Kennebunk dogs learn to find invasive species

Melissa McCue-McGrath grew up in Midcoast Maine in a family she affectionately calls an “accidental sled dog” family.

Her family helped a man training for the Iditarod sled dog race in Alaska, and when he finished the race, he dropped all 10 sled dogs at McCue-McGrath’s family house and promptly moved to Florida.

They never heard from the man again, and McCue-McGrath grew up with 10 dogs running around her family’s property.

Fast forward many years later, when McCue-McGrath earned a degree in psychology, learning theory, and behavior.

As a dog lover, she applied her learning to a rescue dog from a shelter who had serious behavior problems.

Raising her dog led McCue-McGrath to dog training.

“I fell haphazardly into this work over 20 years ago, and I’ve been very fortunate to do something I love every day,” she told the Post.

In April of 2023, McCue-McGrath learned about a study conducted by researchers at Texas Tech and Virginia Tech that would ask the question: could pet dogs around the country be trained to identify the invasive spotted lanternfly?

Immediately interested, McCue-McGrath and six volunteer dogs joined the second cohort and set out to answer the scientific question.

Through associative learning where the dogs were rewarded with their favorite treat if they managed to identify the spotted lantern fly, each of McCue-McGrath’s six dogs were able to learn how to identify the species.

“We saw a lot of success,” McCue-McGrath said.

It doesn’t matter what kind of dog is trained, she said. Four of the dogs were mixed breeds, and two were pure-bred.

All completed their training successfully.

“We knew the dogs could do it going in,” McCue-McGrath said.

After a year of research, McCue-McGrath finally sent her results in to the universities last month. Now, she’s hoping the trained dogs can be used to identify the spotted lantern fly.

When the lantern fly lays eggs, the eggs create a black mold that kills crops. It looks like mud, McCue-McGrath said, and can easily be mistaken for mud.

The trained dogs could be used to identify the “mud” on pallets at ports, or even on vehicles at the Kennebunk rest stops.

“Once the flies cross the border, they’re here,” McCue-McGrath said. “If we could get these dogs on these cars as they’re coming in, we could potentially stop it in its tracks.”

Over the next couple of weeks, McCue-McGrath will host talks around the Kennebunk community on her year-long research.

On Oct. 10, a talk at the Wells Reserve touch4f on the research project itself and the effect of climate change on invasive species.

McCue-McGrath will also speak at Kennebunk Free Library on Oct. 15, where two dogs will give a live presentation on what it looks like for them to find the invasive spotted lantern fly.

“I want to give credit to all the dogs that pushed through and did the work,” McCue-McGrath said.

Both events are free and open to the public, though donations are encouraged.

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