Dogs with Jobs – Details, episodes & analysis

Mika is one of two wellbeing and trauma support dogs working in London's Metropolitan Police supporting officers' wellbeing, often in the face of trauma and emotionally challenging work.

As a working chocolate Labrador, she's a distinctive presence and something of a one off, recruited specifically for healing work. 

One reason that Mika and her canine colleague, Dexter and their handlers are interesting is that they and their handlers are on the payroll. The therapy dog model is well established in the UK, but these dogs are part of the mental health support structure, and perform a key role in signposting further support, as P.C. Morgan Heath explains to Dogs with Jobs presenter Kate Fairweather. 

As so often with wellbeing and emotional support dogs, the initiative emerged organically, rather as it did with other emotional support dogs we've featured on the podcast (details below). 

Handler, P.C. Morgan Heath tells the story of Mika and the original trauma support dog, Dexter, came to the Met, which has the largest dog section and breeding programme in the country.

It's a moving tale, which has its origins in the Covid lockdown. Morgan was formerly an officer in the mounted police before injury forced her to give up riding, retrained and joined the dog section in a mental health support role. 

Recorded at Goodwoof 2024, on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex. 

You may also enjoy these connected episodes:

• Champ, the engagement dog working in child protection in the Victoria police
• Keo the well being dog in the UK police; and
• Mabel the emotional support worker in the Fire Service

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 team@shineradio.uk.

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A window into the world of forensic police dogs within the Metropolitan Police, the UK's largest urban police force.  

Police Constable Clyde Charlesworth has worked forensic dogs for over 15 years, having worked on many significant UK disasters, such as the collapse of Grenfell tower in London, the Croydon tram crash, searches for missing persons Sarah Everard, April Jones, Alice Gross.

Clyde talks to Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather in between displays in the arena at Goodwoof 2024, and explains the scope of work within this scent detection discipline.  Forensic dogs' work is vital in finding evidence to support convictions for violent crime. 

Clyde currently has three dogs - General Purpose Police Dog Bonnie, a black German Shepherd and two spaniels - Rambo, the forensic dog, and Jeff the trainee forensic dog. Clyde also talks about Rambo's sub-specialism, finding bodies in water. 

Despite the sad circumstances in which Rambo and others like him work, this is a low key, relaxed listen, and was recorded in the beautiful surroundings of the Goodwood Estate, at the dog event, Goodwoof 2024.

Photo credit: @nonineedsmedia

Related episodes: 

• 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;
• Champ, the office based engagement dog in child protection team in the Victorian police in Australia
• Mabel the emotional support dog in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight fire service
• P.D. Didi, the general purpose police dog
• Keo, the wellbeing support dog in the 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 kfairweather5@gmail.com or team@shineradio.uk.  

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A fascinating and rare glimpse into the world of fox red Labrador Jax, a police victim recovery dog.

There are fewer than 40 dogs working in this highly specialised field within the police in the UK.  Victim recovery dogs - also known as cadaver dogs or human remains dogs - search for human remains, blood or tissue as well as shallow graves or blood spattered evidence such as clothing or weapons.

The stakes are high. On the one hand, the work of Jax and dogs like him is key to identifying forensic evidence, which can be definitive in prosecuting violent crimes. But there's a very human side too: in a search for a missing person who is presumed dead, the location of a body can bring much needed closure to family and loved ones. 

It's not an everyday sort of job, and Jax is often deployed as part of a large missing person search, travelling from home and dropping into unfamiliar sites. His steadiness, sociability and love of the hunt means that he and his handler are a highly effective part of the wider search teams.

Police Constable Felicity Thomas of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary talks training, rewards and the thrill of the search with Dogs with Jobs presenter, Kate Fairweather.

Browse more dogs with interesting jobs.

• Hear about the astonishing work of Medical Detection Dogs Florin, Iggy and Asher
• Keo the Oscar Kilo (OK9) wellbeing dog in the police
• Meet Mabel, emotional support worker in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire Service, from her owner, the Chief Fire Officer.
• Hear about Didi the Police Dog

Do you work your dog or dogs? If you would be interested in coming on the show, please get in touch with Kate at team@shineradio.uk or call 10730 555 500. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month's episode is a short but interesting one.

Presenter Kate Fairweather introduces springer spaniel Bonnie, who works as a bedbug inspector checking hotels - including some household name, super smart hotels - for bedbugs.  

Many of the best hotels consider it best practice, to have regular sweeps for bedbugs.  Sometimes a hotel has had a past problem, had it treated, and wants to check that these unwelcome little visitors have not returned.  

