10 Dogs w/ Incredible Abilities! 🐶 Dogs With Extraordinary Jobs | Smithsonian Channel

It's hard to spot the scat floating on the surface over such a wide area. That's where Dio comes in with his extraordinary nose. He can smell whale scat in the water and guide scientists to it. George and Bella have created a strong bond based on mutual trust. He understands her needs and she relies on him for support. It's a beautiful mutually beneficial relationship. So when he's working, he's always focused on his job. But then as soon as you take off his vest, he like runs around and he plays a lot. But then after like an hour, he'll just kind of like go and lay down and just sleep. Everybody thinks that Great Danes are like big and energetic just because they're big. But honestly, they're couch potatoes. They like run around for like 10 minutes and then they would just want to go back to bed. You definitely have to have a sense of humor to have one of these dogs. They're very smart, but they're also very lazy, which kind of works well with what we do because they help people get from A to B and then they lay down and take a nap until they're needed again. They're dogs, they're not robots. They're just really great and they love to work. Bella hasn't used her crutches for three years. George has rescued her from a life of immobility and given her more confidence than she's ever had. I'm positive that people will bump into me when I have George because if they bumped into me, I could fall and then I would get hurt and that's not fun. He's very protective. Like even if we're playing, he'll still like always watch me because he doesn't want anything to happen. I just kind of knew that like I was safe no matter what. George gives Bella the strength to do activities once considered impossible for a child of her age with Morquio syndrome. A lot of kids by 13 with Morquio are confined to wheelchairs already. Bella was told she'll never ride a bike, she'll never ride a bike and she was determined to get on a two-wheeler and ride a bike. George likes to stay right nearby. He chases her, runs alongside, tries to definitely keep up with her wherever she is. We were told she'll never be able to swim. Now watching her out there kicking, diving, doing flips, it's amazing. I mean just the strength that she has with George now and her ability to just be a kid is awesome. She likes to prove everyone wrong and do things she's told she'll never do. Good boy. He has given her independence. She's able to now walk around the house without George. She can walk up and down our stairs without a lot of help. Whereas three years ago, a lot of these things she could not do. George has given Bella a completely new lease of life and he's saved her from much of the pain her condition could have caused her. George retrained me to walk. I wasn't going to give up and he knew that so he helped me make sure I wasn't going to. This morning, Rocket's job is to find a volunteer victim hiding within the Replica disaster zone. Earthquake victims are typically buried out of sight so he must use another sense to guide him. Smell. Once I put him into drive, he knows it's time to go to work. There's no messing around. He wants to go and he wants to find the victim immediately. Rocket must first find the scent trail by getting downwind and then track the odor backwards to its source, the victim. Rocket, as you can see, is going back and forth to hone in on exactly where that human scent is. It sounds simple enough but in a disaster, a search dog must operate in noisy and unstable situations with conflicting scents from the environment, casualties and rescuers. With up to a billion scent receptor cells inside a dog's nose, Rocket is able to rapidly detect even the faintest trace of human scent. He's so quick and he's so fast. Rocket's actually able to place his pads in areas where he's not going to get injured. Once Rocket locates his target, human rescuers can move in. Like most working dogs, Rocket is driven by his desire to play. Good boy, buddy. Good job, huh? We want dogs that are going to do anything for their toy and as soon as we know they have that drive and that energy, they have good potential to be a search dog. Rocket has every piece of that. Rocket is now a member of an elite force of life-saving dogs but six years ago, it was a different story. Rocket was on death row, having been found wandering the streets as a stray. Every year, an estimated 3.3 million dogs end up in animal shelters in the US. The hope is to re-home them but if a suitable place can't be found, the grim reality is that these unwanted dogs may be euthanized. That is, unless someone comes to their rescue. Hey, hi, Rocket Booster. Yeah, good boy. Andrea Berkwist is a canine recruiter for the Search Dog Foundation. Her husband Chris is a handler like Mike. So I got an email from the Sacramento SPCA saying we have a dog, he's not adoptable but he's very ball-driven and I think you should come