Natural History

Source.

They are using the same sort of dogs that are good as sniffer dogs, and the training is very similar.

This sounds like a great idea on the surface.

However, there is a problems with using these dogs for this work.

They are using Western breeds that are easily trained– gun dogs and herding breeds. They work very closely in association with people, usually within just a few yards.

It would be one thing if they were detecting scat from something that really didn’t care that much about dogs.

Unfortunately, the Amur tiger loves to eat dogs. Dogs are part of their normal diet.

So you go into the woods after tiger scat with Western dog that works very close to you.

The tiger is hiding in the woods.

The dog is focused on finding tiger scat or urine. Not the actual tiger.  That means the tiger can easily stalk the dog while it’s hunting for tiger urine or scat.

The hazards that could happen could be explained as follows.

Tiger watches dog scent around for urine or scat.

Tiger remains calm and collected.

Dog passes near tiger.

Tiger pounces.

Starts to eat dog.

Handler tries to drive tiger off.

Tiger attacks handler.

I think they would be better off pairing the detection dog with a native laika that also alerts for tigers, just to keep everyone safe.

None of these Western dogs have grown up in tiger country, but these laikas have.  These laikas have likely tracked tigers and alerted for them. And they know that an Amur tiger is a dog hunting machine. Not something to mess with!

In most of the research situations in the region, researchers are not allowed to carry guns. Guns are strictly regulated in Russia, so it’s not going to be a fun situation when a tiger shows up to take one of these naive Western dogs.

Then there are the Amur leopards, the rarest of all big cats and noted dog eaters, to deal with.

No dog has an instinctive fear of a cat, especially those in the West that have either been socialized to cats or have spent a lot of time chasing them.