Taking the Lead: From Kennel Assistant to Technical Supervisor

Casey Baines:

Hello everybody and welcome once again to Detect and Protect, the Australian biosecurity podcast. I am your guest host; Casey Baines and today we continue our special series celebrating last year’s 30th anniversary of the biosecurity detector dog program.

The program plays a vital role in the interception of biosecurity risks in the airport, mail, and cargo environments. The detector dog’s excellent agility and super noses make them one our most effective and loveable detection methods.

Continuing our celebrations for last year’s milestone, we’ve reached out to some of the department’s current biosecurity detector dog handlers to hear some of their stories.

Our guest for today’s podcast is Sarah Tibbetts. Sarah first worked as a kennel hand for the biosecurity detector dog program in Sydney. From there her interest in the program grew, eventually becoming a detector dog handler for the department. She has since progressed her career and is now a technical supervisor for the detector dog operations team in Sydney.

In today’s episode she outlines the role of a technical supervisor and how to maintain both handler and detector dog proficiency and motivation.

Sarah also talks us through our multi handling detector dogs, who aren’t always paired with the same handler. She also covers using different techniques for keeping our detector dogs motivated to work including using lots of energy and enthusiasm for the dogs to feed off.

Our detector dogs and handlers work in a fast paced and energetic environment, so no more hanging around from me either, let’s hear from Sarah.

Could you start us off by just outlining how you joined the detector dog program, what region you're in and what your current role is now?

Sarah Tibbetts:

So I joined the dog unit after having worked at the quarantine kennels and I was also looking after the detector dogs at the kennel. So I was the kennel attendant for two to three years first and that is part of what sparked my interest in joining the dog unit. So I'm currently at Sydney in Sydney and one of the team leaders there.

Casey Baines:

Right, OK, cool. And starting as a kennel hand, was there something specific about the quarantine or biosecurity dogs, depending when you started, that drew you to us or not really?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yes. So I think just working with them day in, day out and knowing them at the kennels. I really was quite interested in what they were like at work and how different they were. The dogs at the kennels, they can be a bit more laid back than what they are at work. At work they were very driven when I got to see them and that really interested me how they could have such a change once they were in work mode.

Casey Baines:

Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Just it seems people might see dog sitting in a crate, the second they pop out of the crate, they’re instantly straight into working. Can you elaborate sort of the thought process that goes so dog's mind for that.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yes, so when the dogs, when they are at work, they have learnt that being in the crate is their rest time. And as soon as they come out of that crate, it is time to work. And they love work so much they, it really does drive them. And our job is just to continue motivating them. And having fun with them to do the job that they so easily can do. So I think there is a misconception that dogs in the crates, it's not the best thing, but it's that they know that it's their break. And then as soon as they come out, they are ready to rock'n'roll and start working.

Casey Baines:

Awesome, maybe we'll start. Assume you went through as a handler rather than straight to a supervisor at the airport. Did you have a few specific dogs that you worked with while you're handler?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah so when I first started as a handler, I was working a few different dogs just to kind of build up my skill set. So each week I would change dogs across the team that I was assigned to. So I got to learn briefly that dog, and they're little behaviours and traits. And then once I was a bit more proficient as a handler, I was assigned a dog every three months, which was great. It's different having a dog from week to week to then being assigned a dog for a period of time. You learn different training styles to work with them and definitely different personalities and a different bond with each dog depending on how long you're with them. So I was assigned detector dog Jewel for, it ended up being I think about 18 months and she was my girl. She was amazing. We had such a great bond and even now that I don't work her she still knows me and recognizes me and gets very excited, it's very cute so that bond never goes once you've been working a detector dog which is great. But yes, so it was amazing working her, she definitely is a big sweetheart and she thrived on lots of praise and encouragement from me in a perky voice and lots of excitement. That was her thing. Yep. She got very, she was very motivated when I was giving lots of praise and encouragement while she was working.

