National Geographic Kids Chapters: Dog Finds Lost Dolphins: And More True Stories of Amazing Animal Heroes

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This one is in rough shape, but it seems like a fighter, he thought. Suddenly, a shout got Chris’s attention.

“Chris!” yelled a volunteer. “Quick! Come over here!”

Chris ran down the beach to a spot full of mangrove trees. A small group of dolphins were stuck in the trees’ thick roots. They must have been separated from the main group. Now it was too late. They were too sick to save.

Chris sighed. I wish we had some way of locating dolphins. Then we could get to them sooner.

After that day, Chris kept thinking about what he had seen. He wondered if there was a better way to find lost dolphins. Then Chris started reading about some dogs that worked nearby. They were trained to search for people who get lost on or near the water. The dogs worked along beaches or from boats in the water. They sniffed the air for the missing person’s smell. They could even smell objects that were slightly underwater.

Chris wondered: If dogs can find humans in the water, can they find dolphins too?

Chris called Beth Smart, the head of the Dolphin and Marine Medical Research Foundation. Beth listened carefully. She liked the idea. Sure, no one had ever used a dog to find beached dolphins or whales. But that didn’t mean it was impossible.

Beth agreed to work with Chris on the project. “Let’s look for a dog!” she said.

One of Cloud’s trainers, Beth Smart, helps sick dolphins recover so they can return to life in the wild. (photo credit 1.5) (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 2RESCUERIN TRAINING

There are many different types of dogs. Beth’s first job was to figure out what kind of dog they should get.

Beth and Chris needed a dog that was smart. Not every dog could learn to find dolphins. They needed a dog that could swim well. A good swimmer would be safe working in a boat. The dog needed to be friendly and loyal to its handler. Like most dogs, it had to have a great sense of smell. But most important of all, it must love to play. Looking for lost dolphins is like a doggy version of hide-and-seek. The dog would do its best work when it was having fun.

Chris and Beth heard about a smart puppy from a man who trained police dogs. The pup was a Labrador retriever, a kind of dog that is perfect for working around water. They have webbed paws that help them swim. Labs also have an oily coat that keeps them warm and dry. Beth might have found the perfect pup.

But there was one problem. This puppy was a black bundle of fur. Black is the worst color for staying cool in the hot sun. And boy, does it get hot in Florida!

Beth and Chris decided to try her anyway. The puppy, named Cloud, wagged her tail and yipped with delight when she met them. She licked their hands and walked away. She found a nice big tree and curled up beneath it. Ha! Chris laughed to himself. She is already good at finding shade!

Beth and Chris knew that Cloud needed to be trained to do as she is told before she learned to find dolphins. They called Mike Clark, the owner of a police dog–training facility. Mike had trained lots of dogs, but never one who searched for dolphins. This was going to be fun!

First, Mike had to start with the basics: doggy manners. Cloud learned to sit, stay, and come when called. She practiced walking next to her handler’s side while on a leash. She learned to pay attention to Chris and Mike when they gave her commands.

Soon Cloud had learned the basics. She was ready to start learning how to find scents. This type of training makes use of a dog’s sniffing superpowers.

A dog’s sense of smell works just like a human’s. When a dog sniffs the air, tiny bits of odors enter its nose. In the nose, special cells take in the tiny bits. These cells send signals to the brain. Then the brain tells the dog what the smells are.

Dogs have about 220 million of these special cells. That’s 40 times more than humans have. Not only that, but the special place in a dog’s brain that is used to decode smells is almost twice as large as it is in humans. Scientists think that this means dogs are 1,000 to 10,000 times better at sorting out scents than people are. They get much more information from a whiff of air than people do.

Beth and Chris collected samples of smells from live dolphins. They put the samples on cotton pads. They placed the pads in tubes. Mike let Cloud sniff the tubes. Then he hid the tubes and asked Cloud to find them. Cloud found the tubes by following the trail of their smell. Mike trained her to sit and bark when she found one of the tubes.

“Good girl! That’s right, Cloud!” Mike and Chris praised Cloud for a successful search. Then they gave Cloud one of her favorite treats: lamb and rice doggy biscuits. Cloud gobbled them up.