Pepin is famous for going to work after just 9 weeks of training, finding 52 scats in a single day.

This candidate must:

• Follow orders
• Be rough, energetic and adventurous
• Travel around the world
• Find things that are nearly impossible to see
• Be willing to ride in the back of a truck and wear a collar
• Run long distances
• Be a fast learner
• Be obsessed with toys
• Be willing to sniff poop
• Get compensated in rope-tugging with benefits such as scratches and belly rubs
• Come from a background of animal shelter living

Yes, the only qualified species is: Dog.

The Job: Working Dog for Conservation.

I saw these dogs in action at the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) Expo in San Francisco in October. The organization, Working Dogs for Conservation and their dog demo with Pepin took center stage during lunch. While Pepin was inside the building schmoozing with the likes of Dr. Jane Goodall, her trainers hid scat in a giant, wide open field area. Once the crowd gathered, Pepin was taken outside, given directions and once released, blasted with determination and blatant glee out into the field. Within 3 minutes she had located the scat and sat proudly next to it, indicating to her trainer that she had done her job; a job that would have taken a human hours.

Being able to find scat helps humans track down various species in the wild and provides needed species conservation information. Deployed conservation dogs have increased scat sample collection rates and have discovered samples that are smaller and more cryptic than people alone are capable of detecting. The working dogs for conservation have found scat of moose, snow leopard, grizzly bear, wolf and cougar, to name a few. The dogs have also been trained to find plants and lost pets and people.

Partnering with dogs is nothing new. Humans have been using the 220 million scent-sensitive cells available for canine olfaction for centuries. These animals are truly man's best friend, but perhaps they are becoming nature's best friend, as well. They certainly deserve to hold this most unusual job.

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Cooper and me saving energy on the couch

Professor Temple Grandin says that dogs are genetic wolves that have co-evolved with humans for 100,000 years, maybe more. Hence dogs and humans have complementary advantages and deficits. Humans used to have a better sense of hearing and smell, now dogs are better than us at those. Humans walk upright and have better vision and organizational skills, so dogs depend on us to see things and try to find them. Both are social creatures. So the lesson is that Nature has bundled the hardware and software for these skills and abilities between the two species. Unbundling them carries certain risks, so you should try to live with a dog if you can.

I agree that dogs and humans are a pretty good combination. Michele and I have had a dog for about a year now. Cooper is a medium-sized Labradoodle, which is a Lab and Poodle mix. He's a great dog and we love him a lot. He's heartbreakingly cute and cuddly. He has a Lab's great disposition and a Poodle's smarts. We think he's the best dog ever.

But, along with being a good partner, is Cooper an energy efficient addition to our household? Are pets, and dogs in particular, a step in the right direction in the battle against global warming and the fight for energy security? Is Underdog more than a cartoon?

I think "bundling" ourselves with animals is a good idea for lots of reasons, but here is why I think dogs are energy efficient:

1.)   Dogs add warmth in the winter and stay outside most of the time in the summer, so they don't add much to a house's cooling load.

2.)   Dogs add fur in the winter and cool themselves using their tongues. Try that, humans!

3.)  When he has nothing to do, Cooper lays down flat as a pancake and barely moves, thereby conserving energy.

4.)  Dogs are great alarm systems and don't even need batteries.

5.)  Dogs eat stuff that humans throw away. They will clean your plates if you let them, saving water and energy.

6.)  Because dogs need to be walked, they cause their owners to exercise, reducing their owners' appetite and therefore their food intake (that's how it's supposed to work).

7.)  Dogs give you unconditional love and so you don't have to drive your car to visit family and friends.

Anybody want to weigh in on cats?

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As special as my relationship with Brodie is to me, I know it's not unique. Many of us know the startling joy of being woken up by a wet nose or a slobbery lick on the cheek early Sunday morning. Everyone who knows and loves dogs will happily tell you about their favorite pooch. The Quest team has Bailey and Carrot and Skinny and Shadow and Bro. We talk about them as we would talk about our children. And even though I haven't met all of the Quest pups, I know them through their favorite people. And that brings me to Quest TV Producer Amy Miller's wonderful German Shepherd dog, Pierre. Pierre was battling cancer as we went into production on this story. Then sadly, by the time we completed this Quest episode, Pierre had been laid to rest. It was a heartbreaking blow to our friend and colleague. And I think all of us felt and understood her loss. Therefore, it is for Pierre that I dedicated this story and now think fondly of all our canine friends past, present and future.