Other clients are highly sensitive and don’t want anyone to know they have bedbug detection dogs in the house - which also makes sense! For more sensitive clients, Simon Chapman and bedbug detection dog Bonnie do out of hours visits, leaving Bonnie's working harness at home, and pretend to be a regular owner and pet dog out on an evening walk... 

Simon Chapman of K9 Manhunt Scotland explains to Dogs with Jobs presenter Kate Fairweather how he keeps Bonnie motivated and up to scratch. 

Browse more dogs with interesting jobs.

• Hear Simon talking about how he took five detection dogs to the Isle of May for a conservation project 

Do you work your dog or dogs? If you would be interested in coming on the show, please get in touch with Kate at team@shineradio.uk or call 10730 555 500. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first seabird conservation project to use detection dogs in the UK.

A team of five detection dogs are deployed to an island off the east coast of Scotland, UK.

"Sprocker" spaniels Molly and Nelson, Storm the Belgian Shepherd and Piper the Springer spaniel are experienced detection dogs, but this was their very first conservation project. With a short time window in which to work on the project, a pet dog, Esme, a Belgian Malinois, was been trained as a backup.  

It was a first for NatureScot, which looks after Scotland's natural heritage and, at the time, was the first time detection dogs had been used in the UK in seabird  conservation work with seabirds.

Their job was to start the process of surveying the Isle of May, which is a nature reserve, to establish the size of a new colony of storm petrels. The storm petrel is a shy, nocturnal, ground nesting bird hitherto not seen on in the east of Scotland.

How did they know the storm petrels were there?

As part of conservation efforts in the UK and elsewhere, fine mist nets are used as a safe way to capture wild birds for ringing. Licensed ringers place a lightweight ring with a unique number around a bird's leg. Once ringed, an individual bird's activity can be noted. Such information allows conservation organisations to understand bird population movement, changes and trends, and provides information vital for bird conservation. It was through this practice that the presence of storm petrels on the east coast of Scotland was first noted.

Simon Chapman of K9 Manhunt Scotland explains to Dogs with Jobs presenter Kate Fairweather how the project came about, what the challenges were and how the dogs - most of whom usually work as drugs dogs - stepped up to the challenge of a new type of project and distraction-heavy environment.

Other conservation detection dogs episodes:

• Barley the conservation detection dog and his international projects
• Nica, Nettle and Phoenix, the Japanese Knotweed detection dogs

Do you work your dog or dogs?

Contact me, Kate Fairweather if you would be interested in coming on the show, at team@shineradio.uk.

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meet a talented trio of highly specialised detection dogs, who focus on UK’s most  invasive plant, the notoriously tough Japanese knotweed.

Nica the springer spaniel, Nettle the working cocker spaniel and Phoenix the Dutch shepherd devote their entire working lives and considerable skill on finding Japanese Knotweed.

Together with their talented handler, Kat Janczur of Canine Detection Solutions, they work with knotweed eradication companies, landowners and developers to survey construction sites, highways, railroads and individual properties. 

Japanese Knotweed is the UK’s most invasive plant.  Over two metres high in full bloom, it has evolved to withstand volcanic eruptions and seismic events, and can lie dormant for years, waiting to regerminate once conditions are favourable.  It’s a very, very tough plant, which means that it’s almost impossible to eradicate, and a constant fight to keep it down.

Nica, Nettle and Phoenix can detect even tiny bits of knotweed, as well as the underground rhizomes, which humans cannot see. This which makes them the most effective way to check sites, all year round. Kat explains how she keeps the team physically fit and mentally at the top of their game for this high stakes detection work. She explains some of the techniques she uses to keep her dogs independent, and to avoid handler bias when it comes to detection work.

Connected episodes:

Barley the conservation detection dog and his international projects

Do you work your dog or dogs?

Contact me, Kate Fairweather if you would be interested in coming on the show, at team@shineradio.uk.© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barley is a hugely talented 10 year old Border Collie, who works as a conservation detection dog on projects in the U.S. and Latin America.  

Barley has travelled all over national parks in the United States as well as Guatemala in the course of a varied and glittering career to date. He has trained and worked on 16 separate plant and animal scents, from zebra mussels to ocelots and other wildcats. 

And there's more on the horizon for Barley, who will be adventuring in 2024 with his owner and handler to Alaska’s remotest islands to study wolves, as well as travelling to El Salvador, where his olfactory superpowers will be used to identify any evidence of puma activity (pumas were declared extinct in El Salvador in the 1940s, but have been spotted in the last five years).

