane toad detection dog “Nifty” was also trained at MNK9 and is working at Kununurra WA. Nifty was recently used on Moreton Island after the oil spill disaster looking for toads that came across on earth moving equipment or mulch.

Ozzie is back at MNK9 for a few weeks going through a refresher training program before both Ozzie and Gary Jackson returns to Groote Eylandt.