see him. And I think you should come see him really soon because he doesn't have a lot of time. They brought Rocket out to me and he was so crazy. He was running around, he was pulling on the leash, he was barking at everything. I threw the tennis ball a couple times and he just chased after it, laser focus. I thought this is going great, he's going to be a great search dog. So we took him out to a big field and I put a long lead on him and I threw the toy into some tall grass and he bombed. He just didn't know what to do, he just started sniffing around. Rocket's rescue career was over before it began. He would have to go back to the shelter. I thought, I can't leave him here, he's so amazing, I can't leave him here. I get a phone call, hey babe, I want to adopt this dog. Okay, did it pass the tests? Nope, but it's going to be a great dog. Hey! Andrea's determination saved Rocket's life. You're living the good life now. The couple took him in and after several months of basic homeschooling, Rocket won a place at the National Training Center. Chris and I drove through the gates to leave him here and I was actually kind of crying. It was so emotional because this dog wasn't supposed to be alive and he got not only a second chance at life, but he has this new career and he might even save a life. Good boy Rocket, good boy. Farmers with an Anatolian guard dog report a reduction in livestock losses of between 80% and 100%. This success has resulted in a change in farmers' attitudes towards the cheetahs. Having the dog has played a huge role in the behavior of the farmers towards the predators. The farmers don't see the predators killing their livestock and they don't actively go out and just kill the predators. As a result, cheetah deaths are declining, giving hope that the big cat's dwindling population may soon be on the up. Back on farmer Mbeyo's land, while the goats roam free, Captain does his best to keep them out of trouble, sticking with them wherever they go. Normally, he would try and go on all edges. Unfortunately, he can't guard all four edges at the same time, but sometimes you observe that he's more into the middle of the group, he blends in within the goats. But at the same time, listening, taking some smells and watching out, because he's a bit taller due to his body size, he sees everything a bit more from up. But from the predator's eye, he blends in within the goats due to his coat color, which makes it a bit difficult for the predator to see him, but then he sees the predator way before the predator sees him. If a cheetah approaches the herd, it can detect danger through scent, so Captain marks his territory. The dogs pee onto little small bushes in a circle to mark off the territory where he's grazing, to say, if this is occupied by me, whoever crosses the line, you're in trouble. Urine contains pheromones, or chemical messages, that warn animals of another's presence. It actually stops the predator from even entering the whole territory. Once he moves, due to the grazing, into another territory, he does exactly the same. For farmer Mbeyo, Captain has transformed the future of his goats and the cheetah. Captain has been a big difference to our farming. He came as a little puppy of three months old, and for the past two years, we haven't had any loss. Before we had him, we had losses over 10 little lambs born per year. But since I had Captain, I haven't seen any footstep, and I haven't seen any cheetah or predator. Captain became part of the farming family, and we consider him as family. He has been quite, quite fantastic, and I regard him as a friend and as a family, of course. Linda watched Zina's heartbreaking story unfold on the news. I was home cleaning up the family room. The TV was on, it was our nightly news here in Atlanta, and a picture of Zina, this horrifying photo of Zina, actually, just stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. Zina was abandoned as a puppy on the side of the road. Animal services came to her rescue and were horrified by what they saw. Somehow, the emaciated stray with an incredible will to live started to show signs of recovery. She was aptly named Zina, the warrior puppy. I remember mentioning her to the family. We had really all been talking about a Labrador retriever, and I had fallen in love with the Lab. Linda wanted to save Zina, but there was a problem. Johnny disliked anything new invading his personal space, and that included dogs. But as they collected Zina, something remarkable happened. Zina crawled onto Johnny's lap. Are you ready to go? And stayed there. Which was a miracle in itself, right? Because of all the space issues that he has. She does have lots of teeth. I just was, I was in tears. From that moment on, life changed for Zina, Johnny and the rest of the Hickey family. After Zina's arrival, Johnny was suddenly happy to touch food without it being a problem. And there were even more changes in store. Our home was a silent home, silent. You