20140309 Fozzie's First Live Search and First Walk-up Find!

On March 9th I received a call that Marlena, a mini-dachshund, had escaped in Bellevue, dragging a leash behind her.  I was out on another call, and I didn't have time to go home and get the official scent trailing dog, Kelsy.  I had Fozzie with me, so I offered to try the search with him, since it was a fresh trail and time was of the essence.  Fozzie was very excited to get Marlena's scent from a towel, and he charged off into the park.  After about a mile, Fozzie hit a fence topped with barbed wire, for a Boeing facility manned by security guards.  Being a Sunday afternoon, the complex was deserted except for the guards.  I asked at the front gate, and they agreed to let Fozzie and me go in to search.  The scent trail looped around in the landscape near an office building, and then the trail went back under the fence in another area.  I had to leave at that point because of prior commitments.

Around 10 PM, the security guard called to say Marlena had been seen in the Boeing complex.  Fozzie and I went back out, and started at the point the security guard last saw little Marlena.  Fozzie followed the scent trail around a building, and there was Marlena!  Fozzie's first walk-up find.  However, she didn't actually let Fozzie walk up to her.  Instead, she ran past us toward the gap under the fence.  Fozzie excitedly chased after her, but he had to wait for me to follow along on the end of the leash, too slow for Marlena.  This seems to be a trick Marlena learned, that she could evade whoever might be chasing her by slipping under the fence.  Fozzie pinpointed the place Marlena went under the fence, which was a particularly dense patch of brush.  Fozzie could have followed, but I could not.  Around midnight, Fozzie and I went home.  The next day, Kelsy worked the scent trail, which ran southeast of the complex and came back to the woods near the main gate.

The dogs and I never did catch Marlena.  The security guards reported that someone was seen walking a dog matching Marlena's description, on a leash, a couple days later.  My guess is that someone found Marlena when her leash caught on something, and they decided to keep her.  Many volunteers put up large posters in the area, but four weeks later, no one has come forward to admit having Marlena.

Our inability to capture Marlena does not detract from Fozzie's fine work on his first official case and his first walk-up find. 

March 2nd, 2014, Lincoln Park, searching for Komu.

 

Usually, I post a graphic with the weather stats for the time of training.  In this case, the picture of Fozzie gives you a good idea of the weather conditions.  Steady rain, breezy, cool, perfect for training.  This trail was about 42 hours old.  Komu was the target dog.  In this park, dogs are walked constantly.  Maybe a thousand dogs had walked along the trail between the time Komu walked and Fozzie followed.  Still, Fozzie nailed every turn.  When we got close, Komu started to yip when he heard Fozzie's collar jingling, so Fozzie kind of cheated on the last 100 feet.  Fozzie was very eager and excited on this search.  He would have run the entire way if I could have kept up with him.

February 23rd, 2014, Steel Lake, Searching for Komu

Today's trail was short and fresh, searching for his best buddy, Komu.  While it was not a challenge at all, it is important to just have fun, easy finds once in a while to keep his motivation up.  The weather conditions were about ideal.  Fozzie nailed all the turns, as expected, and pulled hard all the way. 

February 20th, Bothell, Searching for Franklin

20140220 Fozzie Training

This scent trail for Frankie the Dachshund had aged 24 hours.  This was the first trail in the dark for Fozzie.  From the start, Fozzie did not seem to focus on the task at hand.  He missed two turns, and at one point in the middle, he just stopped searching all together.  He just stood there nibbling at the grass, and it took over a minute of prompting for him to resume the scent trail.  This was a sharp contrast to other recent training sessions.  In the past, he has always been focused, motivated, and intent.  This night, he followed most of the trail okay, but it was an afterthought. 

In the last block, he showed enthusiasm and drive.  He enjoyed playing with Frank and Harley when he found them.  I can’t explain his lack of effort.  The conditions were perfect for scent trailing, and it was only 24 hours old, so it should not have been difficult. The trail was 1.68 miles long, on pavement, grass, and trails.

Date and time                   Temp    Dew       Hum      Chill        Dir          Spd        Vis

20 Feb 8:53 pm PST         45           37           74           39           SW         14           10.00    

20 Feb 7:53 pm PST         45           38           76           40           SW         9              10.00                    

20 Feb 6:53 pm PST         46           39           76           40           SW         14G20   10.00                    

20 Feb 6:22 pm PST         46           39           76           40           SW         13           10.00

February 16th, 2014

This trail was about 24 hours old, in an environment of lawns and shrubs, some gravel, some paved paths. 

Today, Fozzie searched for Rita, who he has found many times before.  When he came to the first Y, where Rita first went left and then came back and went right, Fozzie paused for a few seconds and evaluated the options.  He looked left and right and left and right, then he chose left.  He ran that path to it's dead end, and then came back to the Y and went the other direction.  At the northwest corner and the northeast corner of the trail, he went wide, following the scent about 30 feet off the actual trail.  This may because of the prevailing south winds over the past 24 hours.  Kelsy often follows trails parallel and 20 to 40 feet off the actual trail.  At the end of the trail, Fozzie pulled hard to Rita's hiding place.  Fozzie didn't miss any turns. 

February 14th, 2014

Fozzie has been training for over a year.  He is doing quite well.  I have not kept up with his training log, as I've been so busy.  I think Fozzie could be ready for certification soon, so I want to start documenting his training again. 

Today he found Mazzy.  Mazzy is a repeat customer.  She was lost shortly after she arrived in Seattle.  It took about a week to find her that first time.  Her owner put a GPS collar on her.  She was very careful with Mazzy, but on one short trip from the car to the door of the doggie daycare, the leash was attached to Mazzy's collar, and Mazzy backed out of her collar for an unknown reason.  Mazzy ran off and left her GPS unit behind.  We caught her in a humane trap about a week later.  Mazzy looks good these days.  She is still a bit skittish, but much more bonded to her people than she was. 

This trail was about 24 hours old, about 1.25 miles long, on mostly paved surfaces.  It had rained about an inch in the 24 hours between the trail being laid and us following it.  The route was known to me, so I could praise Fozzie for choosing the right course or anchor him if he went too far astray.  The weather conditions were about ideal.  Fozzie just took a quick sniff of the scent article and started right on the trail.  He wove in and out of yards.  Afterward, Tracy told me that Mazzy had dipped into many yards along the way.  Fozzie didn't miss any turns.  He didn't pull as hard as Kelsy can sometimes, but he worked diligently on the scent trail.  I only had to tell him to leave it a couple of times when he spent a little too long checking out irrelevant scents.  When he found Mazzy, she was like, "Who the heck are you?"  I gave Fozzie his cheese, and a puppy happened along about that time, so he got to play, as a reward, too.  As usual, Fozzie seemed to enjoy the game. 

Today Fozzie worked a short trail for Lily, the Doberman.  Fozzie seems to be getting the idea.  He sniffed at the scent article and set out on Lily's fresh trail without having to be steered or pulled back from a wrong turn.  He charged along on Lily's scent, often with his nose down.  He came to a T in the trail, and he paused and looked up at me.  I asked him, "Which way?"  He started right and sniffed around for about 30 feet.  He turned and came back, although I don't recall what his negative signal was when he ran out of scent.  He slowly followed the scent to the left.  He seemed hesitant, and I don't think he knew he was standing five feet from Lily, who was being very quiet.  I'm not sure how well he can see through the fur over his eyes.  When he realized Lily was standing beside the trail, he seemed to recognize that she was the target.  I praised him and gave him treats, and he got excited about the find.  He seems to be learning that finding the dog means treats and praise.