Dogs possess an olfactory aptitude that few animals can rival. With the proper training, they’re known for sniffing out drugs, bombs, bodies, truffles and even cancer.

And if all goes as planned, a trio of black Labradors will soon be on the front lines of Montana’s fight to keep invasive mussels out of the state’s waters.

“Our goal is to have them ready by Memorial Day,” Caryn Miske, the executive director of the Flathead Basin Commission, explained while helping lead two of the “mussel dogs” outside for a detection practice.

Named Ismay and Rosebud, the pair had just returned to Montana after three weeks at a training facility in California — one of just two in the nation that offer the specialized program. The commission doesn’t receive any government funding, and Miske said ConocoPhillips stepped up with a $70,000 grant to fund their training.

Miske hid a tiny vial of dead crushed mussels in the back of a truck while the dogs’ owner and handler, Deb Tirmenstein, led Rosebud out of sight before leading her around the vehicle.

Clad in an orange work vest, Rosebud cased the outside of the truck — first the doors, then over the tires and into the wheel wells, bounding beneath the undercarriage and finally zeroing in on the trunk.

Having found her quarry, she barked triumphantly and pawed at a spot just above the back bumper.

“It takes a certain type of personality,” Tirmenstein said, adding that she’s still trying to get them to simply put their noses to the source. The barking and digging with their paws, she explains, is a carry-over “alert” from their previous jobs as cadaver-sniffing dogs.

“We’re working on a new command — ‘nose,’” she added with a laugh as Rosebud pushed her nose obediently toward the scent. “She’s so darn smart. She picked up on that in about two seconds.”

Miske explained that the training is an intensive process, and few of the candidate mussel dogs make the final cut.

“Even though you think it looks kind of easy sniffing around, it’s actually very mentally challenging,” Miske said. “Ninety percent of the dogs fail out, and those are dogs that are prescreened for the work.”

Most states in the country have already documented cases of zebra or quagga mussels showing up in their waterways. Native to Eurasia, the mollusks were introduced into the Great Lakes area from the ballasts of cargo ships arriving in the United States in the 1980s.

The mussels have no natural predators, reproduce aggressively and are responsible for wrecking public beaches, water supply infrastructure and dam intakes.

Tasked with protecting Flathead Lake’s six-million-acre watershed, Miske’s organization helps to maintain several checkpoints at regional entrance points during the boating season.

When they’re ready, Ismay and Rosebud will assist at the inspection stations at Clearwater Junction and on U.S. 93 in Pablo. A third dog, currently training in Helena, will eventually rotate through the stations in Glacier National Park, Browning and Whitefish Lake’s City Beach.

And while the inspectors operating the checkpoints are trained to locate and identify the tiny, nearly invisible mussel fragments that classify a boat as “mussel-fouled,” it’s not a foolproof system.

“There were a couple boats in Browning that they said, ‘Gosh, we wish we had the dogs,’” she said. “The boats were pretty dirty, but you can only hold them for so long.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.