magazine

Nicholson agrees. “The clients are absolutely
amazed when they see what we can do.
What it does for the clients, instead of having
to dig up 100 miles of pipeline and they
don’t know exactly where that leak is—we
actually pinpoint exactly where the leak is
coming from. Our trained dogs can detect
vapor on a molecular level that far exceeds
any mechanical bio-detection device.”
Word seems to be spreading about the
effectiveness of using animals to detect
leaks. In addition to the inquiries he gets
from across North America, Nicholson
says he has begun to get inquiries from
overseas.
For now, he says the operation will
have to remain on the continent because,
even though it’s environmentally-friendly,
the chemical odorant isn’t permitted to be
transported by air. So, any time they get
a call for a job, they load up their fleet of
vehicles and hit the road.
And Nicholson says that’s the cue for
his team of furry employees to get ready
for another day on the job.
“When they know it’s time to go to
work, they’re nuts,” he laughs. “We have
a two- run indoor kennel facility, and the
worst thing you could do to them is pull up
the van and not let them go in, because they
think they’re getting to go to work!”
GET TO KNOW OUR EXPERTS
PARIS NICHOLSON
Chairman and CEO of K9 Pipeline Oil Detection, K9
Pipeline Training Academy and K9 On Patrol Security, Paris
Nicholson has been working intimately with dogs for the past
three decades. He spent time as head trainer with the United
States Virgin Islands Police Department K9 Unit before starting
his own security guard agency.
Nicholson is also certified with the Detroit Police Department
in the areas of narcotic and explosive detection, as well
as with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. His focus
is now in the area of leak detection on oil patches, which
he says is no different than his time in policing. The bottom
line, he says, is picking the right dogs.
“We pick them for their drive. We’re all ex-law enforcement—the guys who work in
the company—so, we know how the animals need to be. And when our clients see it, they
absolutely can’t believe it.”
BILL ALLEN
For a decade and a half, Bill Allen has been working with dogs and taking advantage
of their extraordinary sense of smell. It was 15 years ago when Allen moved from Alberta,
Canada to the province of Saskatchewan and realized his search and rescue dog no longer had
much work to do. He had heard about dogs that detected underground line leaks, so he and
his pup took their work in another direction.
Allen now employs three dogs (Kaaxan, Rider and Ruff), who are all masters at leak detection.
Although he’s highly successful at his work, Allen is humble about being called a specialist.
“It’s specialty in the sense that not many people do it. I’m just using the dogs and their
noses to do exactly what they’re designed for, which is to find things.”
58 The Official Publication of the North Dakota Association of Oil & Gas Producing Counties