Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of the canine. I have personally adopted ten dogs in my adult life and honestly prefer the company of dogs to most humans.
Since these ESG University Classroom Columns are all about transparency, I figured a disclaimer about my favoritism towards dogs should be noted. I also know I am not alone. There are many dog lovers out there in the world, so this isn’t a revelation, but what is a bit of a mystery, why aren’t more oil and gas companies hiring leak detection dogs? If not to detect leaks in pipelines, hire canines for public relations and marketing purposes at the very least.
Allow me to explain how a dog can improve your ESG Score, save your company money and move closer to Net Zero. Let’s take a closer look a dog’s tangible and intangible value.
First let’s check out the science. Dogs have up to 300 million scent receptors and are are among the best smell detectors in the animal world. The average human sniffer only contains only around 6 million scent receptors. Layer on top of that the fact that a dog’s brains also devote 40% more of their brain to analyzing odors than humans. They are superior smelling machines that are not machines, nope their your best friend.
Dogs are really Industry’s best friend. Not only are canines trained to search for more than just narcotics and missing people, but in the oil and gas industry, they are trained to detect agricultural pests, endangered wildlife species and pipeline leaks.
Basically, dogs recognize the odors of substances called volatile organic compounds that are specifically associated with the targets. This is where dogs continue to outperform the machines and analytical instruments.
Just when you thought that was all your new best friend was doing to contribute to Industry, scientists have pushed their limits further. Now, dogs can be trained to successfully recognize deeper and more unique volatile organic compounds, called “biomarkers,” in the exhaled breath of patients with certain diseases or chronic medical conditions. This includes people with cancer and diabetes, as well as for pre-seizure detection in epileptic individuals.
And now dogs are being used to detect COVID.
I should point out that to my knowledge, there has never been a double-blind climate change study. That’s not a political statement, rather a citation. Now, dogs on the other hand, in this particular example, were subject to 40 double-blind trials. They used four different kinds of dogs and found all four dogs in the study accurately detected COVID-19 positive masks more than 90% of the time.
The results where: Mac, a Terrier mix, scored a 96.2% in his attempts. Hubble, a Border Collie mix, 96.3% of the time. One Betta, a Dutch Shepherd, scored a 98.1% in attempts Cobra, a Belgian Malinois, was correct 99.4% of the time.
Then the dogs were put to work. After the study, Cobra and One Betta got work at the State Emergency Operation Command Center, in Tallahassee, Florida, screening for COVID-19 on surfaces. In May 2021, both dogs hit the beach and put their COVID-19 detection skills to work at the annual Food and Wine Festival in Miami.
Other agencies and states are beginning to use Florida International University’s methods for training dogs to detect COVID-19. With the assistance of FIU, the Bristol County (MA) Sheriff’s Office started putting two young labradors named Duke and Huntah to work detecting COVID-19. These two dogs are also now working two jobs as they picked up a second shift sniffing for COVID-19 at facilities in the nearby Freetown-Lakeville Regional School District.
The connection and acceptance of dogs as safety inspectors in the world of COVID is increasing more and more. Right now COVID-detecting dogs are on tour with Metallica, Black Keys and Tool. Plus they are working with NASCAR and the NBA’s Miami Heat.
In a day and age where public appearances in oil and gas seem to matter as much as science, the dog is real no brainer. Consider this while I continue to hound you.
I’ve spoken to half a dozen or so Canine Leak Detection companies over the past decade and they have all said they same thing over the years regarding social media. Many of their posts with the dogs in the field go “viral” but it’s primarily “people from all over the place” and “all walks of life”. They then conclude with “it didn’t result in any business from an operator, but at least it’s good PR.”
Not to mention I have never seen anyone protest against dogs, only packs of Pup-arazzi trying to get their pics. I could see some people possibly protesting against Cats someday, but that’s not important right now. Now back to ESG of the D-O-Single-G.
The numbers don’t lie. Check the Lab Reports. Add together the first impression someone has when they see a dog, plus the actual bringing of a smile to a person’s face, plus the science to back up it’s field tested validated work. No wonder your best friend’s tails move so much with a fur-ocious swagger that makes you want to give it a treat. And then paws-itively rub its belly.
Right now everyone is trying to tell their story. Corporations are telling people they need to tell their story. Heck even Matthew McConaughey is telling people to tell their story during the Super Bowl. It’s time oil and gas companies tell their story too. Who better to make you stand out in the constant noise of polarizing politics, click bait headlines and the social media suction than a dog.
In conclusion to this week’s Classroom Column, the lesson is simple, it’s a dog-eat-dog world right now out there in fossil fuel land, and the best way to navigate through the next decade is to get a new best friend. One you can trust with a track record of success. And maybe has a bone or two buried away for good measure.
Class dismissed til next week.
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Weekly Sponsor: Black Creek K-9 Pipeline Leak Detection
Disabled Veteran Owned Business in Decatur, TX. Servicing the K-9 industry with pipeline leak detection, detection services, dog training & K-9 consulting. Dwayne Farris served in the United States Marine Corps as a Military Police Officer, assigned to be a Military Working Dog Handler. Upon the honorable completion of active duty, he continued as a reservist for the U.S. Marine Corps Military Police Detachment located in Wahpeton, North Dakota as a squad leader. He was later promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant.
As a civilian contractor, Dwayne operated for various high-profile U.S.-based security companies deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served as a Combat Canine Tracking Handler, Trainer, Kennel Master, and Program Manager. His most recent experience was as the field-based Supervisory Subject Matter Expert working for TSA as the Regional Canine Coordinator for Region 5 based in Seattle, WA. In that position, he regionally oversaw all National Explosive Detection Canine Training Program assigned canine teams. For the Pacific Northwest area of operations, he served as a Regional Canine Training Instructor for the NEDCTP. Prior to joining the TSA, Dwayne was a Multi-Purpose Canine Trainer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, for a special operations unit training and deploying K-9 teams in support of world-wide missions.
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