know, he would play independently. No talking, no singing, no giggling, no nothing. It was a completely quiet home. And we're in the family room when we first came in. It was giggling and laughter. And I'm like, this is unbelievable. It's thought autistic children respond well to dogs because they don't feel pressured by them. Dogs don't judge. They simply calm and comfort. My name is Johnny and this is my puppy, Zina. I think we make a pretty perfect team. But it could have been a very different story. Before adopting her, the family discovered that Zina was not a Labrador after all. But part pit bull. I said no at first. I didn't want to bring that dog into my family and expose my son with autism to a pit bull. And I was just like everybody else in the world. I thought the pit bulls were evil, vicious dogs. Studies show that pit bulls are actually among the most tolerant of dogs, just second behind Labradors. But because they're often used for fighting and to protect property, they've gained an undeserved reputation for being vicious. I was under that misconception about pit bulls. We're looking at the wrong end of the leash. I believe that a pit bull or any dog, any dog, is a product of their environment. You treat them with kindness and love and they're just going to give it right back to you. And that's what she's done. Zina has become Johnny's own personal therapy dog and has changed his life forever. If it weren't for Zina, none of this would be taking place. There's no doubt about it. She has gone from survivor to saviour, really, you know. Research has shown that animal-assisted therapy not only helps in the treatment of autistic children but reduces the stress and anxiety of everyone around them. This is his friend and they're like peanut butter and jelly. They do really everything together. She not only saved a boy with autism, she actually saved a whole family. Excellent, good girl. Good girl, Ricochet. When she was younger, she got on a boogie board in a kiddie pool and had really good balance. Excellent, very good. It was then Judy realised Ricochet's love of water could be used to help people. Good girl, yay. So I thought, well, maybe there's something she can do to make a difference if she can't be a service dog. I always say the healing power of the ocean and the healing power of a dog and you put them together and it's incredibly powerful. Well, I feel like Ricochet's on this earth for a purpose. Ricochet's a gift and gifts are meant to be given. So I give her to everyone. I believe she belongs to everyone. Audrey Estrada is an Air Force veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan. Since returning from active duty, she suffered from post-traumatic stress, an anxiety disorder affecting many servicemen and women. To try to deal with her issues, today, Audrey will be meeting 10-year-old Ricochet and her owner, Judy Fridono, to see if Ricochet's special style of therapy can help. Ricochet's first attempt at reducing Audrey's anxiety has helped her to relax enough to consider taking the next step in today's therapy session. Surfing with Ricochet. To do this, Audrey must face her fear of the ocean. Back in 2009, I got stuck in a rip current and I got pulled under. I haven't been back in the water. It's almost like the water symbolizes the internal struggle inside myself. You have all these waves crashing and in order to get to the shore, you have to trust yourself and the board to make it in. And if I can do that in the ocean, then I should be able to do it on land. If she can again put her trust in Ricochet, it may take her mind off the stress of feeling unsafe. Ricochet's support team is ready to help. Surf instructor, Darren Klassen, offers reassurance. If you and I are going to walk out together into the water to about chest deep. My heart's beating out of my chest right now. Is it? Yeah, I can like literally feel it. One to ten where you at? Probably an eight. Really? Okay. So what I want you to feel is the power of the wave and just the motion and get your balance on the board, which that board is pretty stable and it'll be especially stable when Ricochet comes out with us. Surfing has been known to decrease anxiety and insomnia in people suffering with PTSD. Ricochet provides comfort. There's a connection between people who need a little extra push or a little extra hope or a little extra encouragement and a dog. And I've seen it happen enough times that I can't question it anymore. Audrey again places her trust in Ricochet. For the first time in nine years, she enters the ocean. With Ricochet by her side, Audrey focuses on finding her balance, forgets her fears and for a brief moment, surfs. It's an overwhelming achievement. Being able to trust in Ricochet enables her to overcome her fear of the water. I was amazed at how she balanced the board. She was filling it out. I mean, I'm human and I wasn't doing that. You know, it was amazing. I told Judy I wanted to come back. Since