Watch a video of Doomis in action!
There’s a new detective on the scene in Santa Barbara County, and he’s the real deal: efficient, effective, loyal, hard-working—and adorable to boot.
The detective’s name is Doomis. He’s 2 1/2 years old, and he’s a dog.
Doomis is the latest installment in California’s statewide pest detection dog program, which comprises 13 dog-handler teams that enhance the surveillance of plant products being shipped in parcels. Since 2006, the program has worked to prevent the spread of invasive pests by identifying packages carrying fresh produce or foliage that should be inspected for the presence of pests.
County Agricultural Commissioner Cathy Fisher had a chance to show off Doomis’ skills at the county fair last week, where she explained to a crowd of families why it’s important to inspect people’s mail for pests, which can be damaging and expensive for local farmers.
“One way that [pests] get into our county is people will pick their fruit from their backyard trees and they’ll box it up and send it to their aunt or cousin or family in Santa Barbara County, and it could be carrying a very dangerous pest that could be very harmful,” Fisher said at the fair demonstration.
And that’s where Doomis comes in: He visits up to three mail carriers each day, sniffing packages that come down the conveyor belt or that arrive in trucks or carts, and he indicates parcels containing plant material. Biologists then inspect those parcels for pests.
If they find a pest, the parcel will be quarantined until the biologists can determine if the pest is “concerning,” Fisher told the Sun. If it is, the county will notify the shipper and recipient and confiscate and destroy the produce. If not, the package will continue on its way.
According to the county’s 2015 Agricultural Production Report, county workers last year intercepted 264 potentially harmful pests, including seven counts of huanglongbing—a disease that’s deadly to citrus trees and has led to recent quarantines and pesticide sprays around Santa Barbara County.
But Doomis wasn’t around for all of 2015. He just joined the team in September, after a roller coaster of a life. Doomis, a shepherd/hound/Labrador mix, lived as a stray on the streets before heading to an animal shelter in Barrow County, Georgia, where the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) rescued him.
Doomis trained with the USDA at its National Detector Dog Training Center for months, learning to detect citrus, apple, mango, guava, and stone fruit odors in parcels. In August 2015, Doomis was assigned to handler Chris Tyler in Santa Barbara County.
Now, Tyler and Doomis have been work partners for almost a year.
“I’ll only ever work with him, because we need to build a bond,” Tyler told the Sun. “And if I keep cheating on him with other dogs, there goes the bond.”
Tyler helps Doomis surveil as many as 12,000 packages a day, four days a week (the California Department of Food and Agriculture requires a weekly canine training day). And Doomis isn’t just trained to find food—he specifically singles out fresh produce and even excludes processed and dehydrated vegetables.
“One of the proudest moments of my life was when he passed up a box of Omaha steaks for a flower,” Tyler said.
Tyler is also working with Doomis on identifying parcels carrying live animals, since the goal is to find anything that could possibly harbor an invasive pest.
Of California’s 13 dog teams, 12 are at least part Labrador, Tyler said. One is a pointer mix.
“They choose dogs that have an aptitude for the work, that have a food drive,” Tyler said. “They like using labs because people tend to find labs a little less threatening than German shepherds or some of the other breeds.”
But all pest detection dogs in California’s program have one thing in common: They’re rescues.
“They all have colorful backgrounds, how they ended up there,” Fisher said.
The detection dogs work until they’re 9 years old, at which point they retire and are adopted out.
“These guys have got to be so strong and agile to go day after day after day like this,” Fisher said. “Really what it comes down to is their nose—their olfactory, after many years, ends up wearing out.”
And when it does, and the dogs retire, their handlers traditionally take them in as pets.
“There’s such a bond and attachment because they’re with these dogs all day long,” Fisher said.
Doomis is Santa Barbara County’s dog, but Fisher said he’s recently started doing pest detection work in Ventura County as well, and he’ll be starting in San Luis Obispo County in the near future.
“I would love to add more dogs, because we’re willing to travel to other counties to work there, too,” Fisher said. “To help those counties add additional detection services to what their biologists are doing.”
But any potential expansion of the county’s pest detection dog program will depend on funding. The program is supported by funds from the federal farm bill, which also has to cover Florida’s pest detection dog program, so coverage by the bill is competitive.
“We do what we can to advocate for more funding,” Fisher said, “but sometimes, you get what you get.”
Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
With the help of handler Chris Tyler, Doomis identifies a parcel carrying plant product out of a lineup of boxes at the Santa Barbara County Fair.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.