Australia’s First Biosecurity Detector Dog Handlers Part 1: Learning on the Fly
Casey Baines:
Hello everybody and welcome once again to Detect and Protect, the Australian biosecurity podcast. I am your guest host; Casey Baines and today we’ll be diving right back into our very special series celebrating last year’s 30th anniversary of the biosecurity detector dog program. The program plays a vital role in the interception of biosecurity risks in the airport, mail, and cargo environments. The detector dog’s excellent agility and super noses make them one our most effective and loveable detection methods.
To celebrate the milestone, we reached out to some of the departments very first biosecurity detector dog handlers to hear some stories during their time in the program.
Our guest for today’s podcast is Rachel Holdforth.
The program started with 2 detector dog handlers with Rachel in Sydney and Harry Smithard (who will be in our next episode) in Brisbane.
Rachel talks us through the initial pairing of detector dogs with handlers, matching dog and handler personalities to form the best teams possible. Rachel also talks through her initial training and learning on the fly to effectively deploy detector dogs in the infancy of the program.
Ok enough from me! Let’s jump into the interview!
What drew you into the role and how you joined the program?
Rachel Holdforth:
I think it was in 1991, there was an expression of interest that came out about a new program that was starting with the department, which was using dog detector dogs to find risk items at the airport. And initially, I dismissed it, but then a couple of colleagues of mine said I should apply. So I did. And then I got that I was selected to do that training and that started in then 2000, no it didn’t, in 1992.
So there was initially three handlers that were selected, one in Melbourne, one in Sydney, one in Brisbane, for the pilot program.
Casey Baines:
I thought it was only you and Harry, there was someone down in Melbourne as well?
Rachel Holdforth:
Well, there was three, but one person didn’t make it through the training. And so then just left Harry Smithard and myself. One in Brisbane and one in Sydney. Yeah.
Casey Baines:
And you mentioned that initially didn’t particularly think about applying. Was that just it was the change or was there something that.
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh no. It was mainly just maybe me not.
Casey Baines:
Not certain about it?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh, I just probably didn’t think I was capable of doing it or. Or eligible to do it or.
Casey Baines:
Of how wonderful everyone that I’ve talked to so far has said you’ve been and the whole program has been. So what do you think made being handler so interesting?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh, well, for me well, for working with the dog for a start is, is great. And it was very confidence boosting for me because I wasn’t a very outgoing person. And then suddenly I think at the time when I just when I started the job, I didn’t realise it was going to be so in the public eye as then it was.
So there was that aspect to it. But there was also the just working with the dog. And for me, I particularly enjoy animal behaviour. So it was really interesting working with the dog and observing the behaviour and then learning more about animal and dog behaviour and people behaviour as well.
Casey Baines:
Yeah, because I guess particularly here in Australia, we didn’t have any like prior knowledge of how the public was going to react to a dog being there.
Rachel Holdforth:
And of course, at the airport, the dog worked. We worked around the carousel. So we were in amongst thousands of people every day. So it was a really good, we had to make sure that the dog was safe at all times. And of course, many people loved the dog. But then, of course, there was other people that were frightened and there was other people where a dog is culturally frowned upon they’re unclean. So I learned a lot about other cultures and people’s behaviour and dog behaviour.
Casey Baines:
Very cool. So I know you probably had lots of people ask you about your time and probably ask you this question a lot. But is there one specific story that you think back on as the handler that you have a go to? When people ask?
Rachel Holdforth:
Well, that’s there’s lots because it was, you know, there’s good finds, stories and there’s you know, that the never work with animals and children stories where sometimes things didn’t quite go to plan. So I don’t know, Do you want to know one of those? I don’t know which one, but maybe both.
Casey Baines:
Yeah, maybe both. One interesting find and one story about difficulties maybe?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh, gosh, there’s something interesting finds. I suppose one significant one was that once I was working her, working Melody around the carousel and she didn’t respond with the classic sit response, which is what they were supposed to do. But she was particularly interested. She scented something that she was particularly interested in this bag. And I found six live penny turtles in a in someone’s luggage, which was they were moving from Hong Kong.
