The retirement gifts were stacked on the floor: chews, balls, toys and dental sticks.
And while they aren’t the average thank-you present for 10 years of service, the recipient, Bear, was very grateful.
That’s because Bear is an Australian koolie and, over the last decade, he’s been working hard, saving koalas in exchange for a pat or a game of ball.
“Bear was first found in a pet store. With his tricolour coat and blue eyes, he’s a very pretty dog, and he was snatched up by a couple,” Riana Gardiner, 34, his former handler and now owner, tells New Idea.
“They had him in an apartment and immediately regretted it. He’s a working dog, and he just chewed through everything!”
From there, a few owners trialled the problem pet, but a trainer recognised that Bear’s enormous amount of energy meant he needed a job.
As luck would have it, the Detection Dogs for Conservation (DCC) program at the University of the Sunshine Coast was looking for a pup to train on the scent of koala fur in order to find injured koalas.
Bear was picked for the role.
“There was a lot of hair-pulling as Bear had a lot of behavioural issues. It took about two years to train him for the field, but he was really good at it,” Riana says.
Other koala detection dogs are trained to find koala droppings, called scats, but Bear was the first dog able to identify the actual koala.
By 2017, he was deployed helping rescue groups find sick or injured creatures, and he had a great strike rate.
The highlight of his career, though, was during the Black Summer bushfires over 2019 and 2020, where he spent three months in New South Wales and Victoria looking for, and saving, koalas.
“He was working in areas people had almost given up on, but he was finding two or three koalas a day. He found around 100 in total,” Riana says.
“The world was burning, there was COVID, and everything was terrible, and then someone took photos of Bear, and it blew up. You slap boots on a dog, and everyone goes ‘ahhh’.”
“It was all aligned for him!”
The photo of Bear wearing protective boots was beamed around the world, and even celebs couldn’t resist posting the adorable pooch.
“This is a Disney movie that must be made – the story of Bear, the koala detection dog,” Tom Hanks said.
Leonardo DiCaprio also showcased Bear on his feed and a star was born!
“When we got home after the bushfires we got a lot of calls for Bear for rescues,” Riana, who became one of his handlers in 2020, says.
“We had jobs in Canberra, New South Wales, Far North Queensland and all over the Sunshine Coast.”
“Bear saved many hundreds of koalas over his years in service.”
With strict regulations about how long working dogs can work, Bear officially retired after 10 years of service and now, aged 11, has just hung up his detection boots for a quiet life with Riana.
“He has a sister dog, Luna, who keeps him fit and stimulated, and he loves morning walks and going to the beach.
“He’s a proper pet now,” Riana says.
Although if he sees Riana getting her field gear out, his ears still prick up.
“There’s a glint of him still wanting to work, and I see him trying to search if we go for a bush walk!” she says with a laugh.
As for a replacement for Bear at the DCC, Riana says there are no takers yet.
“Drones have come about, and they are second to none, but they still can’t search in every area,” she says.
“Training a dog is about resources and time, but I think it’s needed, so watch this space.”
