Today’s flashback friday post for this wonderful friday the 13th of December! We are featuring K9 Max and handler Buddy and K9 Emeline and handler Jenn at a 2010 disaster workshop. Enjoy!!!
K9 Emeline and Jenn getting ready to do a send out for a directional
K9 Max and Buddy working directional excercises
In light of the recent weather (which has stunk!) i figured it was ironic i found an old memory card full of pictures from this January and the winter. Enjoy this cold flashback and i hope we do not have another one for MONTHS!!!
The eyes that melt my heart
The summer always seems to bring about a busy time, between dog training, kid training, searches (which we have had keep us busy this last week or so) and the ever necessary paperwork that surrounds it all (which i am currently drowning in) a relaxing weekend is just not in the cards.
This past weekend was no different. Saturday the plans were to load up the dogs and finish out a search that we had attended last week in Rockaway NJ. It was called off after the subject was located on friday. Raina’s alerts had proven to be correct in our area that we searched thursday, he was found outside our search area but within half a mile attributing to her long distant scent alerts during a lot of her work.
Then the plans changed back to attending the schools annual house picnic at the local park. It would have allowed all the dogs to spend time with their favorite students and meet their parents too! But alas that was not in the cards either and our final destination put us south of Albany NY searching for a missing man. The girls worked their areas and we were home by 11:30pm.
DAY ONE COMPLETE!!
It was destined to be a busy but non emergency day sunday, and the focus was getting the puppies out into new situations to continue desensitization and socialization. That involved swimming in a few locations, some work on the agility equipment and some basic obedience.
Abby, Raina, and Soren with toys playing in the water
The pups got some play time with each other (very limited since they have arrived with us, you never want to raise to puppies out of the same litter togther or else you will have “dogy” issues with them being more reliant and focused on each other then you the handler) and the big dogs controlled what they needed to or participated as they saw fit!
A little back and forth bite inhibition training between puppies
A nice soft correction from an adult member of the pack, assisting in teaching the pup acceptable body language and when you have crossed the line.
All in all, a weekend that couldn’t be complained about. Busy weekends are not always bad, just pass by to quick! Hello work week!
Flashback friday is a weekly picture post of the past and present dogs of the Canine Copilot pack, including our fosters!
4 month old Emeline and Kendal hanging out after a swim in the river
Eme and Frank hanging out during a pack hike
Scout!!!
Best friends
The girls have been hard at work these past few months so we took today off and just relaxed. The shepherds and the pug and I hit the trails and took a nice hike in the fall sun. As usual i had the camera, just can’t miss a moment to capture them in nature!
Which one of these doesn't belong??
They loved running through the leaves and chasing each other all over. Fugly didn’t get picked on to much which was good, its not his fault hes the smallest!
gawwwrrr
Run guys run!
The day finished out with a 2 mile run with the girls and then we picked up Otto from Kara’s house to come stay with us for awhile. The pack was pretty happy to see him!
Last week Abby had her first search as a certified dog, and I my first search as a certified handler. Tuesday afternoon we were called up to Rochester NY to search for a missing man who never returned home from his walk. Abby and I arrived and were fielded immediately clearing an area till dark. We spent the night in Greece and reported back to staging at 0800 wednesday morning. By this time Rita Argiros and K9’s Ripley and Raven had arrived as had Erik and Brook both flankers from our team and Kara a flanker from Amigo SAR dogs. We were assigned a new area that bordered a swamp and a road the man frequently walked down with his 2 dogs. Sandra from Oswego search and rescue team also joined us and Abby and I were thankful for the extra help!
With just a little far away interest across the swamp Abby and I finished up our areas and headed home that evening. Abby did amazing, she worked hard, listened well, and sufficiently cleared her areas. All our hard work was paying off and I was very happy to see her work. I surprised myself as well, and was very calm and confident during the whole search process. This was not my first search by any means, i’ve been to 20 +, but it was my first time in “the hot seat” as a crew boss and K9 handler. The last 3 years of search and rescue training really prepared me for everything that i experienced, as well as my dog training experience and knowledge. I guess trusting your dog really does pay off!!!
*Update* 2 fishermen found the body off a well traveled road less then a week later. It was directly across from the swamp area we searched, Abby was right!!!
But Abby’s first week was not over yet!!!
Saturday morning we recieved a call at 0630 of a missing hiker who never came home the night before. Abby and I picked up Kara and headed 3 hours east to Olive NY. We had barely gotten into the door of Incident Command when we were given an area and sent back out. I should have looked at the map a little better!!!!!! The brown elevation lines were blending in together the area was so steep, but Kara, Abby, and I knew this mans life depended on it and we packed our gear and started our area. The forecast was for 7+ inches of snow that afternoon and evening and we knew there was a limited window of time to find this guy. The terrain was a tough as the map predicted and the higher peaks were covered in snow. After about 3 hours of searching snow started falling and accumulating quickly. We had just hit 4 miles and finished our second pass around the ravines we were searching when my cell phone rang………the missing hiker had walked out of the woods 8 miles off the other side of the peak, he was safe, and he was alive! Kara and I were ecstatic, i threw Abby her ball and she got to carry it all the way back to the truck. We waited back at base for Buddy and K9 Max and Karen and K9 Ice to return and then we hit the road with a long snowy ride home.
Abby slept all the way home, and most the next day as well, she deserved it she had a busy week at work!
A short video compilation of the girls search work.
Elite Instinct K9 Training 