A friend recently alerted me to the existence of Conservation Canines, an initiative out of the University of Washington that uses rescue dogs to detect various wildlife scat (poop) to monitor and track threatened and endangered species. The dogs selected for this program are often those surrendered to a shelter for being too high energy or too hyper focused – so-called “failed” pets. Of course, my favorites are the blue heelers (Australian Cattle Dogs) like my pups Murdoc and Ripley (not surprisingly, most of the Conservation Canines are blue dogs, because a bored blue dog is a destructive blue dog, and they get dropped at shelters a lot).

Here’s Pips, strutting his stuff.

Here’s Athena, who, needless to say, I want to snuggle so hard.

Dio, Hiccup, and Zilly: I’ll take one of each, please.

and Filson: Oh my God, it’s a canine sun bear!

If you’re interested in learning more about Conservation Canines and perhaps donating, visit https://conservationcanines.org.

I hope all you Avocados have a day as happy as this good dog!