Saturday, January 29, 2011

Warm January play

A short video for you all. It was like 33-35 degrees here yesterday which was like shorts and t-shirt weather after this -23 crap we've had. Got her out to play and took a video w/ my itouch

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Yep I'm a terrible parent. Forgotten Birthday!

Well Eve turned 4 a week ago yesterday....I forgot about it till Friday of last week.  What a terrible parent I am.  Who's taking Eve cause obviously I'm not fit to keep her

I look forward to the years we have together.  She has been such a great pup these first 4 yrs.

:)  J/k But I did feel bad that I forgot :(  What a jerk I am
Lunchbucket

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Emmett has had a few rough days

Emmett was due to have his TPLO (ACL surgery) plate out and get neutered on Tuesday of this week.  He has a gap in the bone and it isn't healing fast enough.  It's been 7months and looks more like 7wks in that one gap.  So the surgeon suggested that we pull out his plate, 6 screws, and 2 pins.
On Monday night (the day before surgery mind you) poor Emmett had to man an emergency visit to the vet. He had a hunched rear, ears back, and acted not happy!   Vet did a urine and blood sample thinking it might be prostatitis.  But she wasn't convinced as the blood tests didn't show what she should have seen.  The vet checked his prostate and he went ballistic!!!  Whining and crying and biting.  Emmett NEVER bites!  He was in terrible pain.
She did multiple x-rays to see if he was blocked but nothing was in there.  We left him there after 2hrs with no definite diagnosis.  She gave him some pain killers to him feel more comfy and hooked him up and gave him about .5 liters of fluid to flush anything in his system.
Since we thought it was an infection were were not able to remove the hardware :(  Neutering him actually helps protatitis so he had the surgery.  Everything went well but....Emmett has had a retained testicle in his abdomen since he was a puppy so we knew when we neutered him that they would have to go find it.  Well the retained testicle decided to get twisted and lodged up in a place it shouldn't have been causing all his pain and discomfort.  I guess this is unheard of!  They said it was all read and full of blood and looked nasty.  Poor guy.  Well it's all removed and he's much happier.  Bad thing is that we have to wait a week or two to remove the plate and screws and he will have to go through another surgery :(  Oh well for now he's on the mend an pretty happy. 

Thursday, January 13, 2011

1st SAR Case last night!!

Eve and I had our very first SAR case last night!!  What a rush.  I felt sick to my stomach after I found out that we would be working but once I got there all the training kicked in and it was go time!

We were called up after the subject had been missing for 3days and the last 3days weather has been snow, blowing winds, and very cold.  All the sidewalks and streets had been plowed or snow blown around so much that I was not optimistic about running a successful track.  But we needed to help out as much as we could and hopefully provide any info/data that we could to the case.  No other K9 teams had been called up yet....not sure why...but we were there to do our thing.

One of our team members pulled her dog out of the car and started him off the scent article.  He did a circle around the entrance that she was last seen at and did a jump indication...he did a No Scent Indication (Kevin Kocher training method for anyone not familiar with this term)!  We understood that he was telling us "there isn't that scent present here" but we tried to work him out from the building some more....notta nothing but negative indications. 

So Eve was up....I put on her boots as it was like -6 to -8 w/out windchill and I wanted her to work w/out worrying about her feet freezing.  Talked her all up and got her all ready to rock...I really try to pump her up w/ encouraging and positive words before we go out there.  Walked her around the point last seen (PLS) to get the wiggles out and to potty then brought her to where the harness and scent article were laying.  Started doing are harness routine and as usual was whispering pump up words in her ear.  Pointed out the scent article and when she sniffed it told her "find em".  She went up to the door but showed not real interest in the area so I let her work a little longer and then cast her out into the parking lot where she gave me a lot of negatives (head up, shake off's, and no committed trail).  Worked her up towards the side of the building and tried seeing if I could pick something up....notta.  Then went around around the building to the other exit and tried to pick something up on that exit or sidewalk.  Nothing, nothing, nothing!!  So it was back to the car for a warm up and on to drive to a place about 2 blocks down where someone thought that they saw the missing person 3 days earlier.

Did the same preharness routine (you want it to be like a free throw in basketball...the same motions, same everything, everytime) and gave her "find em".  This time we worked a 3way or "T" corner.  She went up to one sidewalk...head up....and a shake off.  Then I cast here to the road and towards another sidewalk...another shake off.  Then down the sidewalk (working the corner in a clockwise fashion) for a couple more shake offs and no commitments.  Then back towards the article on the last sidewalk/street area for only more shake offs.  I swear that is the most shake off's I've ever seen out of one dog on a corner! 

While I am sad that we did not find a trail to hook up to and follow to a find I am proud to say that Eve did the best job that she could with what she had.   There was no hesitation by either of us if she was on anything.  It was VERY clear that she had nothing and was throwing negatives all over the place (shake offs, head up, etc).  I am happy that she did not take me on a wild goose chase or search for sent...it is nice to be able to understand that Eve had nothing and was not going to give me anything she did not have.

Although I am proud of her I am sad and distressed that there might possibly be a person out there that needs to be found.  I have thought about it almost all my free time for this last day.  We are going back to work some others dogs in different areas (track/trail dogs are of no use now in the case) so Eve will not be worked.  I am hopeful and confident that if we get into the right area a K9 member of my team WILL find her...but until then I can't stop thinking about it.

I guess that drive is why we are doing what we do.
"That others may live..."
Eric and K9 Eve

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Cold day of training

Not much been happening here with all the Holidays and the weather.  Unfortunately we haven't been training much but we got out today.  It was about 10 degrees so warm feet were my concern.  I tried trailing with Eve in here boots (www.mutluks.com) and she did the same thing that she does when she wears them on walks........RUN!!!  I have no idea why but she pins her ears back and gets a wild look in her eyes....then flys crazy about.  I had a feeling this was going to be the case but wanted to know before we got out on a real case and I had never put her in the boots before.

She did well on the trail but I ran almost the whole way.  This is NOT the style for me nor her.  She was dead on (after she got the spunk out the first 50ft or so and settled in) but I refuse to run with her.  It won't do either of us any good.  She will burn out quicker and she can miss corners easier.  Also I can't read her very well when she goes so fast and doesn't give as many negatives.

Emmett did awesome for not training more than about 2 times since his ACL surgery on July 30th.  I'm really impressed w/ this little guy.  He has the basics down of the game and has great drive.  Now we just need to work on getting him larger area searches. 

Also, found out that Emmett will have to have all of his TPLO surgery hardware (plate, 6screws, and 2pins) removed in the next couple weeks.  He isn't fully healed almost 6months later.  The Drs believe it is due to the plate so we are removing it.  I hope that he gets back to "normal" as I really want to lock in his training and hope to get him certified in May. 

I do have concerns about him being a Boxer and having a short muzzle.  Many feel it makes their smelling capabilities less than a dog w/ a longer muzzle.  I don't know if that is true (cause he seems to smell very well) or if it is the fact that he will overheat quicker and then mouth breath more and then not smell through his nose as much?  Either way I have started training him, he is doing very well and loves it and I will finish him out and certify him.  That does not mean that I will ever put him in a situation that I feel that he will not do well at or that he could compromise the lost person.

Enough for now....hope more to post later
Eric