This Would have to be the Best Job on Earth!

If you like dogs and the great outdoors that is! Imagine what it would be like if your job involved taking your dog for a walk. That'd be the ultimate for me. Of course it isn't all that easy and there is work involved. I remember reading about a man who owned a Labrador years ago, and he had trained his dog to detect slider turtles, which are an invasive pest species in Australia, and his job was to camp by rivers and take his dog for walks during the egg laying season where the turtle nests were detected and the eggs destroyed. Very cool!

Dogs can also be trained to use their scent detection skills to assist in the protection of endangered native Australian species - like the Baw Baw Frog. Check out the dogs working in the Baw Baw Frog Detection Program.

There are lots of different ways that training your dog in scent detection may open up employment opportunities for you. The only course in Australia that I know of that has scent detection as an elective is at the National Dog Trainers Federation, in Melbourne, Australia

When I was a student there some of my lecturers had their own trained scent detection dogs that they worked in a professional capacity. Always good to have trainers that can put their money where their mouth is!