Chessies are Masters and Commanders of Water, but “Train” proves that the breed is capable of much more. “Train” is a rescued Chesapeake Bay Retriever who has been trained to sniff out the scat of various species in the wild. National Geographic grantee, Karen DeMatteo, helped train “Train” on command to repeatedly and reliably locate the scents of several species of forest predators, many of which are declining in number due to fragmented habitats, illegal hunting, and roadkills. He can search off trails and find evidence under brush that researchers might miss. Consider the first comprehensive survey of bush dogs in Misiones, Argentina that took place in 2011; Train located 34 scat samples that represented 22 individual bush dogs that was a boon to scientists studying this secretive animal. Train’s find provided gold mine of information that included a baseline number of individuals, and which lands they were using. For more information on Train, check out the article here.