River, a little black spaniel in a bright orange vest is searching river bank in a Hampshire nature reserve. On this occasion, it's a demonstration only.

River is unique: the only conservation dog in the UK trained to find signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), an American invasive species that was farmed as a delicacy in the UK in the 1960s and escaped into the wild.

The signal crayfish is a well equipped predator and will eat vegetation, small invertebrates and fish, including junior native crayfish. If they're hungry, they will turn on each other. They grow up to 18cm and burrow up to two metres deep into waterway banks, damaging habitat and leaving canals vulnerable to collapse. 

As if this weren't enough, they also carry "crayfish plague", a fungal disease, which is fatal to the UK's  native white-clawed crayfish. The native crayfish has declined drastically to the point of extinction. (The situation is akin to that of the invasive grey and native red squirrel).

River's handler, Lucy Wilde explains to Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather, how River has ended up with this specialised role, and what her working life looks like.

More info: 

• Follow Lucy on IG @wildeecologydogs 
• As mentioned in the podcast: The Ecology Detection Dog Working Group

Other conservation dog episodes: 

• Reid, the bio security dog - update a year on
• Reid the bio security dog - the original interview;
• Skye, the stoat detection dog working to keep Orkney free from predators;
• A team of five detection dogs survey the Isle of May for ground nesting storm petrels;
• Barley the conservation dog and his international projects;
• Nica, Nettle and Phoenix, the Japanese knotweed detection dogs

Do you work your dog or dogs? 

Get in touch with Kate at [email protected] with suggestions or introductions to working dogs to feature on the show - she's always interested to hear about dogs with interesting jobs.

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2026

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spirits are high as 18 dogs and their owners brave the rain to clear rats from an area of cover crop on a shooting estate in Hampshire.

It’s a “bobbery” pack of different breeds, from a sizeable lurcher to a mini sausage dog, along with terriers and hounds. Host Kate Fairweather marvels at how the different breeds instinctively apply their skills to the jobs that suit them best - marking the rat holes, digging or standing by to chase any rats that slip past the terriers. 

After months spent gorging on grain left for the pheasants, the rats have multiplied in the area around the grain bins and ‘cover crop’. Poison is the only alternative to dogs, with the attendant risks to wildlife, so the gamekeeper welcomes the rat pack as the most effective and humane option.

It’s noisy, it’s muddy, it’s exciting and it’s certainly quick - a hard bite to the neck, combined with a shake kills the rats instantly, and the dogs move on to the next, cheered on by their owners. 

Kate Fairweather was guest of the West Sussex Warreners. Feel free to get in contact with the West Sussex Warreners if you have a farm or a shoot with a rat problem in Hampshire, Sussex or Surrey. They are fully insured and all their dogs are broken to livestock.

Connected Episodes

Dogs with Jobs features the full range of working dogs, therapy dogs, military and service dogs, assistance dogs, bio detection dogs, sporting dogs and other more unusual occupations such as truffle hunting, modelling and conservation detection work.

If you enjoyed this, you may also like other episodes that feature sporting dogs and hunting hounds:

• Meet the Sealyham terrier rat pack , recorded at the Game Fair (August 2023)
• Who’s winning at the South of England Hound Show? (August 2023)
• Meet the South Down Bloodhounds (November 2022)
• Meet the Beagles! (October 2022)
• Debit and Dervish, the hunting hound pups (November 2021)
• An insight into the breeding of hounds (November 2021)

Do you work your dog or dogs?

Kate is generally obsessed with working dogs and loves to hear about them – the more varied the better!  Keep the introductions coming! 

If you, or someone you know works their dog or dogs, and would consider being interviewed on Dogs with Jobs, please get in touch with Kate via [email protected].

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2026

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Albert is a clever young working cocker showing plenty of talent at his grisly, yet very important job.

P.C. Matt Thompson of the West Midlands Police is a joy to listen to - he is focused 100% on Albert while he's waiting for his next "big" dog. Albee is showing plenty of potential and Matt is an articulate and humorous interviewee.  

Please be aware that, there is some detail about the reality of life as a victim recovery dog, which some might find unsettling. 

If you found this episode interesting, you may enjoy hearing about several other dogs in a similar line of work.  As Matt explains in this interview - Albee works in the city, but the job can be very different in different areas of the country, and these interviews illustrate that difference: 

• Jax the victim recovery dog with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary - who does a live demo on the show. Jax' handler is strong on the human element; and
• Rambo the forensic police dog, with some detail about recovering victims from water - a sub-specialism of this discipline. 

More amazing police dogs (other working dogs are available on the podcast - just scroll through). 

