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Over the last century, dogs have been increasingly used to detect rare and
elusive species or traces of them. The use of wildlife detection dogs
(WDD) is particularly well established in North America, Europe and
Oceania, and projects deploying them have increased worldwide. However, if
they are to make a significant contribution to conservation and
management, their strengths, abilities, and limitations should be fully
identified. We reviewed the use of WDD with particular focus on the breeds
used in different countries and for various targets, as well as their
overall performance compared to other methods, by developing and analysing
a database of 1220 publications, including 916 scientific ones, covering
2464 individual cases - most of them (1840) scientific. With the worldwide
increase in the use of WDD, associated tasks have changed and become much
more diverse. Since 1930, reports exist for 62 countries and 407 animal,
42 plant, 26 fungi and 6 bacteria species. Altogether, 108 FCI-classified
and 20 non-FCI-classified breeds have worked as WDD. While certain breeds
have been preferred on different continents and for specific tasks and
targets, they were not generally better suited for detection tasks than
others. Overall, WDD usually worked more effectively than other monitoring
methods. For each species group, regardless of breed, detection dogs were
better than other methods in 88.71% of all cases and only worse in 0.98%.
It was only for arthropods that Pinshers and Schnauzers performed worse
than other breeds. For mono- and dicotyledons, detection dogs did less
often outperform other methods. Although every breed can be trained as a
WDD, choosing the most suitable dog for the task and target may speed up
training and increase the chance of success. Albeit selection of the most
appropriate WDD is important, excellent training, knowledge about the
target density and suitability, and a proper study design all appeared to
have the highest impact on performance. Moreover, an appropriate area,
habitat and weather are crucial for detection dog work. When these factors
are taken into consideration, WDD can be an outstanding monitoring method.
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