Ann Arbor dog trainer Hannah Ashmore is building a network of dogs and handlers trained to sniff out environmental threats that human eyes can miss.
Ashmore is the founder of Michigan Conservation Dogs, a project of her business, Longsnouts Dog Training. Through a growing network of dogs, handlers, and conservation partners, she hopes canine noses can help Michigan land managers find invasive species earlier, survey land faster, and eventually give ordinary dog owners a way to participate in conservation themselves. Her current target is the spotted lanternfly, an invasive insect with an appetite for plants ranging from grapevines to fruit trees, but Ashmore’s ambitions extend beyond one pest.
Molly, a German shorthaired pointer, spent three years training at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center before coming to Ashmore. During Ashmore and Molly’s first week of transition training together, Molly was tasked with finding four hidden scent sources scattered throughout a 20,000-square-foot warehouse. She found all four in less than 10 minutes.
At a recent demonstration in a roughly two-acre vineyard near Dexter, Ashmore estimates Molly could find a small spotted lanternfly scent source in less than a minute…