And of course, they’re a common pet in Asia, these little tiny turtles. So she found these things in the bag. And so that was great because we had done initially, we weren’t we didn’t do reptile training. But as it progressed, we did get the opportunity to do some reptile training with snake skins and things.
And although it wasn’t, it wasn’t a snake skin or a snake, it was these little turtles. And then and another one, which is not a big find, but sometimes when you’re working the dog, you would, they would catch scent of something and follow it. And so you would go with them. And she was very interested in this lady.
And so and sat next to this lady. And she was, the lady was standing there with a handbag, she didn’t have any luggage because she was waiting for her luggage. But in her pocket she had an Aloe Vera leaf that she’d put in a top pocket that she was using on the plane to put on a skin. And the dog had had smelt that and alerted me to the fact this lady had something in her top pocket of her blouse. So that was a really good find as well.
Casey Baines:
Amazing how it doesn’t have to be anything big, or like a whole chunk of meat, just a little leaf in someone’s pocket.
Rachel Holdforth:
Those sometimes those things were more rewarding than finding the usual apple in someone’s bag because it was something that would have probably just gone out the door without being detected, without the dog finding it. And, and then the other, you know, beagles are particularly good at escaping. They’re renowned for being a bit naughty.
So even though people used to think that dogs were incredibly well behaved and easily trained they’re actually not, and they do anything for a piece of food. So in the early days, I did a lot of public relations exercises. So one of those was to do a demonstration at a Probus Club meeting in Bondi Junction. So I had to go to a hall and it was quite a, they were quite involved those things, where I’d have to take the dog, put the dog in a crate, take some bags up to the stage or wherever you’re doing it, set it up, set up an apple or something in the bag for the dog to find things. And I had the dog in the crate in this back room and I was always acutely aware that this dog, of course, was, you know, there was only two in Australia and they were very valuable and worth thousands and, and a lot of time. And anyway I went back to the crate to get her and she’d gone and I, oh I was in such a panic and so I had to sort of think where, oh my god, you know, where she’d gone? I knew she hadn’t gone downstairs, I thought, where would she be? Where would she be? And then the back of the room it was like an auditorium, in the back of the auditorium was a big table with some morning tea set up. So I went and looked under the table. She was under the table, under the tablecloth.
Fortunately she wasn’t on the table. But anyway, I found her. But you know, there was things like that. And after that I always clipped the cage because she’d learned how to. She just would flick the clip on the cage. She’d learned how to get out. So she was yes, she was pretty naughty that way. But they were probably they were probably the worst of that was probably the worst thing where I thought I’d lost her. I don’t know how I would have explained that one anyway.
Casey Baines:
Yeah. So you mentioned, you dog was Melody and that she was a beagle. Was she the only dog you worked with and if so, did you have any quirks or anything about her that you particularly liked?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh, she wasn’t the only dog I worked with. I also I worked with another dog called Gus, who had been assigned to another handler and it hadn’t really worked out. So I took him on for a time and I work both dogs and of course they were very different. And Melody was always, when we got our dogs, we were kind of matched with the dogs.
So the, Colvin who came from America, he sort of matched us with our personalities, with the dogs. So Melody was fairly she was fairly quiet and fairly determined with what she was doing. She’d get overly excited. She used to just go round. Sometimes she’d have to sort of like hurry along because she liked taking her time. So she’s probably a bit like me.
Whereas Harold’s dog Winston, he was. He was just. He was just a go getter. He was out there and he was strutting around trying to find something. And then the other little dog I got was Gus, and he was like a beagle cross. And he was very different. He was he was just busting to please. He just couldn’t he couldn’t do enough for you. To try and get a reward or to find something. So yes, he was very different. And so it was good to have that experience with working two different dogs.
