New York City\u2019s drinking water<\/a>, underscoring the agency\u2019s commitment to maintaining the nation\u2019s largest unfiltered supply,\u201d a spokesperson for the city\u2019s Department of Environmental Protection told The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\nPeat sniffs out zebra mussels, an invasive species, with dog handler Arden Blumenthal as they inspect a reservoir in New York on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. NYC Environmental Protection<\/p>\n
The heroic hounds are trained on 14 invasive species and live full time with their dedicated handlers who receive stipends from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, dogs\u2019 sense of smell can be 100,000 times more sensitive than humans\u2019, and they can search for species \u201cnearly impossible to locate with traditional survey methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zebra mussels can clog pipes and alter water chemistry. They reproduce quickly in underwater infrastructure and are tough to find once they take hold, the National Park Service said.<\/p>\n
Peat, a Labrador who lives in Newburgh with program leader Arden Blumenthal, is trained specifically on zebra mussels and was chosen as the reservoir scout to sniff around boat launches, storage areas and shorelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is just a typical boy. He\u2019s sweet and goofy when it\u2019s not work time,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cHe loves a belly rub, but he\u2019s also a seriously persistent workaholic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pup plan began last March, when the DEC awarded a $400,000 contract to the trail conference for \u201cdog services\u201d to detect, delineate and manage invasive species.<\/p>\n
Zebra mussels are an invasive species that can get into the water system and wreak havoc. RLS Photo \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
The dogs protect the Titicus Reservoir in North Salem, N.Y., Daniel Case<\/p>\n
In late September, New York City\u2019s Department of Environmental Protection partnered with the state to search New York\u2019s reservoirs for zebra mussels.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s behind the program\u2019s $400,000 price tag?<\/p>\n
Blumenthal said time is the main cost. The job is physically demanding, and the dogs need to be put through finely-tuned training plans to weather the rough terrain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blumenthal and Peat work as a tight team to keep New York City\u2019s water pure. NYC Environmental Protection<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes time to maintain their training and give them the level of performance that we want them to have,\u201d said Blumenthal, who rewards Peat for his hard work with extra fun time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis paycheck is to get to play with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
So far, three top candidates \u2014 Peat, another Labrador and a Australian cattle dog \u2014 have been trained to serve as the state\u2019s Dogs for Invasive Species Control and have surveyed for invasive species across New York\u2019s parks and waterways.<\/p>\n
The trail conference has plans to add a fourth dog to its pack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Big Apple\u2019s water supply has a new best friend. A team of dogs is helping protect New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4663,6530,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,15473,58,6524,1628],"class_list":["post-363898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-environmental-protection","tag-dogs","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-training","tag-us-news","tag-water","tag-westchester-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}