Tag Archives: sar

Our morning routine

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I love the “days off” i have because the morning routine is so much more fun! First off we sleep in till 6am (which is PRETTY AMAZING!!) then everyone rushes outside for a morning pee and i sit on the back deck taking in the air, trying to decipher if it will be a good day or a rainy one. We then move on in and i make coffee and get some work done on the computer while the pups lay around and chew or fall back asleep on the couch! A few times an hour a long nose will nudge me and one of the shepherds just reminds me they are still around and breakfast is still a necessity.

Oh Kendal!

 

Anna performs a round of ear cleaning and you hear content sighs from all around the living room of the dogs relaxing and succumbing to another day in the Canine Copilot pack. It’s mornings like this which i’m amazed. My dogs are the best, and I know everyone says that but they really are. When asked to go out and do a job, and save a life the girls will step up and perform like pro’s but when asked to “turn off” and lay around with a 6 pound chihuahua in their lap and not eat him…….they are much obliged. My group of dogs is a testament to what you CAN own, if you raise them and teach them that this is the way. I do not believe there are any certain “limitations” that must be put on working dogs and if they are raised correctly and trained properly they can coexist in a large group of other canines and be extremely happy!

 

I swear mom i am just gently "mouthing" his face!

Every little thing she does is magik

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Have you ever had a dog that you think, really, can read your mind and is inside your head? Raina amazes me everyday with how in tune she is to me and to her work. She is like a machine in the field and when watching her you would think she was a horror to live with. I am much happy to report we have learned to teach each our dogs how to “turn off” and raina of course has mastered this skill as well. She is calm and quite in the house (except for when its time to eat!! But we all have 1 flaw right?????) and is ready to go at a moments notice. I never expected such a perfect pup, from the moment i birthed her and she was yellow girl aka mustang sally i think i knew she would be coming home with me. I can safely say she will be my once in a lifetime perfect search dog, as i dont think any puppy could learn the whole game by 4 months old! Raina will be certified at a year old, in October, and will be saving lives like an old timer!

Raina in motion

The end of the world as we know it

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prowl

Honestly i’m to busy in my little doggie filled life to pay attention to what goes on in most the world, but even this news did pop up on my facebook account this morning when i got up. It’s really a shame that people have nothing better to do then make up fictional dates and activities that will never happen. So rather then dwell on any possibility that life as we know it will end i got out and trained some dogs!!!!!!

The main lesson for today was training in the rain is fun!!!!  Well it’s wet at least. All 3 girls plus felix got a short search problem in the rain and thunderstorms that ensued this miserable afternoon. Despite the downpour, thunder, and distant lightning (no one was in danger, we made sure the bad portion of the storms was going around us so we were just able to desensitize the dogs to the sounds and environment without actual danger) everyone did AMAZING. Now in most situations we will not search in sever thunderstorms but it doesn’t hurt to know that the dogs can do it without any hesitation. They know there job and they do it well.

I was extremely proud of abby (who’s indication is a bump, meaning she comes up and slams me on my chest as hard as she can then takes me back to the subject) who not only located the subject in her off trail problem but i had already passed him so she had to come up and slam my back which was the first thing presented to her!!!! We had been working the last few months on getting her to slam me anywhere not just my front so i know that she would alert me no matter what part of my body was closest to her. Way to go Abigail!!!

Foto Friday

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Sit stay in front of the lake

annnnnnnnnd ACTION

I was sleeping

Vacation weekend

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This past weekend Kara from Amigo SAR dogs and I attended a Bill Dotson workshop up in Skaneateles New York. It was a pretty dreary wet weekend but we made the most of it. The weekend was a lot of classroom work and it was a wealth of knowledge. Bill is a great guy and one of the guys who started it all with search and rescue in the 1970’s. He absolutely loved the way Raina worked and i was one proud handler.

Feedback time

Every morning and evening we took everyone on long walks around Skaneateles which was  great socialization and desensitization for them. I brought Raina to work the seminar and Abby to keep an eye on her recovery so she was able to tag along on all the walks too. Kara brought Felix the GSD Life Long Tails got a few months ago who we wanted to place in a working home. All three did fantastic downtown even during the busy night hours.

Everyone did great in the hotel room and were on their best behavior at the seminar, no barking or complaining even with being in there crates a lot during classtime.  I have to say we have the best behaved dogs!

No fear of heights mom

I usually only attend a seminar every year but i always take a lot away from it and this time was no exception! I hope before the summer is up to visit Bill and his training facility in Virginia!

   

Girls on the Pier

   

Both girls in front of the lake

And another one bites the dust

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Another weekend gone by. I really don’t know how they go this fast anymore. It’s been a stressful weekend with Abby up at Cornell sick with no direct answer yet as to why. I know they are taking good care of her but i’m still a wreck especially because she is puzzling all the doctors there with her abnormal anatomy in her abdomen!

ready for the command

With the nice weather Kara and I have been able to get up to the state land behind my house and work the girls almost everyday. Erik is amazing enough to hide for us all the time and i’m pretty sure Raina has a crush on him!

pullllllll

We have been working on building raina’s nose time in her search problems and placing the subject in heavy brush. Her third test will be a 30 acre heavy brush test which will be one of our hardest! I have been doing blind problems on a regular basis so that i know how to read my dog in all terrain and wind conditions. Raina has taught me so much these last few months!

Eme is also working on some nose time, as well as getting her bark as strong as her sisters. She has always been a thinker and i see it now more then anything. She needs to fully understand what she is doing to get it down, but when she does there is no fault in the process at all. Once her barking starts she delivers the full out bark and bounce just like her daddy Quax!

Alerting to the find

The time is flying by, and i cannot believe its already may. We have a lot to cover before the summer is up and many more tests to tackle so we can get the girls fully operational! This weekend will be a nice break when we attend a Bill Dotson seminar up in the finger lakes area of New York. He is a SAR legend and i’m sure i and the girls will learn a lot from him!