[Mackenzie’s Admin]

Intake Date – 6/8/2006
Adoption Date – 3/23/2007

Update – 3/23/2010
Tomorrow is the 3 year anniversary of Sable coming to his forever home with us. His recognition as the worlds first environmental dog has grown and we now have 2 other rescues working on our team!

Update – 5/6/2009
Sable has a new website that we just launched. It it just the bare bones right now, but we will be ramping it up over the next few weeks to include some video and photos. Hope all is well at the shelter.
http://www.sablethesniffer.com
Waggin’ Tails,
Scott

6/26/2008
Things are going great with Sable. The interest in his work is growing and we have been doing numerous presentations and demos (Hawaii, Boyne Mountain, Toledo, Pittsburg, and Orlando). He has come a long way with his socialization skills, but he still doesn’t like to be approached when he is “working”. I guess he is all business! Sable recently met a bunch of school kids at the Children’s Water Festival at MSU. I was so proud of him.

Take care,
Scott

9/16/2008 – Story From Local Newspaper
Get a whiff of this: Sewage-sniffing dog hunts for E. coli
sources along Kawkawlin River
Posted by Jeff Kart | Times Photo September 16, 2008 08:25AM

Sable’s job stinks, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Sable, a German Shepherd mix, may be the world’s only sewage-sniffing dog. He works for Tetra Tech, an environmental engineering and consulting firm in Lansing. Scott Reynolds, a former law enforcement K-9 officer, has trained the dog to sniff out the scent of human sewage and surfactants used in household detergents.

Reynolds uses Sable to detect illicit and failing septic connections that flow from homes into rivers and streams. The two are working this week on the Kawkawlin River in Bay County, a hot spot for E. coli bacteria contamination. Sable visits catch basins, outfalls and manhole covers. He barks and looks at Reynolds when he gets a “hit.” “He’s the only one in the world that we know of,” said Reynolds, who has scoured the Internet looking for other sewage-sniffing dogs. This is the second year that Sable, almost three years old, has been on the job. The dog spent last summer training and working in the Flint and Lansing areas, sniffing out sewage and finding several illicit connections. In Bay County on Monday, Sable was sniffing for sewage at stormwater pump stations and catch basins like one located at State Park Drive and Boy Scout Road in Bangor Township. The dog also sniffed bottles of water sampled from the river there. He barked both times, indicating the presence of human sewage or surfactants. The Kawkawlin River has had problems for years with E. coli contamination, but pinpointing the sources has been difficult, local officials say. The bacteria is associated with human and animal feces. Before coming to Tetra Tech, Reynolds worked in Midland County and at the University of Oklahoma, doing search-and-rescue operations and narcotics work. Reynolds rescued Sable from a shelter in Lake Odessa (Mackenzie’s Animal Sanctuary). He trained the dog for a year, having Sable sniff human sewage, detergents and animal feces, then rewarding the dog with a treat for barking at the right smell. “He’s getting better,” Reynolds said. “He’s getting more refined.” The dog wears a fluorescent green vest when he’s working, identifying him as a “Sewage Sniffing K-9,” part of Tetra Tech’s “Illicit Discharge Detection Unit.” So far, Sable is 87 percent accurate, based on his barks and the results of about 200 lab samples, his handler says. The dog is trained to bark at human sewage and ignore animal feces, and is best at detecting subtle scents that people don’t notice, Reynolds said. He said dogs have a better ability than humans to filter out background scents. For instance, a person can smell the scent of beef stew. A dog can smell the ingredients. Bay County Drain Commissioner Joseph L. Rivet is convinced of Sable’s abilities. Rivet hired Tetra Tech, using leftover money from a $50,000 state Department of Environmental Quality grant. The money was awarded to the Bay Area Storm Water Authority a few years ago to work on eliminating illicit discharges to the Kawkawlin River. Rivet said Tetra Tech is being paid a few hundred dollars a day for the work, and will be in Bangor Township for two days this week. “It’s just going to be a method we’re going to utilize to do some initial screening,” Rivet said. “If it’s successful, we’ll move it out a little bit more and actually have (Sable) run ditches.” Reynolds and his dog plan to visit 14 pump stations and bridge crossings in the township this week. The sites were identified with other testing done with the grant, Rivet said. Depending on the results of sniffing and sampling, Tetra Tech plans to return to Bangor Township and try to backtrack the pollution to its source. Reynolds said Sable’s nose comes in handy for tracing illicit discharges. E. coli samples taken by health departments usually only test for the presence of E. coli, and don’t do DNA tracking to determine if the bacteria is from human or animal feces. Samples also take time to process.

Sable can sniff and immediately lead Reynolds toward the source of sewage, speeding up and aiding in investigations. Samples from the 14 sites in Bangor Township will be tested for E. coli, DNA markers, ammonia, surfactants and metals associated with human sewage. Reynolds stressed that he cares about his dog’s health and has taken steps to make sure Sable isn’t adversely affected by his job. He said he’s consulted with veterinarians, has blood work done regularly and gives the dog a bath at least once a day. “He lives with me, so that’s important,” Reynolds said.

Update 3/26/2009
I wanted to send a quick update on Sable and how he is doing. Sable continues to generate excitement and attention for the work he is doing. We have been travelling a lot to give presentations (three already this year). Sable has adapted quite well to the conference setting and prefers to wander the room while I speak, meeting new people and getting pets. He has come a long way with meeting strangers.
We are going to be travelling to Huntington Beach, CA for a national beach monitoring conference hosted by the U.S. EPA. They have asked Sable and I do a poster session and follow up with a presentation the next day. This conference has pulled people in from all over the world including China, Germany, and India. I am very excited about the chance to showcase Sable and his talents to the world!
Most recently Sable was given a Merit Award by the Michigan chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies (see attached). He attended the ceremony my wife Karen and I. When we approached the stage Sable received the loudest applause of the evening! Can you tell I’m a proud “dad”?
Hope all is well at the shelter. Please keep us in mind for the annual fund raiser again this year. I have some ideas for some Sable items to sell for the shelter.
Take care,
Scott and Sable

Update – 9/25/2009
Check out these links to see what Sables been up to! Keep up the Great Job!

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti … 9909230356

http://ecsk9s.com/

[Mackenzie’s Admin]

look at how far he’s come – how awesome!! Can you remember when he was just a pup, nervous of all the new environments and strangers…. and now look at him – all grown up, comfortable, & confident with anything! way to go Sable!

[Mackenzie’s Admin]

I am amazed and excited each time we hear about Sable! He was adopted before I started working here – I would have liked to have known him from the start. I bet Sable received a standing ovation at the ceremony. No wonder Scott is a proud "dad"! Such talent & notoriety is fabulous and also does wonders for support of the "adopt from a shelter/rescue" world. Thank you, Scott, for adopting Sable and giving him a loving forever home along with providing the best opportunities possible! Hope to see you at our next Walkathon!

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