About
We are an experienced, exciting and pioneering freelance consultancy that uses dogs to detect an assortment of scents in a variety of wildlife detection roles. Our professional and friendly service allows for a quicker, less invasive, more innovative way of wildlife searching for conservation, ecology and poaching prevention.
Building upon techniques from explosives and drug detection, we have pioneered ways to harness dogs’ remarkable sense of smell to protect biodiversity, ecology and wildlife. We train through reward, and focus on a great welfare experience for all our canine colleagues.
Wildlife detection dogs are fast, reliable and diverse. They cover vast areas and find scents far quicker than their human counterparts, providing an efficient, cost-effective and non-invasive way to gather high-quality conservation data.
It’s our mission to provide a wildlife detection service that is not only innovative but delivers real value for money. From supplying pre-trained dogs and handlers to bespoke training for your own project and full project management services, we are here to provide a total solution for your wildlife conservation needs.
Wildlife Crime Detection
Our Services
Conservation K9 provides specially trained wildlife detection dogs, handlers and trainers to aid your conservation efforts. We work on a variety of conservation projects from the smallest assistance to flagship programmers worldwide. We provide a professional and efficient approach to all your wildlife detection needs.
Educational Seminars
We offer bespoke seminars for educational institutions and private companies
Wildlife Detection & Monitoring
Discover where species live, how many there are and other vital information
Wildlife Crime Detection
Dogs trained to detect poison as well as combat poaching, illegal trafficking and more
Social Media
Our friends and associates
Meet some of our friends and associates.
Testimonials
I had the pleasure to participate with my dog in February at my first conservation detection training with Louise Wilson of Conservation k9 consultancy organised by Stéphanie Michenaud.
Louise is not only a great professional but also an exceptionnal person ; her learnig method is, as the same time, controlled, precise and respectful of people and dogs. Louise take individual personalities of both human and dogs into consideration. Her process of training enables the dyad to learn with high efficiency and also with great pleasure.
I fully intend to continue the complete training with Louise in order to be able with my dog to join, if possible, a detection project.
I had a great time and my dog too during this first training course and I am impatient to do more.
- Catherine Sadoun-Haillard http://argos-homanimal.com/ 
"I was one of the lucky people who attended the seminar Conservation K9 Consultancy gave in France not long ago and I had the chance to participate in a training that gathered everything I expected: professionalism, generosity, humor, deep commitment, passion, theoretical and practical skills.
Not only Louise knows her subject by heart but she also shares it completely with both humans and dogs. She adapted to whomever she met and tried to help us move on with our dogs, with a lot of respect for both, at all times.
It was not only a great seminar but also a very beautiful human encounter."
I mean every word and will be very glad to see you again !
Have a very good night !
PS: You'll find my logo attached if you need/want it !
- Sasha Goldman Education et comportement canin,Pension familiale,Formations et séminaires, Activités et vacances canines
"I had the pleasure of organizing and hosting Louise of Conservation K9 Consultancy in February for a seminar on Conservation Dogs in France.
This seminar was of great quality: tranmssion of knowledge in term of detection, training, motivation and behaviors, emotions of dogs... Louise is a great professional : teacher, trainer and handler. She is willing to help us make our dogs perform well while taking care of them, being vigilant to their welfare, their emotions. Which is so rare in the working dog world. She is also very attentive and sensitive to human participants, her approach is so brilliant. Her approach is fine and intelligent. I enjoyed this days spend together. I greatly appreciated Louise.
When she came to France, I also had a 121 Consultation to help me in my project to detect bat carcasses. We worked with my three (VERY) different dogs, including a puppy. And it was beautiful, very affecting to follow her proposals, her advices adapted to each of my dogs. Everu time in respect. I learned a lot and loved this moment. I look forward to our next 121 consultation and the next seminar in France !"