Casey Baines:

That's good. That's that's one thing that some of the other handlers that I've talked to said is the dog always has the same sort of mood. If you show up to work and you’re a “Debbie Downer” already having a bad day, the dog will pick up on that.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Definitely, yeah. Yeah, definitely. You need to. That is the one thing that you need to show up every day and be motivated to work your dog, because if you like, everyone has their down days. But then that will also be noticed by the dog they'll pick up on your mood. So you definitely need to be very enthusiastic, very motivated each day, even though it sometimes can be hard. But definitely when you're working with the dogs, it's also easy to do because there's it's so much fun to work with the dogs.

Casey Baines:

For sure and working with Jewel, do you have one sort of go to story or one interesting find that you usually tell people?

Sarah Tibbetts:

I don't. I've found so many crazy things at the airport. I think the most interesting find I had with a new detector dog Xtra. He alerted to a hold bag from a passenger and they had barbecued Guinea pig in their bags. So I mean, not my choice of delicacy. But yeah he, it was meat product that, yeah, he alerted to. So that was a really interesting, strange find that he had. Another highlight I guess would be just the amount of finds that I had with one of the detector dogs. So I had detector dog Inis for about nine months and he was on fire one day and I think he found about 17 different items, like separate seizures, so that was a pretty impressive day to find that many things in a work day. So yeah, that was pretty fun. He had a lot of rewards that day.

Casey Baines:

Very true. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit about how our reward system works and how?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Sorry, can you say that again?

Casey Baines:

OK. Can you elaborate a little bit about how our reward system works and how we can keep our dogs incentivized to keep working for us?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah so one of the ways that we reward the dogs is with food. So we will bridge the dogs and then they know that food is coming. So we would do that when they have responded correctly to biosecurity risk material. So that can either be a little bit of dog food, some treats that we have something yummy to keep them, motivated to keep looking for biosecurity risk material. So that's one way and then we can also reward the dogs with a dummy. So it's essentially a wrapped up towel, which sounds boring, but they absolutely love it so. We play fetch with them, tug, they do a variety of things, sometimes even just them holding it and parading around is like they've just love that and just showing all the other handlers like “look what I've got this little toy.” So that's the two ways that we can reward them. So definitely changing up how we reward them and our voice and our presence, that definitely keeps them motivated and training, varying up how we train and do any sort of maintenance work with the dogs that that keeps them motivated so.

Casey Baines:

Cool. And then I guess chatting on your experience and now you're a supervisor. If we jump to handlers, can you have a think and maybe tell us what you think makes a good detector dog handler?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Definitely good motivation and lots of energy and enthusiasm to be doing what you're doing because it is a hard job. It is. We make it look easy, but it is a very rewarding but very hard, not a hard job, but it is tiring. It is, it does take a lot out of you and so definitely having lots of motivation and enthusiasm.

Critical thinking I think also is important because you need to be able to quickly think of how to problem solve if the dog is giving you a behaviour that you may not be expecting or something that you're not used to. So being able to respond quickly to that is definitely helpful. There are so many things that are a great fit. Yeah, definitely motivation, critical thinking, enthusiasm.

Casey Baines:

For sure. Well talking about the critical thinking and it's interesting, I was talking to one of our old handlers from the 90s and he was saying that he took it, I guess to the extreme for some people but he walked the baggage hall and tried his best to understand the air patterns. So then he could understand where the air would end up for the dogs to sniff out. That's the sort of thing that people probably don't even realize. They think “oh you’ve just got a dog on a lead and wait for it to find something. But it's definitely a team our detector dogs and handlers working together to find the best, the best solution for us so.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah, definitely. Dogs, their noses are so incredible. The things that they can pick up, the lightest odors and following scent trails from a passenger’s bag that is moved from the baggage hall area all the way through to the SEA and the dogs picking up on it straight away and following that, it's it is actually a really cool to see.

Casey Baines:

Is that something that you get? A scent that might be so strong it's residual on or in other areas? And how do you deal with that?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Sorry, can you repeat that?

Casey Baines:

So how do you deal with that? If it is so strong?

