![Using Dogs to Count Critically Endangered African Rabbits with Esther Matthew image](https://media.zencastr.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=640,quality=85/image-files/601584505ffaa600355b62a0/83adbc27-1faf-4d04-ac87-b9720a3fac43.jpg)
K9 Conservationists
Using Dogs to Count Critically Endangered African Rabbits with Esther Matthew
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3 years agoToday I have the joy of talking to Esther Matthew about training conservation dogs for a critically endangered South African lagomorph: the riverine rabbit.
Questions answered by Ester: :
- What was the goal of this study?
- What other measures had been attempted?
- Why did you have to use roadkill?
- How did you measure specificity?
- Can you describe the 3 phases of the study?
- Some other trainers hesitate to use off-target species in proofing for training, which always seemed odd to me. You decided to use negative targets in training here. Can you explain why and what results you got?
- You didn’t reward on unconfirmed hides. Did you do any training to help prepare the dog for the variable reinforcement? How did the dog respond?
Where to find Esther Matthew:
Youtube: Jessie’s Story
Facebook: Jessie the Border collie
Instagram: jessiethebc | estherexplorer
You can support the K9 Conservationists Podcast by joining our Patreon at patreon.com/k9conservationists.
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