K9 Conservationists

By Kayla FrattScience Natural Sciences

K9 Conservationists episodes

June 26, 2025 Gundogs and Conservation with Jo Laurens
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Jo Laurens from The Force Free Gun Dogs about gundogs.
Links Mentioned in the Episode: None
Science Highlight: Switching to marine prey leads to unprecedented mercury concentrations in a population of coastal Alaska wolves
Where to find Jo: Website | Force Free Gundog Group
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 35 min
June 12, 2025 Large Search Area Strategy with Lauren Wendt
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Lauren Wendt from Momentum K9 about large search area strategy.
Links Mentioned in the Episode: None
Science Highlight: Comparison of mechanical sorting and DNA metabarcoding for diet analysis with fresh and degraded wolf scats
Where to find Lauren: Website
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 26 min
May 27, 2025 Part Two: When Your Dog's Body Can't Keep Up with their Brain with Tiff Shao and Sage Gustafson
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back for part two with Sage Gustafson and Tiff Shao about the challenging topic of life with high-energy, high-drive, and/or high-arousal dogs who are injured or sick or otherwise cannot physically perform the behaviors that their brains want without causing pain.
Links Mentioned in the Episode: None
Where to find Tiff: Website | Instagram | Facebook
Where to find Sage: Facebook
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 1 min
May 13, 2025 Part One: When Your Dog's Body Can't Keep Up with their Brain with Tiff Shao and Sage Gustafson
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks with Sage Gustafson and Tiff Shao about the challenging topic of life with high-energy, high-drive, and/or high-arousal dogs who are injured or sick or otherwise cannot physically perform the behaviors that their brains want without causing pain.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: Benefits and limitations of using innovative tools like detection dogs, thermal imaging and drones to increase wildlife carcass finds during health surveillance and management efforts

You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

1 hr 8 min
April 29, 2025 Spatial Ecology (and Sharks) with Brett Sweezy
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks with Brett Sweezy about spatial ecology and sharks.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: Efficiency and Bias in Strip and Line Transect Sampling
Where to find Brett: Instagram | Bluesky
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 10 min
April 15, 2025 Breaking into the Field of Conservation Detection Dogs
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla talks about breaking into the field of conservation detection dogs.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: None
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 12 min
March 25, 2025 CWD Dogs with Brenna Aizen
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Brenna Aizen from the Penn Vet Wildlife Futures Program about dogs sniffing out chronic wasting disease.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: Effect of rapid changes in environmental conditions on canine detection of methyl benzoate
Where to find Brenna: Website | LinkedIn
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.

K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 4 min
March 11, 2025 Getting into Grad School with Dr. Charles van Rees
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla is back with Dr. Charles van Rees to talk about getting into grad school.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: Trail vs. thicket: Evaluating conservation detection dog performance in varied terrain
Where to find Charles: Website | Lab Website | Instagram
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
1 hr 28 min
February 25, 2025 Cheetah Conservation Fund Dogs with Tim Hofmann
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Tim Hofmann, the Scat Dog Handler, Research Manager and Research Coordinator at Cheetah Conservation Fund about his PhD research using detection dogs and other methods to study cheetahs in Namibia and beyond.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: None this week!
Where to find Tim: Website | Facebook | Instagram
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
K9 Conservationists Website | Course Waitlist | Merch | Support Our Work | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
56 min
February 11, 2025 Hot Takes with Paul Bunker & Meg Barnes
In this episode of K9 Conservationists, Kayla speaks with Paul Bunker and Meg Barnes about hot takes in the conservation dog training community.
Links Mentioned in the Episode:
Science Highlight: None this week!
Where to find Paul: Website |Facebook |Instagram
Where to find Meg: Website |Facebook |Instagram
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon atpatreon.com/k9conservationists.

K9 Conservationists Website |Course Waitlist | Merch |Support Our Work |Facebook |Instagram |TikTok
1 hr 1 min

About K9 Conservationists

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to the K9 Conservationists podcast, where we’re positively obsessed with conservation detection dogs! Join us every week as we discuss detection dogs, ecology, conservation, dog behavior, training, and much more.