Sarah Tibbetts:

So normally the dog like, we’ll have the passengers go and where that we have the passengers line up and then the dogs will typically screen them. But if it one of the dogs is insistent that they want to go to a passenger’s bag, we just let them go, like we let them work. Pretty much trust your dog. Your dog is trained and knows exactly what it's doing, so if it is pulling you and saying “we have to go and check that bag or that parcel,” you just let your dog do it. To a degree as long as it's safe. So and then normally your dog will be correct.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, that's another thing our past handlers have said “trust your dog.” Because they are so sensitive with what they can smell.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Definitely trust your dog. I mean, every now and again they might try and get one over you, but really, once you have that bond and trust with your dog, you can read that dog's behaviour and you know that they are correct, yeah.

Casey Baines:

Can you sort of elaborate now your role as a supervisor and what that entails?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yes, so have been a team leader now or a technical supervisor for about 2 years now. So that involves providing technical advice to the handlers. So whether it be just simple training advice or if we notice anything that the dog is doing and then we might just raise it with the handler. It's also encouraging handlers to maintain the deployment guidelines so the handlers obviously go on a handler course and train to deploy the dogs in a certain way. So we just ensure that they are following that. It also involves managing and monitoring the dog's proficiency, so just ensuring that they are finding biosecurity risk material with the target odours. So essentially we are just ensuring that the dogs are maintaining their proficiency so and then ensuring that the handlers are keeping on top of that also. It also involves liaising with different stakeholders. So when you're at the airport, you also need to be ensuring that you're not only talking with departmental staff, but other agencies just to ensure that they know what we're doing and yeah that's the same at mail also.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, for sure. It's really interesting that you mentioned maintaining the dog’s proficiency because if we just have a detector dog, then we leave it in the kennel or leave it not working for a certain period of time. You can imagine that they don't come back and instantly hit all the scents that they need to and it's really we're lucky that it's a rewarding career as a dog to work because they keep wanting to work and keep learning. And yeah, it's really interesting.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah, definitely so and that's the thing. Sometimes they might just they know the odour, but they might just be a little bit rusty on responding to them straight away. So we just ensure that they are definitely at the level where they need to be. And we do actually perform odour verifications twice a year to ensure that the dogs are responding to all the target odours that they are supposed to be.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, for sure. So obviously the department's just done a big recruitment round for detector dog handlers. Do you think or do you have any advice for people that might be coming through now to start joining our workforce in the future?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Definitely if you're joining through the department, definitely have a chat to any of the dog teams or the team leaders if you're already, yeah. If you're already working in the department, please come and chat to us. We are more than happy to let you guys know exactly what we're doing, give you any tips, let you come and watch the dogs where possible so you can get an idea of how we work and what is required. If you're coming from outside the department, definitely try and get as much dog experience as you can, whether it be at kennels or at training clubs. Anything like that, just to kind of build on your experience and knowledge. Obviously, you don't have to have or be the most experienced in the dog world to be able to make a good dog handler. You do receive training once you get through the recruitment process. But definitely I encourage you to work with either detector dogs or dogs in any way and just learn dog behaviour I think that's really quite important.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, yeah. A good understanding of and you said critical thinking just those together have a great start.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah.

Casey Baines:

Obviously we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the program this year. Do you have your own vision or what do you think the program might look for a 40th anniversary in 10 years time?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Oh wow, I have no idea if I'm honest. Oh wow that is, that is a very interesting question.

Casey Baines:

Yes, it's a big question.

Sarah Tibbetts:

10 years time I, who knows even where I'm going to be in that time. I definitely think that it would be great if we can continue moving into different areas of screening. So the dogs have just transitioned into the baggage hall area, so along the carousels at the airport, so that has been an amazing step forward, so continuing that. I think also continuing into the future, getting out more to the cargo environment and cruise vessels. I think if in the next few years to 10 years, if the dogs can be continually progressing, the areas that they can screen, that would be amazing and highly motivational for the dogs and the handlers.

Casey Baines:

Yeah for sure. That's possibly the biggest advantage of our dogs is that they’re so mobile, they're so quick and so effective. We have a giant X-ray unit sitting in the airport, for instance it's not particularly easy to pick that up and take it to a wharf, but you can pick dog off and drive it off to the wharf and it'll essentially do the same job and sniffing out pests and diseases so.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Exactly. The dogs are so mobile and it is really like a really quick screening tool to get through mass screening. So they really are an amazing tool to use and for something for the department to have under their tool belt. It's amazing.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, for sure. That was all of the questions I specifically had for you. And do you have maybe a funny story or something that a dog did, or something that you might want to finish on?