Casey Baines:
Yeah cool. So when you think about your time and obviously recently the department’s just done an external recruitment round for handlers, the first time in a very long time, can you think of some attributes or something that really makes a good detector dog handler?
Rachel Holdforth:
Well, you have to be able to understand. I guess you have to really observe dog behaviour and be observing your dog, because whatever you do, really the dog is focused on, even though they’re dogs working, they’re really focused on what you’re doing. So what you can do can sometimes cue the dog to behave a certain way. So you really have to have an understanding of dog behaviour.
And also, I guess in that biosecurity space, you’d have to have an idea of biosecurity. And I think, I don’t know, really problem solving because the whole time you’re problem solving. Why is that dog doing this was suddenly today started to do that so, yep.
Casey Baines:
Yeah it’s really interesting because well the way I see it, the dogs are innately curious and to be part of that team as a handler and dog, you have to be innately curious as well to try and figure out what scent they’re trying to find.
Rachel Holdforth:
Yes. And you have to be committed of course. You can’t just not want to do a good job and I just, ‘I don’t feel like doing it today’. So you know, you have a dog, so you have to be there every day and you have to be very consistent with the way you go about your work.
Casey Baines:
Yeah, true. When you talk about consistency, can you run us through what your day looked like from starting to finishing, as a handler?
Rachel Holdforth:
Yes. Well, initially, initially when I first had Melody and we moved to Sydney, it was very difficult, with kennelling, we didn’t have kennel facilities. So initially she stayed at the customs kennels, so border force. They were they were great, the handlers, because I used to have to go there, it was a secure compound. It was kind of an underground kennel for noise because it was in a residential area or semi rent residential area. So I was given permission to go in there to get her. So I used to have to go there in the morning and pick her up. They had a kennel hand that cleaned out the kennels, but later on we had other kennel facilities where I would clean out. You’d have to clean out the kennels before you left in the morning.
Then I would take her into the airport and we would just work. The idea was that you would work flights as they came in the whole flight try and capture as many passengers as you could and we would sometimes do the high risk flights and sometimes flights that were perhaps not deemed to be high risk just to see if we could find anything.
Then I would take her, sometimes she would have a little break because you can’t work them, you know, eight and a half hours in a day. And there was an area outside at the airport. I could take it down across the tarmac and there was little area where she could go out to the toilet and have a toilet break and things like that.
And then I would take her back to the kennel at night and then sometimes on the weekend I would, or on my RDOs, because rather than have her in the kennel for four days straight or something, I would take her and down the road from where she was, kennelled with, with the Australian Border Force, there was this like a dog beach where you can take the dog for a walk on the beach. So I take her for a walk because it’s good to take them out so they’re not working all the time, keeps them interested and keeps them fresh.
Casey Baines:
Was that like a standard practice? Or was that just something that you enjoyed?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh, it was encouraged. It was encouraged our trainer encouraged that, you know you shouldn’t, the dog is not it’s not a robot. So you have to allow it to be a dog. So that was something that I did occasionally just to take her out too, so she had an outing outside of work.
Casey Baines:
And a very cool and obviously you’re still with the department. When you think back of that time as a handler, do you think it prepared yourself well for your progression through the department? And is there anything in particular that you think has come because you were handler?
Rachel Holdforth:
I’d say resilience. Well, I probably would have still liked to be a handler, but I’m not. So I would say that you just sometimes things don’t work out how you’d like and you just have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and move on. And certainly problem solving skills. I guess really these days, you know, I focus not on, well I still use animal behaviour skills at home, but people skills. I learned a lot during that period because I became a team leader whilst I was a dog handler. So that was a long time ago. But I learned a lot by becoming a team leader in that role and then I’ll continue along the way.
Casey Baines:
You mentioned you really enjoy understanding animal behaviours. Did you ever get a detective dog rehomed to you? And if not, do you have pets yourself that you keep now?
