The dogs have been trained to detect spotted lantern eggs

This is where dogs can come in to help enhance their keen sense of smell.

Katie Thomas, who participated in the study, said: “Dogs have one dominant sense. It is their nose. We use our eyes. Dogs use their nose like their eyes.”

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Katie Thomas rewards her dog Finch after finding a target scent (Kelly Schuyler)

Thomas and her nine-year-old pit bull mix, Finch, participated in the study, hoping to capitalize on their years of recreational scent work. They underwent internal and external tests, sniffed egg masses, and took home a prize when Finch was right on the money.

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“Being able to do the things that we already do, that we enjoy so much…training our dogs to sniff things out, and being able to apply that to something like a real problem that affects our community is really satisfying,” Thomas said.

The spotted lanternfly is native to Asia and was first discovered in the United States in Pennsylvania more than ten years ago. Since then, the disease has spread to 19 states, according to the USDA.

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“They’re everywhere, and we need to look for the eggs,” said study co-author Caroline Shelburne. “The problem is that it’s too late once we get the lantern.”

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Caroline Shelburne and her dog Hermes search for a target scent (Kelly Schuyler)

Carolyn and her 9-year-old border collie, Hermes, were one of the first five K9 and handling teams to pass field tests. In the end, 182 volunteer teams from across the United States participated in the study.

For internal tests, the dogs correctly identified the lantern scent more than 80% of the time. In more realistic outdoor tests, the dogs were able to correctly identify the scent in more than 60% of cases. This is still better than most human searches.

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“Hopefully more people will see that you can train any dog ​​to do this, and it gives you something fun to do with your dog,” Shelburne said.

Researchers hope this is just the beginning for dogs to protect local environments. Even in areas where spotted flies are not a problem, dogs can be trained to sniff out other invasive species.