Pet Remedy backs Dogs4Wildlife to ease stress in working dogs

Pet Remedy has backed Dogs4Wildlife to help keep specialist conservation dogs steady under the pressure of anti-poaching work across Africa. Dogs4Wildlife teams have located more than 3,500 active snares, taken part in more than 500 operational responses and patrolled thousands of kilometres of protected landscapes.

The partnership centers on calming support that works alongside a dog’s natural calming mechanisms without sedating. Pet Remedy’s formula mimics GABA, a natural calming agent present in mammals, reptiles and birds, and it is already used by more than 3,000 veterinary practices and 180 rescue organisations in the UK.

Support is also being extended to conservation partners in Zimbabwe, where Dogs4Wildlife is developing the Working Operational Rescue Dogs programme, or WORD, with Friend Animal Foundation. Seven rescue dogs are currently progressing through the programme, which is designed to identify suitable dogs from rescue backgrounds and develop them into specialist conservation dogs rather than relying only on purpose-bred animals.

Friend Animal Foundation, founded in 1997 by Jean Friend, is Zimbabwe’s largest no-kill animal shelter. It cares for more than 600 dogs and puppies, 300 cats and kittens and more than 100 farmyard animals each month.

Dogs4Wildlife is also preparing conservation-dog deployment in Matusadona National Park. The park is home to elephants, lions, buffalo, hippos and one of the country’s most significant black rhinoceros populations.

Tikki Hywood Foundation is evaluating Pet Remedy products as part of wildlife rehabilitation. The foundation focuses on rescue, rehabilitation and release, with a strong emphasis on pangolin conservation, and the testing includes whether an atomiser could help reduce stress-related behaviours in some species and in cases where maternal stress may contribute to abandonment.