• Oreo, the digital asset dog
• Billy the drug detection dog
• The UK's National Police Dog Trials 2025
• P.D. Viper the firearms support dog
• P.D. Chase and the career arc of a general purpose police dog
• P.D. Meika, who searches for London criminals' cash, drugs and firearms 
• P.D. Ted, the explosives detection dog with the West Midlands Police

• Mika, the well being and trauma support dog in the Metropolitan Police
• Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police

Do you work your dog or dogs? 

Or perhaps know someone else whose dog is doing an interesting job? Please get in touch!  I love to hear about dogs with interesting jobs.

Find me at [email protected] or [email protected].  

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2026

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Christmas and 5th birthday special programme, creators Kate Fairweather and John Welsman  pick some of their favourite episodes to celebrate five years of fun making podcasts together.

Episodes referred to in this episode: 

• The National Police Trials 2025 
• Nathan Foy on the guide dogs that have taken him from boyhood to parenthood, 
• Harley, the peanut allergen detection dog 
• From first steps to a Canicross ultramarathon for Logan the spaniel and owner Sara
• Billy, the drugs detection dog of the West Midlands Police

Dogs with Jobs features the full range of working dogs, therapy dogs, military and service dogs, assistance dogs, bio detection dogs and other, random occupations such as truffle hunting, modelling and more. Browse more dogs with interesting jobs.

Do you work your dog or dog? 

Get in touch with Kate Fairweather if you’re interested in coming on the show on [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A window into the working life of Billy, a young spaniel with a promising career ahead of him as a drugs detection dog. 

Billy’s handler, Police Constable Paul King describes Billy’s training and how they navigate the leap into operational work.

There's plenty of detail along the way - the difference between proactive and passive drug scanning.  Drugs detection work is a great game in some ways - criminals extend themselves to come up with ever more ingenious ways of hiding them and use decoy smells so Paul is alive to any opportunity to keep Billy’s skills evolving, too. 

Paul explains why the greatest tool in the police toolbox is a dog's nose. 

Recorded in the back of a police van at Crufts, the UK's largest dog show, in March 2025. 

(I forgot to photograph Billy, hence going with the stock photo...I will replace it! )

You may also enjoy these connected episodes about the many disciplines within the police:

• Oreo, the digital asset dog
• The UK's National Police Dog Trials 2025
• P.D. Viper the firearms support dog
• P.D. Chase and the career arc of a general purpose police dog
• P.D. Meika, who searches for London criminals' cash, drugs and firearms 
• P.D. Ted, the explosives detection dog with the West Midlands Police
• P.D. Jax the victim recovery dog with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary

• Mika, the well being and trauma support dog in the Metropolitan Police
• Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police

Do you work your dog?

Or perhaps you know someone else who might like to come on the show?  I love all and any working dogs and am always looking for dogs to interview. 

Get in touch with me, Kate, via [email protected].

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Short but sweet, this episode of Dogs with Jobs was recorded in New York City, on the run up to Thanksgiving holiday.

Koa is a Rhodesian Ridgeback - not a breed you see in therapy work too often.

His owner, Andy Honda, is a Rhodesian Ridgeback fan, and chose Koa as a future running partner. They live a couple of blocks from Central Park in Manhattan, New York City.

Andy explains how Koa ended up working in the therapy field with Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather.

More about Koa's life and the book Andy mentions on Christmas in New York here.

Other therapy and wellbeing dog stories:

• Baloo, the injured police dog turned award-winning wellbeing dog
• Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police in Australia
• Sprout, the care home visitor
• Mika, the support dog working in the UK's Metropolitan Police
• Louis the hospital volunteer attends a veterans' support session
• Mabel, emotional support worker in the fire service
• Phantom, the secondary school reading assistant

Interested in therapy work with your dog?

These are just some of the orgnaisations – there are many others so please do research this wherever you are based.

• Koa and Andy volunteer in New York City: The Good Dog Foundation
• Therapy Dog organisations in the UK: Pets as Therapy, Therapy Dogs Nationwide
• Patricia Bland of Pets as Therapy, the UK charity, explains what qualities she looks for in a therapy dog

Do you work your dog?

Or perhaps you know someone else who might like to come on the show?  I love all and any working dogs - and am always looking for dogs to come on the show. 

Get in touch with me, Kate, via [email protected].

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet Baloo, a charismatic Belgian Malinois whose promising police career was cut short when she was hit by a suspect's car, leaving her for dead at a crime scene in 2018. 