Sarah Tibbetts:

Funny story. But they all do really cheeky things, but I'm just trying to think of one that narrows it down. Funny story. I don't know. Now that I'm, I'm put on the spot, I can't. I'm just trying to think. Give me a give me a second. What have some other people done so just like make me think along the same lines.

Casey Baines:

Well, nothing particular. There was one of the interesting finds was one side of the baggage hall completely and then 5 minutes later if the Beagle sniffing the floor, it ended up next to a person with the smallest of leaves stuck in their shoes in their shoe laces, tiny little things like that or yeah.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Oh I’ve got a good one. So I remember when I was on my handler course, so very new. I think it was the end of the course and we were just finishing up and we still had beagles at that time. So I was working detector or I think I was just watching detector dog Andy, work by another handler and he was screening the passengers as he was. Going up and down the line and he was adamant that he wanted to pinpoint on this particular bag. And he went like a mountain goat and jumped on top of all of this baggage that was stacked so high, like up to my shoulders, and he responded to the bag so he sniffed and then he sat and he was sitting on top of all these bags and it was just absolutely hilarious. And it was amazing because he was correct too.

Casey Baines:

Oh good on him.

Sarah Tibbetts:

It was. It was very funny to watch him. We were kind of like what is going on but we trusted the dog and we rewarded him and it was correct. So yeah, that was pretty funny. The Beagles they were very funny to work. They very, very driven dogs.

Casey Baines:

Given you've had experience with beagles, are there specific differences between the Beagles and the Labradors, or different ways you might work them, or something like that?

Sarah Tibbetts:

I found that working beagles, they are very tenacious. When they got onto an odour, there was no taking them. Not that you would take them off an odour. But they were like on it. Where a Labrador while great workers, they are also people pleasers so even though they might know the target odours, they'll be a bit like “oh, you know is that it? Yes? Yes?” Where a Beagle is like “That is it. Reward me already.”

Sarah Tibbetts:

Definitely different working styles yeah, definitely. The Beagles are more tenacious, more very robust. Hardy little things. Just get in, get the job done quickly. Pint sized, little things, and Labradors that these big, beautiful majestic dogs working so.

Casey Baines:

But you're right they’re people pleasers, they're there and they work with and please their handlers which is amazing. And one of the other I guess good things about Labradors that might've changed your story if it was Labrador instead of Beagle, it's just their stature. They could, they can stand up and sniff the top of the bag rather than having to climb up over a little things. So yeah.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yes, definitely. Labradors have been a lot easier to work in that respect because they don't have to climb on top of bags and if they're responding to someone’s, say backpack or something high up, they just go up on their back legs, they're not touching any passengers or really any bags, which is quite useful. And then also within the mail environment, being able to have them work between both locations, it's a really way great way to utilize them.

Casey Baines:

Yeah, that that's one of the good things when COVID hit and we instantly dropped all of our passenger numbers, we could keep working the dogs in the mail centres and work that way, which is good.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Exactly. Exactly. Yes that worked very well. You didn't have to worry about managing the Beagles and their proficiency. So yeah.

Casey Baines:

I think that everything, unless you had anything else you want to add.

Sarah Tibbetts:

No, I think, yeah, I think that's all. Thank you so much for having me and letting me talk.

Casey Baines:

Definitely, always interested to talk to people in our program and just hear your insights because every single person that I've talked to through this interview process has such an amazing story and we're glad we can share them so.

Sarah Tibbetts:

Yeah no, the dog unit is, it's very fun and a really great place to work. Like, who wouldn't want to work with dogs every day? You'd be crazy not to.

Casey Baines:

OK. Well, thanks so much, Sarah. We'll talk to you later.

Sarah Tibbetts:

No worries. See ya. Bye.

Casey Baines:

I hope you have enjoyed today’s episode of Detect and Protect. You can find our more information on the department's website or by visiting biosecurity.gov.au. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast series to get updates on future topics and learn more about Australian biosecurity. Also be sure to follow us on our social media pages. Thanks very much for listening everybody. And we will catch you on the next episode of Detect and Protect.