Barley's owner Kayla Fratt is an ecologist, dog behaviourist and founder of the U.S. based non-profit, K9 Conservationists. Kayla is currently studying for her PhD at Oregon State University, and canine conservation detection is a significant part of her PhD. A recipient of the prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Kayla is highly knowledgeable, in love with her work and a lively and fun interviewee in a wide ranging conversation with host Kate Fairweather.

The use of conservation dogs is highly evolved in the U.S. so this is a great episode to listen to for an overview of dogs' contribution to conservation work. As part of field trials, dogs collect valuable data, enhancing our understanding of different species' population, behaviour and movement (migration), including those of endangered species.  Such data can, in turn, feed into understanding the bigger picture - how temperature changes are likely to affect biodiversity, for example. 

More information on the work of K9 conservationists, including their 18 week course on training conservation detection dogs.

You might also enjoy

• Nica, Nettle and Phoenix, the Japanese knotweed detection dogs

Do you work your dog or dogs?

Please get in touch with Kate Fairweather on team@shineradio.uk to suggest a topic, interviewee or with any feedback - I love to hear from you!  You can find more photos etc at shineradio.uk/dogswithjobs

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Presenter Kate Fairweather and co-producer John Welsman and his guide dog Benjy are delighted to be recording from the UK-based charity, Guide Dogs charity’s  Christmas Brunch. 

Over 50 dogs in a lovely restaurant in the heart of the City of London - what a delight. What an amazing atmosphere and absolutely no barking or dodgy behaviour, because they’re all beautifully trained. 

They’re not all guide dogs: Kate meets Zack the buddy dog, who provides companionship to an entire family but mainly supports his disabled young adult, also called Zack. 

We also meet Upton the Ambassadog and hear about his fundraising activities, as well as two beautifully named puppies, Errol and Dylan introduced by Glenys and Sue, who explain what's involved in being a puppy walker for the charity.

Guide Dogs' Dave Kent explains how the Christmas brunch celebrates accessibility and why restauranteur Martin decided to host the event at the the M Restaurant in Thread Needle Walk, to celebrate accessibility. 

Connected episodes 

• Follow Benjy the trainee guide dog over his five weeks training on the job
• John Welsman talks about how his relationship with Benjy's predecessor, Breck the guide dog developed over eight years of partnership.
• Meet Daisy, the autism assistance dog

If you work your dog or dogs, or know someone else who does, and who would be interesting to hear from, get in touch with Kate at team@shineradio.uk.

Browse other dogs with interesting jobs.

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Endeavoured" is a show dog champion with a lot of silver trophies. 

His owner Patricia Sutton describes working life as a show dog, and the qualities needed to compete at national level. Pat is hugely knowledgeable, with an earthy turn of phrase, so the episode is packed with humour and detail. She runs the venerable Rossut Beagles kennel, which was founded by Pat's parents in the 1940s.

Known as Dev these days, the former show champion is living the dream, finding equal success in his post-showing career as a stud dog. 

In a first for Dogs with Jobs, we're giving a mild content warning on today's episode: expect a fairly frank discussion about sex and the mating process. 

Other beagle-filled episodes: 

• Keo, the beagle cross, who works as a wellbeing dog in the police service; 
• A kennel huntsman on working with a modern beagle pack in Meet the Beagles! 
• Lifelong beagle enthusiast Matthew Higgs on how to spot the wining beagle at a working hound show;

Do you work your dog or dogs? 

Please get in touch with Kate at team@shineradio.uk if you'd be interested in talking about your working dog.  More photos etc at shineradio.uk/dogswithjobs

Find more dogs with interesting jobs. 

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather, 2023

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A rare glimpse into truffle hunting at the highest level, from Italy's National Working Trials, which took place in October 2023. 

Louise Mizen Ferguson, Chairman of the Lagotto Romagnolo Club of Great Britain takes us, via her audio diary, on a road trip to Italy with her Lagotti, Dario and Sage.  

This is the full version.  You can also listen to editorial highlights in the most recent episode of Dogs with Jobs, the show that celebrates the key workers of the canine world. 

• Hear the editorial highlights: British truffle hounds find success at Italy’s National Truffle Trials;
• Meet another truffle hound, Giglee, finding tuber borcii on a frozen morning in Sussex
• Listen to more dogs with interesting jobs. 
• Find out more about the Lagotto Romagnolo Club of Great Britain

Do you work your dog or dogs, or know someone else who does?  

Kate would LOVE to hear from you on team@shineradio.uk. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.