The Rockland Public Library presents Melissa McCue-McGrath for a talk on how pet dogs could be trained to detect spotted lanternflies, an species invasive to the U.S. This free event is at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16.
In April 2023, researchers at Texas Tech and Virginia Tech teamed up to run a proof-of-concept study: Could pet dogs around the U.S. be trained to find one of the most environmentally damaging invasive species? The spotted lanternfly is presently in 17 states and leaves the environment looking like “scorched Earth without the fire,” according to a prepared release from the library. It’s predicted to be in Maine by 2026.
One of the dogs from Melissa McCue-McGrath’s team sniffs a sticker with the team’s name and a logo with the spotted lanternfly. Courtesy of Rockland Public Library
The researchers were looking for a second cohort of dogs and trainers to complete the study that winter. Six dogs enrolled in McCue-McGrath’s scent work classes at the Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk were tapped to represent Vacationland in the study. These pet dogs, already trained to find a variety of oils on a Q-tip for fun, pivoted their focus to save the environment.
They were shipped dead spotted lanternfly eggs, packed them in a Pokémon lunchbox and got to work. This presentation describes the team’s journey helping researchers across the country, how they trained their dogs to find spotted lanternflies and the challenges they overcame training in a brutal Maine winter as another environmental threat — climate change — threatened their plans.
McCue-McGrath grew up in an accidental sled dog family in Midcoast Maine. She spent most of her 20 years training dogs and working challenging behavior cases in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2015, she wrote “Considerations for the City Dog,” a book targeting the urban dogs and families who are left out of conventional training books, and has spoken internationally on the subject. She has given up the conveniences of ride shares to come back home to Maine. McCue-McGrath’s family resides with two cats, 14 chickens and Captain Love, one of the dogs involved in a nationwide study on training pet dogs to detect invasive species.
This event will take place in person in the library’s Community Room and will be livestreamed via Zoom. The Rockland Public Library is located at 80 Union St.. For more information or for Zoom links, email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov.
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