Rachel Holdforth:
No, Melody didn’t. She was never rehoused. She stayed at the kennel and I think because she was the first detector dog. At the time when she when she retired, she stayed at the kennel and there was another little dog, Jess, who also was retiring. I think, I don’t know if it was the same time, but she was she was also at the kennel and Dee used to work, Jess, and they just hung out together for the rest of their days at the kennel.
Casey Baines:
Cute little couple, I like it! They were most of the questions that I had before I got to my last few though, is there anything in particular that you wanted to point out to reflect on for the 30th anniversary? Because it’s a big milestone.
Rachel Holdforth:
Yeah, it is. No not really, only that it’s great that the program has gone on for 30 years. I had no doubt that it would continue because it was always successful, not only because the dogs were very successful in finding goods, prohibited goods, but also because they are they raised so much attention to that, to what was quarantine then, but to biosecurity awareness. And yeah, I believe it was very successful.
Casey Baines:
Very much so. Yeah. And you mentioned you did some public relations appearances, things like that. Do you have one really special event or one person that you get to meet because you were a handler or anything like that that you can think of?
Rachel Holdforth:
Oh yeah, I did a lot. I did lots of television shows. I went on, you know, morning TV. I met Kerri-Anne Kennerley on morning TV. I went on the Shaun Sheep Show and talked to a puppet for half an hour and Melody was very interested in the puppets. I had to keep stopping it from chewing the puppet. What else did I do?
And of course, around the carousel, you sometimes meet people. Yes. And I also, you know, in the early stages with the program, I met Alan Griffiths who was the Minister for Agriculture at that time. He came out to the airport and watch Melody work and talk to me about the program. So that was that was exciting too.
Casey Baines:
Oh yeah. It’s such a high-profile role and it’s always got the benefit of being the public facing. That’s what people see when they come in at the airports, seaports, and such a cute and welcoming. I guess that’s probably something as well, right? Because you had a dog. Did you find travellers were more open to you or were drawn to you?
Rachel Holdforth:
Some were, some weren’t. Some like dogs. Some were offended that the dog ate a to their bag. So it took on. That’s where the people part of it comes into it. It took a while to just to work out the best way to manage certain circumstances. And of course, I often after a little while it became routine that certain people behaved in certain ways and then I was able to adjust the way I behaved or spoke to them. So to get the best out of people or to get the information I needed and then move on to the next person, sometimes it was like being the Pied Piper. Sometimes you’d end up with half a dozen children running around behind you, around the carousel. And I feel like thinking “Where are your parents?” Could you go back to your parents? Because it’s hard. I had once this child just latched onto the dog, I couldn’t get him off he was holding onto her ears and cuddling her and things. So I, you know, so there was all sorts of situations like that where we had to try and just dealing with the dog.
Casey Baines:
Yeah, it’s a bit difficult because after that 12-hour or 15-hour flight parents probably just they go look at that.
Rachel Holdforth:
Just go have a run around.
Casey Baines:
And Melody’s a working dog and she’s there to work.
Rachel Holdforth:
So yeah, she was good though because she could she was so focused on what she was doing really. She was oblivious to the people that these children were running behind her. She was just wanting to do his thing. So but it was trying to just keep her, well and also protecting them because there was because there was so much activity and they’re so tiny you had to watch that they didn’t get their tail run over or trodden on or a bag dropped on them or something like that. So there was a lot of other there’s a lot of things. It was I thinking about it and I was thinking it was kind of like learning to drive. It was like learning to drive a manual car where you have to know all that. You have to know all the road rules and how, what gear to use and where the brake was. And so it’s like I can only liken it to that where there was just so many other things other than just finding an apple in a bag, there was so many other things you had to focus on. So yeah, well, it was exciting though.
Casey Baines:
Very exciting and very cool. Ok, very conscious that you’re very busy. So I’ll finish with one last question. Do you have any advice for someone who might want to be a detector dog handler in the future?
