Tournament boat inspections by Mussel Dogs

musseldogs · Post by **musseldogs** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:49 am

We are a company with dogs that detect quagga and zebra mussels. The dogs can detect the mussels from the ground with out entering the boat. I was interested in feedback on if fisherman in tournaments would consider having a team follow them around from tournament to tournament to inspect their boats and clear them as opposed to having to deal with different regulations at each body of water. This would of course take groundwork for me to get the lakes to accept our inspections as adequate. Thank you for your feedback! http://www.musseldogs.info

midnightbite · Post by **midnightbite** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:18 pm

Looking at the video on your site, and I see dogs sniffing out the mature mussels, which you'll never find on any tournament angler's bass boat.

The big question: Can your dogs sniff out the mussel larvae?

If so, sounds like a great solution to me.

(edited for "mussel" vs "muscle")

Topwater Terry · Post by **Topwater Terry** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:48 pm

Yeah, the big part would getting the boneheads that run Diamond Valley, and especially Casitas, to accept this...fat chance, but it is a nice thought...by the way, what about ski and wakeboard boat sniffing dogs?

musseldogs · Post by **musseldogs** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 4:25 pm

At this point there is no way to test or say that the dogs can find the veligers (humans can't either). Luckily they are much more fragile and should be eliminated with the thorough CLEAN, DRAIN and DRY that I am sure you already perform. The benefit of the dogs is that when an inspection is required they can smell the mussels where the eye can't see and they take a fraction of the time to inspect the vessel.

PS...the dog doesn't care if it is a boat for fishing, waterskiing or sunbathing!

Tin Can · Post by **Tin Can** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:41 am

If the dogs can't find veligers, there really is no point. Humans can clearly see adult mussels, why would we need a dog to tell us something that we can see is there? The only boats that have adult mussels attached to them have been in infested waters for an extended period of time. They aren't going to attch to your boat in a day, bass boats aren't usually left in the water for extended periods of time.

midnightbite · Post by **midnightbite** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 11:07 am

musseldogs ... make it your goal in life to prove that your dogs can sniff out the veligers. We've practically proven that dogs can smell cancer cells in urine, so a little mussel veliger should be a walk in the park

Scoop up a test tube full of water from Havasu, put it under a microscope to confirm presence of veligers and get your dog training under way.

If you're trying to solve this problem for the fishing and pleasure boating community in California, you have to understand that the Clean, Drain, and Dry requirement and its associated inspections of widely varying degrees across California waters actually IS the problem. Right now, those of us who only fish clean lakes and those of us who take extreme care to disinfect, clean and dry our boats after leaving potentially infected waters are subjected to boat inspections and run the risk of long term boat quarantine upon inspection failure (failures which can include making the mistake of putting an ice bag in your live well before you travel to the lake, for example).

So what we all need is for your dogs to have enough veliger sniffing credibility to give those of us that deserve it a clean bill of health and hassle free entry to our public waters.

Best of luck ... I actually think your dogs could be the only hope we have for a LOGICAL solution to this problem. What's happening right now with some of these inspections most certainly defies logic.

-Dax

musseldogs · Post by **musseldogs** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 12:01 pm

Thank you Dax.....I will do just that (it will take some time). I understand the frustration in the lack of consistency in inspections and am attempting to make these inspections, where they are required, as quick AND efficient as possible. I feel it is just a matter of time until all boaters will be required to have inspections before launching. My goal is to cut down in the time of the inspections and being more efficient.

The input that I am getting here will help me to see where Mussel Dogs can help,
http://www.musseldogs.info

Big Ed · Post by **Big Ed** » Fri Jun 10, 2011 3:41 pm

"A friend of mine" fished Havasu for a week and had his boat in the water over four and a half days.

Day and a half later at the launch ramp in town had DFG Quagga dogs walk around sniff a little and that was it?

Not sure, Hmm; Big Ed!

musseldogs · Post by **musseldogs** » Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:20 pm

I have an update....even if it is 3 years later. We did a study to see if the dogs could find the veligers. We are currently in the process of having the study reviewed to be published. We found that the dogs CAN find the veligers. There of course will need to be more studies in the field arena before it is completely accepted.