- Stephanie Michenaud Affinites Animales, France
Hiring Louise and Luna has added a completely new dimension in the search for pine marten scat in Shropshire. Luna has already demonstrated an amazing ability to not only detect scat, but also identify trails and areas where pine martens have wandered through. There is also a huge amount of interest from the public in our use of a trained scat detection dog and having Luna along has been a great way for us to engage with the public
- Stuart Edmunds (Communications Officer, Shropshire Wildlife Trust)
Louise is the ultimate professional. She is hard working, enthusiastic, had great instincts and curiosity. I would be honored to work with Louise in any circumstances and recommend her highly for any detection or probably ANY work.
- Meg N. Parker
I have used conservation K9 consultancy for some of my John Muir sessions with secondary schools. Louise and her team of dogs are highly engaging and really interesting to go out on a demo with. The session gives pupils a hands on conservation sniffer dog experience and exposes them to an amazing career option. Louise is great at pitching the demo to the level of the group and her enthusiasm for her job and love for the dogs shines though. I would highly recommend an education session with conservation k9 consultancy for a different look into a really important and upcoming conservation tool.
- Hannah Farley (Growing Confidence Project Officer - Shropshire Wildlife Trust)
Louise delivered a educational session as part of a project I was doing with children from a primary school. We were looking for new and innovative ways to engage children with wildlife conservation and Louise offered this. She was engaging with the children from start to finish providing opportunities for the children to get involved at all times. Her demos with the dogs were so informative and the fact the children could interact with the dogs was a bonus. Her passion and level of knowledge came across in abundance and I would recommend her for a new and interesting educational experience, guaranteed to inspire young people.
- Bryony Carter (People and Wildlife Officer - Shropshire Wildlife Trust)
Louise provided incredible support and guidance when I was setting up the CapeNature Conservation Detection Dog Project to work on a live target – the critically endangered geometric tortoise. Her insight and expertise were invaluable and perhaps even more so her enthusiasm and support for this work as this type of detection had not been carried out before in an operational manner. Years down the line I am very grateful and appreciate the professionalism she brings to this field in order that conservation detection work is given the appropriate recognition it deserves worldwide and standards are upheld. Dogs are a passion for many of us. Louise takes this to the next level and gives her all in so many spheres to make a long-term contribution to the betterment of both canines and conservation.
- Vicky Hudson (Ecological co-ordinator, CapeNature)
Throughout the three years of training, Louise was completely dedicated to the project. She proved herself to be a consistently positive and determined person with unlimited enthusiasm. Her extensive experience with detection dogs was clearly apparent and she approached each new challenge with confidence and a host of new ideas. Louise has excellent communication and interpersonal skills which meant the training project was straightforward to establish and develop.
- David Orchard (PhD Student)
Louise has an extraordinary passion for conservation. In 2010 Wagtail established its sister company ‘Conservation Dogs’. Louise was a driving force in helping to establish ‘Conservation Dogs’ within Wagtail UK. With her extensive research, determination and knowledge, she was able to help secure work in both Gabon ad Tanzania - whereby she helped to set up the first dog section in Gabon for the Gabonese Government. This involved the procurement and training of dogs, their handlers and assessing the handlers. This project became a definitive blueprint of a remarkable dog section in Africa. This was thanks to Louise’s hard work and dedication and something that I know Louise is extremely proud of - as am I.
- Collin Singer (Managing Director of Wagtail UK Ltd)
I have had the opportunity and privilege to work with Louise Wilson since 2008 and she has given invaluable guidance and support in setting up a conservation dog unit based in South Africa and working all over Southern Africa. She is, without fail, professional, talented and innovative in her approach. I would recommend her to anyone with a serious interest in conservation detection dogs.
- Rox Brummer (Green Dogs Conservation)
I had the opportunity to meet and be a student of Louise Wilson during the course Detection Madness 2018 in Lugano last weekend.
From the beginning, I appreciated the great energy and expertise of Louise, her technical precision and her incredible experience in the dog world.
She is a super dog trainer and sensitive professionist, her working method is always directed to the well-being of the dog. During the seminar she gave me a lot of ideas and strategies, and she was always able to bring out the best from me and my dog, Naif.
Being able to work with her, with her incredible support, has been a great experience, I returned enriched and stimulated to do even better. Surely it is a great fortune to be able to learn from her.
