Charles Crane/MDN Finn, a K9 Mussel detection dog, demonstrates his skills locating invasive zebra mussels at the marina in Fort Stevenson State Park on Thursday before the Govenor’s Walleye Cup.

GARRISON — The North Dakota Governor’s Walleye Cup, which was held this past weekend, is the premiere fishing tournament in the region. Over 260 boats were launched by anglers looking to bring a whopper home, but before getting into the water they had to pass the scrutiny of two hardnosed four-legged inspectors named Puddles and Finn.

While most would assume such K9 dogs would be on the prowl for illicit or illegal materials, Puddles and Finn were present at the request of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to detect and prevent zebra and quagga mussels from invading the lakes and rivers of North Dakota.

According to Corp of Engineers Natural Resource Specialist Scott Sterling, boaters in the North Dakota have to be constantly vigilant of such species.

“We have quagga and zebra mussels knocking on our doorstep. We unfortunately have infested lakes on the east side of North Dakota. As we see those impacts, we are really ramping up our efforts here on Sakakawea to prevent an infestation of our own,” Sterling said at a demonstration of the mussel dogs at Fort Stevenson State Park near Garrison on Thursday.

Such invasive mussel infestations can have negative impacts on ecosystems, filtering out algae that native species depend on to survive and are even known to clog the water intakes of hydroelectric power plants.

“It’s all about driving awareness and education to prevent these mussels from spreading. These zebra mussels will destroy our ecosystem, which will destroy our fisheries,” said Sterling, “It’s just as easy cleaning, draining, and drying your marine equipment.”

Puddles and Finn were trained to detect mussels by their handlers in their native Washington, a task that typically takes brief minutes to assess.

“A dog’s nose is up to 100,000 times better at scent detection than a human. We use our dogs not as a replacement for an inspector, but as an enhancement,” said Puddles’ handler Sgt. Pam Taylor, “It’s basically a game for them. The dog will alert on something, and says, ‘hey inspector, you need to take a closer look.'”

According to Taylor, Puddles and Finn, like most of the resource dogs in the program, came from shelters, and were selected to be detection dogs by fitting certain criteria, from friendliness to how energetic they are.

“Finn came to us four months ago. He was actually a street dog in Lafayette, Texas. We have a local trainer working with him and he’s doing a really good job,” Taylor said.

On top of being effective at scrounging for mussels, Taylor finds the dogs are excellent for educating and spreading awareness amongst the public.

“Everybody seems to be really receptive of a dog. You know, they might not know exactly what they do, but they know Puddles works for the Washington Game and Fish and Wildlife,” Taylor concluded.