{"id":18564,"date":"2018-04-30T12:03:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T17:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservators-converse.org\/?p=18564"},"modified":"2018-04-30T12:03:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-30T17:03:08","slug":"ecpn-profile-on-riley-the-museum-dog-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/2018\/04\/30\/ecpn-profile-on-riley-the-museum-dog-at-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston\/","title":{"rendered":"ECPN Profile on Riley the Museum Dog at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

ECPN had\u00a0the opportunity to speak with Nicki Luongo, head of Protective Services at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to learn more about a very special four-legged volunteer at the MFA.<\/em><\/p>\n

Riley the Museum Dog<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"1.<\/a>
Photograph \u00a9 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7 Occupation:<\/strong> MFA Volunteer<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Credentials:<\/strong> American Kennel Club S.T.A.R. Puppy program graduate<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Birthday:<\/strong> October 14, 2017<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Ear length:<\/strong> 5\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Favorite MFA artwork:<\/strong> Hugo and Brenda! (Pair of Great Danes, 1907 by Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington. On view in the Calderwood Courtyard)<\/p>\n

\u00b7 Favorite pastime:<\/strong> Rope tug<\/p>\n

\"4.<\/a>
Photograph \u00a9 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

ECPN:\u00a0<\/strong>How did the idea to hire a dog come about in the first place, and does Riley have any special qualities that might make him better than other dogs at helping with integrated pest management (IPM)?<\/em><\/p>\n

Nicki Luongo (NL):\u00a0<\/strong>Discussions between the Conservation and the Department of Protective Services began in fall 2017.\u00a0Weimaraners are very intelligent and have an incredible sense of smell. Riley\u2019s duties as a scent dog at the MFA are well suited to his breed!<\/p>\n

ECPN:\u00a0<\/strong>Have you trained dogs for service or nose work before?<\/em><\/p>\n

NL:\u00a0<\/strong>In my spare time I\u2019ve trained\u00a0working K9’s for many years, so it\u2019s exciting to be able to apply these training skills with Riley to work with the MFA\u2019s conservation team.<\/p>\n

ECPN:\u00a0<\/strong>How many hours a week is Riley expected to be \u201con duty\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

NL:\u00a0<\/strong>Once Riley\u2019s completed his training, he\u2019ll be on duty as needed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ECPN:\u00a0<\/strong>Who cares for Riley on his off-hours? And what are his favorite activities outside of \u201cwork\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

NL:\u00a0<\/strong>Riley lives with me and loves to play hide and seek, rope tug and nap in his free time.<\/p>\n

ECPN:\u00a0<\/strong>How does Riley\u2019s role fit into the MFA\u2019s larger IPM strategy? What other IPM tactics does the MFA currently employ and how will Riley\u2019s role supplement and enhance these protocols?<\/em><\/p>\n

NL:\u00a0<\/strong>In addition to the current conservation protocols we have in place, Riley will act as an additional layer in protecting the Museum\u2019s collection. His extremely sensitive nose can be trained to detect the presence of pests that are hidden from plain view.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"7.<\/a>
Photograph \u00a9 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

ECPN would like to extend sincere thanks to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston for the\u00a0<\/em>paw-some opportunity to learn more about Riley. For more information on Riley, visit\u00a0his\u00a0page\u00a0on the\u00a0MFA’s website:\u00a0https:\/\/www.mfa.org\/about\/riley-the-museum-dog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ECPN had\u00a0the opportunity to speak with Nicki Luongo, head of Protective Services at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to learn more about a very special four-legged volunteer at the MFA. Riley the Museum Dog   \u00b7 Occupation: MFA Volunteer \u00b7 Credentials: American Kennel Club S.T.A.R. Puppy program graduate \u00b7 Birthday: October 14, 2017 \u00b7 … Continue reading “ECPN Profile on Riley the Museum Dog at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[378,824],"class_list":["post-18564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecpn","tag-ecpn-2","tag-preventive-conservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/278"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/resources.culturalheritage.org\/conservators-converse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}