Our time with them is sweet but painfully short. Enjoy every walk, every game of fetch at the park, every romp on the beach and every quiet moment with them curled up under your feet. Put up with their occasional mischievous misdeeds- the drinking out of toilets, getting into the garbage or chewing up your slippers. Remember, they're all good dogs. Smile and scratch them behind the ears. All they give is love and that is all they desire back… that and maybe a little treat.

Watch the Fido Fights Cancer television story online. Also, don't miss our set of behind-the-scenes photos for this story.

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"One of my favorites is this one here," says my host, Senior Wildlife Forensic Specialist Jeff Rodzen, "we have a bird who choked to death on the head of a lizard." Hmm. A favorite? Maybe compared to the others lining the wall: jars filled with parasitic worms, a tule elk fetus, a see-through rabbit where you can see every bone.

Add in the bighorn sheep skull among the modern equipment, and the paws sticking up in the back of the evidence and it made for a surreal day of reporting.

Welcome to the autopsy and necropsy room at the California Fish and Game office in Rancho Cordova, about 12 miles east of Sacramento. This is the place where blood and hair and small fibers from wildlife crime scenes are DNA-matched for all the poaching cases in California.

This is a fascinating place, if a little macabre. And it was the starting point for a QUEST radio story that had many more story lines than I could possibly pursue in one feature.

• I learned about a canine program designed to track down poachers, and an offshoot of that program that actually sniffs out invasive species like Quagga mussels.
• I found out how dangerous the job of Game Warden actually is, and the reasons it’s so hard to recruit new officers.
• And I found out how complicated poaching can become, and how endemic it is in California.
• I discovered there’s a subculture of poaching.

Some poachers hit the country backroads late at night, right after the bars close, and Game Warden Todd Tognazzini said those are the easier ones to catch. But the ones who are good at it use sophisticated communications equipment, night-vision sights on their guns, and small, strong flashlights to stun wild pigs or deer into standing still. This is called "spotlighting." Some poachers will black out their brake lights, run on roads without headlights, and use other ingenious ways to keep a low profile while they illegally hunt wild animals.

Game warden is one of the most dangerous law enforcement jobs around– after all, you're going into a remote area, with no backup, to confront people who are carrying guns and knives. Would any urban police officer do that? There is a dearth of game wardens in California, partly due to decades of budget cuts. Last thing I found: The newest high-tech method of tracking down poachers is actually pretty low-tech. Dogs. A new canine program helps game wardens find illegal animal kills. Not surprisingly, poachers hide their contraband, and it's not easy for game wardens to find it. Lieutenant Kristie Wurster is stationed in Alpine County, near Placerville. She’s one of 18 wardens in the canine-training program, and she uses her dog Wrigley to sniff out illegal fishing and hunting. .

Wurster estimates the dog saves about 800 man-hours of work a year. "We are so small in numbers and we just tip the iceberg of how much poaching is going on," she says. "That’s why I’m so excited about the program, to have another set of eyes and ears – and nose – to be able to detect the issues."

Listen to the "Wildlife CSI" Radio report online, and check out our photo set on Flickr which includes: photos of a game warden at work tracking poachers in the foothills of southern Monterey County, as well as deer, boar, abalone and other illegally killed animals.

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It turns out that human intervention in the form of hundreds of years of dog breeding has created a unique genetic experiment. Because purebred dogs are in essence closed gene pools, it's much easier for scientists to compare of DNA of dogs within a breed. The Canine Behavioral Genetics Project is doing this to find the genes that are associated with behavioral disorders, like anxiety and fear. They also hope to use that information to find the genes in humans that are associated with similar disorders.

Millions of problematic dogs are given up each year in the U.S. And while the UCSF team definitely believes that training is a huge part of dealing with dog behavioral disorders, they're also hoping to understand the genetic influences. Many owners are starting to use medications to help treat these problems, like doggie Prozac. But Melanie Chang, a member of the UCSF team, made a good point to me. Owners tend to think their dog's problems are the owner's fault. Sometimes there are other forces at work.

Listen to "Doggie DNA: Human Genetics through Dogs" online, as well as find additional links and resources. Also, check out the photo set with behind-the-scenes photos.

Lauren Sommer is an Associate Media Producer for QUEST.

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