her PTSD began, Audrey has also struggled with insomnia. I think I'll be able to go to sleep tonight. I think I'll be able to go to sleep. When Ricochet started surfing with her, you saw a smile come back and you saw some comfort come back and some hope and some big steps for somebody who had some anxiety about the whole issue. To have that in such a short time is nothing short of powerful. What Audrey did today was very brave. Took a lot of courage to come out here and tell her story. Hopefully, in partnering with Ricochet in future sessions, Audrey will feel more able to deal with her anxiety and overcome her fears. So there is definitely hope. Ricochet is just one dog, but there's lots of dogs out there that can help. Montecito was definitely our biggest deployment so far. I had no idea that it was going to be what it was until I got there. First responders from around Santa Barbara and Los Angeles were called in to help. LA firefighter Cynthia Sato and her canine rescue partner Roxy were among them. Roxy is a German Shepherd mix and together they're members of the California Task Force. As part of a search and rescue team, their job is to respond to major disasters at a moment's notice. On the day the Montecito mudslide hit, they got the call. In one night, 500 million gallons of mud came surging down the hillside, obliterating 30 square miles of this coastal town just northwest of Los Angeles. We basically went straight into work. We saw houses with mud in them waist high, saw houses completely moved off of their foundations. Just imagining my home, my loved ones having to go through that was not an easy thing to see. The disaster was the result of a perfect storm. A month before, the surrounding forested hills had suffered a devastating wildfire. The loss of trees destabilized the soil. Then torrential rains followed, turning the hillside to mud, which swept down into the community. Despite five years of active service, this was Roxy's first major mudslide disaster. As a search and rescue dog, she'd been trained to track human scent. But this was different. Nothing could prepare her for the extreme conditions. The mudflow had damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes. Roxy and Cynthia were one of 39 search dog teams deployed to the disaster. The first dog on the scene was MacGyver, a six-year-old Australian cattle dog and his partner, Rick Stein. One of the most devastating aspects of the debris flow were boulders. There were boulders as large as large bands. And those would come through buildings and just take structures out. To get into smashed buildings clogged with mud, four legs can be better than two. It was difficult. But dogs, their legs are a little bit thinner. They didn't get their feet stuck the way we did. We were hiking in that mud, you know, knee-high, thigh-high, for miles. It could take human rescuers weeks to check an entire neighborhood. But dogs can do it more quickly, even in extreme conditions. These dogs can search miles in a matter of hours. She doesn't need to dig up that much. She can just go in, search, use her nose, check for any victims or any possible victims, and then clear that area. The rescue teams worked around the clock to ensure no one was left behind. Roxy and Cynthia operated on rotating shifts with the other dog teams. She's not only saving lives by searching for victims, but she's also saving lives and helping our fellow co-workers to not have to search in these dangerous areas. Namibia, Southern Africa. Home to a diverse range of wildlife. Where safety in numbers is often critical to survival. In most species, it's the female that nurtures the young. So when an animal is left orphaned without a mother, it's unlikely to survive. Unless the vital maternal care it needs is found elsewhere. Meet Narti, a jagrassel mix and one of the best super nannies in Africa. Narti lives at the Nankuse Wildlife Sanctuary. Founded by Marlies van Vuren, it offers a safe haven for orphaned and injured animals. Four-year-old Narti works alongside Marlies as a foster mum. She's a companion and role model to a wide range of species in need of care and affection. I thought she's going to struggle in the beginning because she was so soft and, you know, if she was scared, she would pee all over the place. But it was like two weeks later, Narti just found a spot on Nankuse and she's amazing with people. She's really good with animals and protective. In 2016, a male infant aardwolf was brought to the sanctuary after his mother was killed by a predator. Narti's maternal instinct immediately kicked in. She provided the crucial care and grooming that a mother would normally offer. She don't treat the other animals like they are different from her. She's really warm and gentle and she fulfills the role as a mum. So she licks and she cleans up. Narti somehow knows what each animal needs and is able to adapt her skills accordingly, whatever their age or species. This orphaned adolescent