Baloo came out of emergency surgery full of metal bolts and without her front right leg. As an amputee, she was forced into medical retirement. Baloo was adopted by retired police dog handler, Mandy Chapman, who sensed the potential for a new career direction: trauma support.

It's been a hugely successful partnership, culminating in Baloo winning Hero Dog of the Year at Crufts 2025. 

The pair support police officers, staff and their families through the wellbeing charity Oscar Kilo's dog charity, the "OK9" organisation. Their work goes beyond the police force, and includes visiting nursing homes and schools in support of the wider community. 

Mandy Chapman talks to Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather from the Dogs Making a Difference Awards organised by the charity, Service Dogs UK  - where Baloo took yet another award for his support work. 

Fellow award nominees included  Mika, the well being and trauma support dog in the Metropolitan Police, who came on the show back in 2023, and Phil, the dual qualified medical alert and autism assistance dog, who came away with an award, too.

Other police dog career stories:

• Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police
• The UK's National Police Dog Trials 2025
• P.D. Viper the firearms support dog
• P.D. Chase and the career arc of a general purpose police dog
• P.D. Meika, who searches for London criminals' cash, drugs and firearms 
• P.D. Ted, the explosives detection dog with the West Midlands Police
• P.D. Jax the victim recovery dog with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary

Do you work your dog?

Or perhaps you know someone else who might like to come on the show?  I love all and any working dogs - and am always looking for dogs to come on the show. 

Get in touch with me, Kate, via [email protected].

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former prison officer and highly experienced prison dog handler, Simon Broadis, describes the demands on prison dogs and how they have evolved over several decades in the prison service.

A rare window into the working lives of prison dogs. 

Recorded at the Dogs Making a Difference Awards 2025, organised by the charity, Service Dogs UK. 

Find other dogs with interesting jobs. 

Do you work your dog or dogs? Please get in touch with Kate Fairweather if you would be interested in being on the podcast by emailing [email protected].

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rescue dog Phil alerts his 22 year old handler, Felicity Brown, to impending collapse or sudden loss of consciousness.  His alerts give her time to sit, lie down or seek support. He is also trained to perform autism related tasks such as deep pressure therapy, locating named people or safe exits, and helping her avoid emotional dysregulation.

Phil and Felicity are the first dual trained partnership collaboration between the assistance dog charities, Dogs for Autism and Medical Detection Dogs. 

Felicity and her family trained and graduated Phil through the owner-trainer programme at Pawsable Assistance Dogs CI, and then applied for the owner trainer programme at Medical Detection Dogs, giving another dimension to Phil's skillset.  So a lot of firsts! 

A big thank you to Felicity and her mum for talking to Dogs with Jobs.  And congratulations to the team on winning the Rescue Dog Medal of Honour at the the Dogs Making a Difference Awards in September 2025, organised by the excellent charity, Service Dogs UK.

Connected episodes on assistance dogs

• Duke, the PTSD assistance dog
• By your side: navigating life with a guide dog over time
• Ralph, the owner-trained, multi-tasking assistance dog - perfect for a Rogate teenager
• Darcey, the Canine Partner: an assistance dog relationship in full bloom
• Benjy, the trainee guide dog's first five weeks on the job
• Daisy, the autism assistance dog - practical, psychological and emotional support
• Medical Alert dogs in training: life before they start work
• Plum the e-coli detection dog at work at the charity's training centre
• Dr. Claire Guest and her three bio detection dogs as she describes how labrador Daisy detected her breast cancer, and inspired  the charity, Medical Detection Dogs

Do you work your dog?

Or perhaps you know someone else who might like to come on the show?  I love all and any working dogs and am always looking for dogs to interview. 

Get in touch with me, Kate, via [email protected].

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A short but sweet mid-month catch up with Jez and his owner/handler, Phil Gibbon. 

Jez is a saluki whippet and the youngest of a team of sighthounds that together work under the stage name "Little Nippers", as a performing troupe of terriers and lurchers at country shows all over the UK.

Their entertaining performance at country shows educates the public and demonstrates the lost sport of coursing, using an electric lure.  Coursing is the hunting of game such as hares with greyhounds, which use sight rather than scent, and has been banned in the UK since 2004.

You may recall we met Phil Gibbon a few years back and talked about life as a travelling showman with his pack of dogs and birds of prey to Dogs with Jobs presenter Kate Fairweather. His beloved dogs travel in comfort, like the performers they are, but are also family pets, many names after members of the family. 

Find other dogs with interesting jobs. 

Do you work your dog or dogs? Please get in touch with Kate Fairweather if you would be interested in being on the podcast by emailing [email protected].

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2025

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.