Agricultural Detector Dog honored by County Board after seven years of service

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors honored agricultural detector dog 'Doomis' with an honorary retirement resolution on Tuesday after seven years of service.

Doomis started his life as a stray dog in Georgia and was in an animal shelter when he was selected by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the National Detector Dog Training Center.

After successfully completing an eight-week training program at the National Dog Training Center in Newnan, Georgia, Doomis started working in California.

Over his seven years of service, Doomis alerted over 43,000 marked and unmarked agricultural parcels with an accuracy rate of over 94% resulting in the interception of 550 actionable pests before they could impact Californians and our economy.

Some of his biggest busts include: Caribbean fruit flies, reniform nematode, pathogens undetected in California at the time, and an assortment of unwanted plant pests and diseases that posed a direct threat to agriculture.

There are approximately a dozen active Dog Teams in California that stand watch at parcel delivery facilities and airfreight terminals protecting food and plant health.

Doomis' replacement, a 19-month-old Labrador named Berty, has already arrived from the National Detector Dog Training Center.

As for Doomis, his watch is now over and he enters retirement planning to enjoy his favorite dog treats, tennis balls, and an endless supply of belly rubs according to his press release.