jackal is in need of a playmate and Narti is happy to oblige. It's a role that Marlies could never fulfill. Most of these animals lost their mums because of a conflict situation or they've been pets of people and then they end up here. This is where dogs come in. They play a vital role in my life and in my work that I do every day. Dogs have helped me with doing my job of making the wild animals as homey as possible, play, lose the fear of everything, of captivity. Narti begins each day chaperoning a 40-strong troop of Shakma baboons on their daily walk. She's a really good mummy and even the baboons, she's very comfortable with adult baboons and they're not aggressive but trying to show off dominance so they'll push her around and she just wags her tail. The baboons like to observe and mimic Narti's actions. Digging is part of the Jack Russell DNA, a behavioural trait favoured in their breeding as vermin hunters. And while baboons are not natural diggers, imitation helps boost their self-confidence. I'm sure they learn from one another. I mean Narti is not going to eat what they like, like little bulbs and onions but the fact that they are curious of what is she looking for helps the little ones for sure to just get confident, to look down a hole. Otherwise they normally think there's snakes down there. So she's very confident and she makes them more confident and secure. It's estimated that more than one million Americans are legally blind. Here in Paterson, New York, the next generation of guide dogs is in training for the job. Over the last 60 years, the facility has provided more than 7,000 guide dogs. This is where Iris received her special training in running with the blind. The staff select elite dogs for the running programme. It takes two years of intensive training. A process that starts when the dogs are just a few weeks old. First 16 weeks of their life is extremely important because that's when their brain roots are forming and we try and build that reference library as much as we can and get all the information that we can in there and they will retain that for the rest of their lives. In here they're exposed to little suspension bridges and stairs for the first time. We also have a lot of hanging objects to encourage them to look up when they see the movement. This is so they can protect a blind person from what's hanging above them, not just what's in front of them. Being a guide dog, they have to be comfortable with their body being touched in different spots and we also play a sound to get them accustomed to hearing everyday sounds and being comfortable with them. Cars backfiring, sirens blowing and that's what makes guide dog work the hardest training a dog will ever do. They literally have that person's life in their paws. Glenside, Philadelphia, USA. Can you help me tie my shoes? Home to 52-year-old Deborah Grober. Okay, time to put on your harness. Since the age of 14, Deborah has been legally blind and hearing impaired. But thanks to an extraordinary dog, today she's able to do something she never dreamed possible. This is Iris. She's a two-year-old Labrador and one of only 30 guide dogs in the US who've been specifically trained to help the visually impaired go running. There you go, good girl. Iris is Deborah's navigator and protects her from the dangers of running blind. Coming up to the road, up to the corb. I tell Iris that the road is coming so that she knows to look for it and then I tell her to the corb which is a command that she knows to look for the corb or for the street crossing and then I need to look and listen to the best of my capabilities. To the corb, to the corb. Nice, that's a good job. Look for traffic, forward. Iris is an extremely special guide dog. Okay, let's run. The San Juan Islands, an archipelago in the Puget Sound off the coast of the US state of Washington. A renowned mating and recreational ground for the majestic orca. Also known as the killer whale. For decades, orcas have congregated here to feed and nurse their young. Three family groups or pods are resident in these waters. But the number of whales in the resident pods has dramatically declined. From a peak in the mid 90s of almost 100 individuals to just 75 in early 2019. A team of scientists is working to find out what has happened to the whales. The answer lies in finding an elusive piece of evidence. Whale scat or faeces. A pungent oily liquid that floats to the ocean surface. DNA extraction from the scat can be used to identify individual whales, check on their diet and monitor their health. This reveals vital clues as to the cause of their decline and helps identify ways to save them. But it's hard to spot the scat floating on the surface over such a wide area. That's where Dio comes in with his extraordinary nose. He can smell whale scat in the water and guide scientists to it. It's mid-summer, traditionally a time that orcas come inshore to feed. Giving Dio the chance to put his scenting skills