b"effectiveness of dogs for disease detection and assume there are many false positives. Yet, they arent as frequent as believed.The dogs give very, very few false positives, she says. The dogs are going to detect the odour and theyre looking for odour. So, say a plant is outside and theres a prevailing wind, sometimes theyll indicate on the plant next to it because it smells like PVY. It wasnt a fault. It's up to us as a handler to really work them into the actual plant.While Parish is confident in the ability of her dogs, it took the public a bit longer to believe in the power of her canines noses. Most farmers have dogs. If they see a bird dog work, they kind of get that understanding that dogs are looking for odour, and its just innate and simple for them. The COVID-19 dogs helped a lot because that was something that was publicized. That if they can find COVID in humans 48 hours before PCR testing with no symptoms, they can for sure find a plant virus, she explains.In the Market for Nose Knows ScoutingDespite being a newer business, Parish and her dogs have had great success with various clients and universities. For some universities, she is a life saver as her dogs clean the seeds that the universities would otherwise toss out.One of Nose Knows Scoutings most faithful clients is Asunta Thompson, a professor at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and potato breeder. Thompson began working with Parish and her dogs this past spring season.I was looking for an efficient, quick, simple, accurate measure of PVY incidence in my potato breeding program materials. Our breeding program has to have a certified seed operation in order to increase promising lines, explains Thompson in an emailA Nose Knows Scouting disease detection canine. interview with Spud Smart. So, we thought a great way to seePHOTO: ANDREA PARISHif a doable procedure in our program was to test out the Nose Knows Scouting protocol versus considering time, effort, numberto potatoes. With these new crops, her dogs would be able to of people and accuracy with our current indexing (ELISA testingdetect fire blight and red rot blotch grape virus.in the greenhouse and field), visual inspection and imagingIm in Maine in the summer. I went around to the orchards options. and fire blight is really hitting the East Coast, up in northern Its safe to say that Thompson and her team at NDSU are firmMaine in these small, local apple orchards. I really would like to believers in the power of dogs for disease detection followinghelp them because I don't want to see them shut down. I grew Parish and her dog Zorras visit. up next to an apple orchard. So, when we get a little bit more Everyone loved having Andrea and Zorra visit. Zorra wasindustry support, which is really gaining traction, and I partner all business and worked quickly and focused, despite varyingwith set a bigger company, which will be the next step, we research teams and seed certification personnel observing.need training facilities and access to potatoes. I think after that When we compared Zorras results with ELISA testing in thehappens, we'll get another team out there do a different disease, greenhouse after her visit, results were very accurate (ie.she explains.identified positives by Zorra were positive with ELISA, whileThe future of dogs for disease detection in agriculture is negatives were negative), explains Thompson. The Nosebright, and could be an essential tool, according to Mendel.Knows Scouting gives us another tool in our arsenal of providingCrop security is essential. Its very important in these times, PVY free or levels within certification tolerances. The service isand in the future, it is going to be critical. When you look at the reasonably priced, very rapid, and has good accuracy. I want toapplication of something like canines to manage crops, to look try again and particularly prior to long-term storage. for diseases in those types of scenarios, it really is a no brainer from our standpoint. This is something that should be expanded What is Next for Nose Knows Scouting? on a national scale, where we have these teams and trainings As her business continues to expand, Parish hopes to eventuallyto establish a force of canine sensors that can help detect things use her dogs to detect diseases in apples and grapes, in additionearly, he concludes. SPUDSMART.COM Fall 202229"