Luna, antivenom dog

Good morning everyone, my name is Luna and I am an anti-poison dog. I would like to
tell my story and my work for all those who do not know me.
But let's start from the beginning. I am a French Brittany Spaniel, a particular breed of hunting dog, used for both pointing and retrieving. My parents are named Lulù and
Bobèt and they are two skilled hunters in the Val di Susa area (To). My
mom is agile, alert, and obedient while my dad was a champion of beauty and work in Italy, as well as the vice-world champion of beauty at a competition held in a distant city called Budapest.

As for me, I am the ugly duckling of the litter. From an aesthetic point of view, I am too tall on my legs, and the color of my eyes is too light. Not to mention my character: I am shy and awkward compared to my more exuberant and playful siblings. We grow happily with mom and dad until the moment comes to leave the family and go live with humans. When a new owner comes to see us, all the puppies come forward, show off exuberantly and confidently. I, on the other hand, stay aside, naturally distrustful. Indeed, no one chooses me, I feel condemned to live forever with my parents...

Until one fine day Gianabele appears. He is dressed in dark green, wearing a pair of heavy leather boots, and later I will find out that he is a Park Ranger for the Protected Areas of the Cozie Alps. He is not interested in my aesthetic appearance, explaining that he wants to turn me into an anti-poison dog, specialized in detecting bait used to kill wolves. My suspicious character is a plus for him! Gianabele takes me home with him, and the white fur patch shaped like a crescent moon on my snout suggests my name to him.

During the first months, he works on my character so that my shyness does not become a limitation. He takes me to crowded places, fairs, to get me used to being in chaos, among people. Then he introduces me to many children to teach me patience. In fact, in a short time my self-esteem grows, and soon I am ready for the most challenging phase of training, the one that will transform me into a... professional!

You probably know that for over 20 years wolves have returned to inhabit the
mountains where I live, where my handler Gianabele works, and the entire Alps.
In fact, since 2013 the European Union has funded a cross-border cooperation project
called Life Wolf Alps, which in its first phase promoted a
series of actions for the conservation of the wolf in the Alps, and in the second phase,
by 2024, aims to improve coexistence between humans and these
particular predators. As you can imagine, it is not an easy job because on one hand we need to protect human activities like shepherding, but on the other hand, it is
important to protect the wolves, whose presence enriches the biodiversity of our mountains.

One of the actions of Life WolfAlps has been to train and use dogs to locate bait poisoned with which certain unscrupulous people try to kill wolves. Some dogs already trained in Spain were introduced in the Alps,
then it was decided to train some locally, and I am the first puppy to have gone through
this process. For my handler, it is a double gamble because the dogs considered most suitable for anti-poison work are generally the Belgian Malinois Shepherd or the Labrador. Instead, Gianabele and I want to show that even a French Brittany Spaniel will be equally effective, if not more.

My training is under the supervision of the trainer Elio Martini who, together with my handler, literally has to invent a working method since neither of them has ever dealt with poison before. Through play and leveraging my most developed sense, namely smell, they teach me to perceive the scent traces of meat that are the bait used to attract the wolf and the substances most commonly used as poison. Humans exploit my predatory instinct that allowed my ancestors to procure food; however, they also teach me not to eat the bait I find, so as not to get poisoned.

But this is also a natural process because, just as it happens among the wolves
I help to save, the pack leader feeds first, then it’s up to the subordinate members. Gianabele has taught me that when I make a find, I must sit and wait. He comes, observes and analyzes carefully, and then rewards me with a piece of sausage. I also signal every dead animal because poisoners really have a great imagination: often the carcasses of wild boar or deer are reconstructed to make the scenario more believable. Once I even found a bait that looked like the lasagna you eat on Sundays, only that instead of tomato sauce, it was filled with a very dangerous substance. Thanks to my sense of smell, I strive to identify all the traces of meat present in an area, then it will be up to the Carabinieri to decide if a more in-depth analysis will be necessary.

I live at home with Gianabele just like any companion dog, but I
cannot just lie down peacefully in my kennel because every day he
organizes activities and exercises to keep me in shape and always ready to intervene.
They are fun games, but the most exciting moment is when I am called for a real intervention. I understand that it’s time to leave just from the excited tone in which Gianabele talks on the phone. During the car journey, I stay focused on what I am going to do. Then, my handler makes me get out and he shouts “search!” at me. At that moment I am the happiest dog in the world because I am putting into practice what nature has taught me.

Some days the work is really much, even if we help each other with Myrtille, the
anti-poison dog of the Metropolitan City of Turin, entrusted to Carlo Geymonat, a hunting guard. I really can't understand what some people have against wolves. They can be a little scary and surely create some discomfort for livestock breeders, but for the number of attacks against humans, my kind, i.e. dogs, are much more dangerous. Especially those that have a beast as an owner...

But at the end of those days spent running around the woods, even though I am exhausted, I see the satisfied face of Gianabele for the finds made, I receive a few affectionate strokes on my coat and a gentle scratch behind my ears, and it feels like I’m touching the sky with my tail.