Thanks very much Louise
- Mirco and Naif Italy Detection Madness Conference 2018 Attendee Switzerland.
I met Louise in Lugano last year, 2017. She wasn't our trainer, but I could speak with her and understand a little bit about her wonderful personality. This year I could happily follow her detection lessons. Louise has strong knowledge and great empathy. She teached us how to reach the best results with the correct attitude to our strenght and weakness. Louise lessons are theory and work, psychology and exercise, positive vibrations and love emotions, for us and our dogs. The best and complete lessons I could ever expect. I have the feeling that my life with dogs just begun and can't go on without her anymore. Nadia
- Detection Madness 2017 and 2018 Switzerland,Substance Detection Student 2018
Louise‘s way of teaching is all about natural indication. Where other trainers go for operant behaviour straight away and struggle to keep the dog’s motivation up in the long run, Louise lays a solid foundation by using classical conditioning and building a strong, positive conditioned emotional response. The only operant behaviour that I saw during the course was, that she went for duration, when the dog was already reliably showing his natural indication.
From the perspective of a pet dog trainer, I have to say, that this kind of positive and cooperative work is superglue for the relationship between dog and guardian!
- Simone Müller, Training4Paws, Qualified dog trainer, Germany
And then you meet a woman who works with all the passion she can give, who spends all her energy, who teaches you with love all the things you need, that understand the dogs at the first glance, that knows how to sew the perfect job for each pair.
A perfect dog trainer, a woman who even when tired, she smiles, smiles, smiles.
Thanks Louise Elizabeth Wilson
And Thanks Michaela Connolly for helping me and Mala, (and for the pictures), for teaching me with so much patience.
- Stefanie Marchitelli Italy
Louise is everything else than greedy with her sharing of her large-scale experiences and knowledge’s in the fields of dog training and scent detection (from substances to conservation). Her wide experience and love for dogs of all breeds, gives her an amazing instinct for how to help every handler-team to get the best out of each individual dog and their team-work.
Her approach is very pedagogical: in fact, at the end of the workshop, each team was given a very detailed personal progress and training plan to follow in the future.
- Yvonne Belin, FCI world champion 2016 in canine freestyle creator and administrator of www.aliceribbon.ch
Absolutely loved this course, can’t believe how fast the course has gone.
Thoroughly enjoyed watching the progress from day 1 to day 5, not just with my own dog but observing other peoples dogs.
I’d love to come back for level 2 and other courses to keep learning and continue on the journey- Its Addictive.
- Ellen Sinclair and Max
This Course has drastically improved my relationship with my dog. Attending the course with a reactive dog I was nervous on how things would progress. However I shouldn’t have worried as Louise’s Knowledge and experience made the whole learning experience fun and stress free.
Turning up on day 1 with my cross Akita Rogue I wasn’t expecting her to do very well at the tasks set out and the first exercise didn’t go well. However Louise trained me on how to be more fun and interact with Rogue.
How to communicate better, by day 5 we were searching warehouses and finding the scent, I can’t believe how far we have progressed.
Thank You Louise
Will See You Again
- Gillian Salmon and Rogue
One of the best courses I’ve been on.
Amazing to see how all the dogs have improved over the 5 days.
Louise is Excellent at knowing different ways to help and encourage each dog and handler.
Good mix of theory and practical sessions.
Lots to work on when we get home- lovely to see how much fun Rufus had.
- Mrs Jo Page and Rufus
Incredibly informative delivered perfectly.
Balanced combination of theory and practical that works excellently for dog and handler. A fantastic 5 days- enlightening, engaging and addictive. No negatives at all many any thanks Louise.
- Clare Davies and Olive
Great Course, Completely positive and encouraging experience. Realistic approach developing confidence is a tricky skill. All dogs would benefit from this type of nose work at some level or another- let your dog be a dog.
Really fab that Louise engaged all day long, through breaks and lunch etc- really felt the love.
Brilliant- Will Be Back
- Collette Coll and Lilo
Reach Us
We are taking on new projects. Drop us a line or call.
Contact Information
- 00 44 7746 410976
- info@conservationk9consultancy.com