Puddles the mussel detection dog is Washington’s new defense against invasive species

As the weather heats up and boaters prepare to cast off, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife professionals are on the lookout for invasive species of mussels that could overtake the state’s waterways.

This year, the department has enlisted the help of a new expert - and her name is Puddles, according to a news release from WDFW. Puddles is Washington’s first mussel-detection dog, who got to work on sniffing out invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels, the release said.

While working at the Washington-Idaho border outside Spokane, Puddles found mussels on a boat from Arizona, according to WDFW. The boat had passed through three boat check stations in Montana and Idaho, where it had previously been decontaminated, the release said.

But Puddles’ nose found what the human eye couldn’t - tiny little mussels on the boat, according to the release. Mussel-detection dogs like Puddles can save states millions of dollars in cleanup, WDFW said.

Washington’s Columbia River is the only basin in the country that is still mussel-free, according to WDFW. If quagga or zebra mussels found their way into the river, they could cost hydroelectric facilities up to $300 million a year, WDFW said.

Puddles came from the Green Dog Project’s “Rescued for a Reason” program in Fresno, California, according to WDFW’s release. She was trained to detect mussels with her nose by Mussel Dogs in Oakdale, California, WDFW said.

Debra DeShon, founder of Mussel Dogs, says quagga and zebra mussels can’t be eradicated once they make their way into a lake or river, the Modesto Bee reported.

“They’re filter feeders, so they change the ecosystem,” DeShon told the Bee. “They eat the Daphnia and plankton that other animals would eat ... that affects fish because that’s what they eat.”