Popeye, a 5-year-old chocolate lab, loves food but has a special nose for shellfish. The pup is part of a trained team of dogs that sniffs out zebra mussels, quagga mussels and other invasive shellfish -- shellfish that attach to the bottom of boats and travel from lake to lake, wreaking ecological havoc along the way.
By making the rounds of California docks with their trainers, these dogs can detect if something smells shellfishy. "Popeye can sniff a boat in 30 seconds and detect a mussel," says Brad Sherwood, a representative for California's Sonoma County Water Agency, to SF Gate. "It takes 10 to 15 minutes for humans to do it."
Zebra Mussel Dogs