Using Dogs to Count Critically Endangered African Rabbits with Esther Matthew

Today I have the joy of talking to Esther Matthew about training conservation dogs for a critically endangered South African lagomorph: the riverine rabbit. Questions answered by Ester: : What was the goal of this study? What other measures had been attempted? Why did you have to use roadkill? How did you measure specificity? Can you describe the 3 phases of the study? Some other trainers hesitate to use off-target species in proofing for training, which always seemed odd to me. You decided to use negative targets in training here. Can you explain why and what results you got? You didn’t reward on unconfirmed hides. Did you do any training to help prepare the dog for the variable reinforcement? How did the dog respond? Where to find Esther Matthew: Youtube:   Jessie’s Story Facebook:  Jessie the Border collie Instagram:  jessiethebc | estherexplorer You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists. K9 Conservationists Website Go Fund Me