Have nose, will travel: Hamilton the turtle-finding dachshund teams up with HCT volunteers

Some superheroes soar through the stratosphere. Others, like Hamilton the dachshund, stay close to the ground, using their superpowers to sniff out Eastern box turtles to help scientists keep track of the beautiful reptiles, listed as a Species of Special Concern in Massachusetts.

This week, Harwich Conservation Trust’s (HCT) 2025 Volunteer of the Year, Michael Musnick, teamed up with Hamilton to seek out the shelled wonders.

Musnick, a tireless champion of the Eastern box turtle has spent countless hours in the field over the years, skillfully locating these elusive beauties and outfitting them with radio transmitters to track their movements.

His talent and considerable effort have provided important data to the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife in the effort to protect these turtles that can live up to 100 years in the wild.

While we were waiting for Hamilton to arrive, Musnick quickly located a previously tagged turtle on the property, using a receiver and antenna. But today’s quest was to find turtles that hadn’t been tagged, and affix transmitters to add to the data set.

Box turtles face challenges

Musnick shared all sorts of interesting information about Eastern box turtles. They are terrestrial animals that tend to stay within about half a mile of where they hatch. Box turtles are omnivorous, and dine on a wide variety of foodstuffs, including berries, fruits, earthworms, slugs, mushrooms and insects.

Road mortality and habitat loss are big threats to box turtles. “Farming equipment and mowers can also be terrible for them,” said Musnick.

We asked Musnick about the secret to finding the turtles.

“Dumb luck and persistence,” he said, modestly. “”Box turtles only have one habitat, which is dry land. But they could be anywhere. They like being under patches of huckleberry, or near fallen logs in the debris pile. But most of the turtles I’ve found are just out there — you’re walking along, and suddenly, there’s a turtle.”

Hamilton the dachshund arrives

As if on cue, Hamilton the dachshund arrived, chauffeured by his owner Chuck Annicelli, of North Haven, Connecticut. The diminutive turtle detective barked a few times, then began sniffing around. “He’s like a kid in a candy store,” said Annicelli. “There are a lot of smells here.”

We learned that Hamilton is a mini long-haired dachshund, about eight months old and weighing in at seven pounds. “He was bred by a fairly famous breeder named Teddy Moritz,” said Annicelli.”She’s well-known for breeding the best line of mini longhaired dachshunds for falconry.”

Those dachshunds are bred to flush the bushes and chase rabbits into the open, so hawks can find them.

But Hamilton was trained for another task. “I told Teddy that I wanted a dog that could find box turtles, so she started very young with him,” recalled Annicelli. “She worked with some box turtle shells.”

A tiny dog with a day job

Annicelli said it was tricky to patrol for box turtles in Connecticut with Hamilton, because venomous copperhead snakes are often found in the same spots. But Hamilton has found steady work as a valued employee with Annicelli’s wildlife removal company.

“I’m a Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator in Connecticut, and it can be tough trying to find active holes, for rats or mice or woodchucks,” said Annicelli. “There could be 20 holes, but which one is active? I can walk Hamilton around and he’s going to find the active hole.”

The newly-formed turtle search firm of Hamilton, Annicelli and Musnick headed out onto the property, a forested area of pines, oaks and a variety of underbrush. Hamilton bounced and sniffed, propelling his nose through the landscape on tiny legs. It seemed certain that his autobiography would be titled “The Joy of Smell.”

Alas, after much effort and adventure, no box turtles were found. But Hamilton is a young dog, just getting used to the wide world of aromas. And he’s got excellent training under his very small belt. We have every confidence that this dapper dachshund will soon be a leader in the turtle location game, and look forward to his next HCT appearance.

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