to work. Joining Dio and Colette in the search is Dr. Deborah Giles. Hi, buds. Director at the Centre for Whale Research. Rumours of whales. I heard. The official research banner allows them to get close to the whales. While tourist boats must maintain a distance of at least 400 yards. The research team has a network of local contacts who alert them to whale sightings. Whale scat dissipates within minutes of reaching the ocean's surface. It's a race against time. Dio keeps his nose out in front. Sometimes the whales are too far away for us. But if they're heading in the right direction, then we'll just kind of be on more prepared standby. Weather conditions need to be perfect for Dio to sniff out the orca scat. We have a good amount of wind. The water isn't too choppy. So it's sort of, you have kind of a small window of ideal conditions where too much wind, the water will be too rough and we can't work, or not enough wind, the odour can't get to the dog. So this is the nice middle ground that we look for. If Dio is successful today, the whale scat will be analysed by Dr. Samuel Wasser. It allows us to get a temporal sequence of samples from these whales so that we can see, yes, it's a killer whale, in fact, it's a female, and we see, ah, she's pregnant. After a frustrating search so far, Dio now perks up. When he's starting to pick up an odour, we'll start to see him become more alert. He'll stick his head up in the air, lick his lips, he'll sort of almost taste the odour. Colette can't see the sample float until they're closer to it. But Dio can pick up the scent of whale scat from up to a mile away. But will he guide Colette back to the sample? Dio's scenting is almost imperceptible to the untrained eye. But Colette is an expert at reading Dio's subtle detection signals. I'm actually going to be pretty quiet and just watching him and waiting for him to give me a signal. I need to come more to the left. It's just sort of little cues that he does with his body, how much tension he's putting on the leash. Dio has locked onto the orca scent with ease. You're good, keep coming forward. The Legato Romanolo was originally bred to hunt waterfowl in 7th century Italy, but was later refocused to sniff out the Italian food favourite, truffles. The truffle is an aromatic fruiting fungus that grows at the root of trees. Its distinctive flavour is held in high esteem in Cordon Bleu cuisine across the world. But they're so rare, they can sell for up to a staggering $3,000 per pound. They're expensive because they're incredibly difficult to find. Unless that is your Lolo, a six-year-old Legato Romanolo, an ancient Italian breed. She's trained by her owner Alana McGee as a truffle detective. We got into truffle hunting, I lived in Italy for a short time when I was in university at college and kind of learned about it there. And then I worked in some other jobs and then I moved back to Pacific Northwest and I learned that we had truffles here. And then we just started going out. Prime truffle season in Washington is from November through March. Right now it's mid-summer. But the owner of a local Italian restaurant has put in a special request. So Lolo and Alana are heading out to private woods 50 miles north of Seattle. Oh, I'm coming Lolo, hold on. They've unearthed truffles here before but can Lolo find some pre-season treasure? Oh yeah. Lolo can't contain her excitement. Okay, okay, okay. She'll start screaming at you because she's like ready to go hunting and you're not doing it fast enough. So she's kind of a workhorse that way and she really, really likes it. Lolo's skills are about to be put to the test. Tell me if you find something Lolo. Hunting in the height of a warm summer day brings added complications. When it's hot like this, what happens is the truffle is like right here and giving off odor but that odor dissipates and rises really fast with the heat. So it makes it really hard for the dogs to find it and locate it. Lolo simply follows her nose in random patterns until she locks onto a scent. There's one in there. Where is it? In terms of training the dogs, you can train different dogs a variety of different ways. Lolo in particular just really likes the act of searching. So coming out here and doing this is one of her favorite games to play. It's not long before Lolo's enthusiasm has her hot on the trail. Lolo. Lolo is on a treasure hunt with rich rewards. This time she finally hits the jackpot. Oh wow, you did find it. Good girl, good girl. The best way to tell where a truffle is because they're so hard to see is if the dog touches it. Oh yeah, you found it. Lolo is trained to touch the truffle but not pick it up. Good girl. She's rewarded with pieces of chicken. So Lolo has found one of our native black truffles. She's very excited. So and it smells nice. So this is, this is not bad. At least a few guests at the Italian restaurant will be dining in style tonight. One more time. Hold. Good girl. That was very good.