Pups power up sniffers to aid Fla. citrus growers

PERRY, FLA. — Bello, a springer spaniel, and handler Tyler Meck are on the front lines of a government-backed effort to counter the devastation caused by Huanglongbing, or HLB, a bacterium that prevents fruit from ripening.

Agricultural experts and analysts estimate that, since it surfaced in about 2005, HLB has caused a 75% decline in Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry and forced nearly 5,000 growers to abandon the business.

The culprit annihilating Florida’s citrus crops is a small flying insect, the psyllid, which acts as a highly effective HLB distributor.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent 15 years studying dogs’ capability to sniff out HLB, and it has found that the animals do so with 99% accuracy, according to USDA plant epidemiologist Tim R. Gottwald. Nineteen dogs, all owned by F1 K9, have been deployed in Florida and California. Experts say the dogs aren’t likely to stem the tide of the citrus industry’s destruction, but they do offer the fastest and most accurate diagnosis available.

Using a computer model to track the trajectory of the disease with and without canine assistance, Gottwald said he found that early detection by dogs, followed by removal of infected trees, can keep orchards profitable through a 10-year period.

Huddled at a picnic table at his 25-acre farm in north Florida, grower Andy Jackson, along with Jerry Bishop, F1 K9’s director of training, examined a color-coded map of the crops.

The hues represented different citrus varieties and possibly imperiled trees, the spots where Jackson wanted Bishop and Meck to focus the dogs’ efforts.

For about three hours, Bishop and Meck took turns guiding Bello and other dogs along those rows.

When the dogs sat under a tree, signaling that it smelled of disease, Bishop tied a ribbon on a branch to flag it as HLB-positive so Jackson could later remove it.

Gottwald, who pioneered the use of dogs for plant disease detection, has scrutinized and developed techniques for training the dogs to recognize HLB — and fast. “The dogs are detecting it months to years earlier than the two prevalent methodologies,” he said, referring to visual inspection and lab work.

How do the dogs do it? Bishop said they are initially trained like those that detect other substances, and the best have particular traits. “We’re looking for high drive, toy drive and hunt drive,” he said. “As long as they have those things, you could almost train them for anything.”

CONTRIBUTED / DUNCAN STRAUSS Bello the springer spaniel, with Tyler Meck, works hard at hunting disease in a Perry, Fla., citrus grove.