Rachel Holdforth:
Only don’t think that it’s just that, the perception is that that dog handlers just walk around holding the lead. And it’s not like that at all. It’s, it’s hard work. It’s but it’s enjoyable. So if you put the work in and the training in because the dog, although the dog’s trained, it’s not it’s an ongoing process. You’re always doing training. And so if you put in the hard work and the training and then you’ll get results. But it’s not it’s not the dog doesn’t do the work you do.
Casey Baines:
Yeah for sure and it’s always an ongoing process.
Rachel Holdforth:
It’s an ongoing process and every day’s different. Like one day the dog will be behaving perfectly and the next day it’s doing something that you think, “Why are you doing that?” I don’t understand what you’re doing. And then you have to try and work it out. And in the early days, it was just Harold and myself. So sometimes we’d have to get on the phone and try and nut out what was going on and, but yes, you have to put in the hard work.
Casey Baines:
Yeah. And you definitely did start it off and I know now that we have so many more handlers, there’s a bit more of a network. And if something doesn’t go right, you have lots of people you can turn to. It must have been tricky for you and Harry trying to figure that out.
Rachel Holdforth:
Yes, it was initially, especially when now trying to wait. But of course, we had Bob Sterling, who was always he was our manager and he was always he just he just lived for the job. He was great I could ring him any time of the day or night and he would answer and try and of course, things didn’t often go smoothly. So he was always there to back you up or patch things up or help you out or as best he could. So that was good.
But I also had, you know, experience because it was early when the program started to extend. We had to do we had to source new dogs. And so I did a lot of that with Bob and then of course, the active program started. That’s I was still a dog handler then, so I had an initial interaction with that process as well. So yeah, it was quite exciting really.
Casey Baines:
And you just for the recording really can you outline what the active program was and were you part of the team that selected the active dogs?
Rachel Holdforth:
I no, I didn’t select active dogs. I wasn’t involved in the beagles, but I had I was involved in the initial active process only because I worked with some of those handlers that were active dog handlers and they didn’t use beagles. They were using other dogs so they were using they had like a Spaniel cross and some Labradors and things like that were used. Because they are a bigger dog and they have to work on a conveyor belt or in it’s like at the mail centres so it was a very different environment. Of course they did an active response, whereas the beagles were passive response. So they were trying to sit at the end when they found something the active dogs were they, they reward this play not food. So they, the active dogs had dummies that they would play tug of war reward the dogs that way.
So yes, I had initially an issue that was starting, but then I went I was having my second baby, so I left then to go and have my second baby and then that was it after that.
Casey Baines:
And from what you saw, it, obviously there are different benefits to play in to food. Was the active response program more that you could find dogs that, that suited for versus the beagles were particularly food driven.
Rachel Holdforth:
Um maybe I guess I don’t know. I’d say it was probably the same. I mean, we did find a lot of beagles, but sometimes they weren’t necessarily suitable, but we did find some. And of course people would get Beagle thinking they were cute, well-behaved, and of course, by the time they broke their back garden, they didn’t want them anymore so there was often beagles available to trial. And but I didn’t I didn’t go out looking at the active dogs that that wasn’t part of my role. I only did sourcing beagles.
Casey Baines:
Well, I think that’s everything that I had. A huge thank you again for taking some time out of your day. We’ve got some 30th anniversary merch, that’s due to come soon. So we’ll be sending a show bag as a little thank you.
Rachel Holdforth:
Ok.
Casey Baines:
Thanks very much for taking some time out of your day.
Rachel Holdforth:
Thanks for talking to me. Ok. Ok. See you then. Bye.
Casey Baines:
I hope you have enjoyed today’s episode of Detect and Protect. You can find our more information on the department’s website or by visiting biosecurity.gov.au. Make sure you subscribe to our podcast series to get updates on future topics and learn more about Australian biosecurity. Also be sure to follow us on our social media pages. Thanks very much for listening everybody. And we will catch you on the next episode of Detect and Protect.