Water Search Practice

Phoenix (aka stinker) had her first practice on the water on Saturday for cadaver. The object is to see if/how the dog will alert on cadaver below the surface, and reward the dog for said alert, or encourage an alert. Phoenix's actions sort of negated the possibility of really checking it out....we were coming up on the scent, (and of course, not being a dog, I couldn't tell for sure if she was beginning to scent..) when she put her feet up on the edge and her nose down to the water. I began to say "good girl" when she went in. With a great splash!!  So then there was the problem of getting her back in the boat, (we were a ways off the shore....) and she had a harness on that was a bit too big, and she had her leash on, so the first thing to do was to undo the leash, so that she wouldn't become tangled in the leash. Then we basically just took the boat to shore, stopping any time she got near the trolling motor....and she followed, by swimming around and around the boat and having the time of her life!  When we got to where she could touch bottom, we gave her a hefty lift over the edge of the boat and back into the boat! Where she proudly shook all over and looked smug. So then we continued, I am pretty certain she was scenting, and I encouraged an alert..pushing at me with her paw.....and she got her cookie....and then we went on to the shore practice. The shore practice consisted of three hides, each one about a foot off shore. She was on leash...and I walked her along the shore, and she went down right off the bat on the first one, bit at the water, then proceeded to ROLL in the water, right at the edge...OMG did she STINK!!!!

My team members tell me she has invented a new alert: the drop and roll.

When I drove home I carried some "dead stuff" back with me in the van, in a tightly closed container. I thought perhaps the awful smell was the dead stuff....but oh, no, it was Feeny, the STINKER!

Our Search dog team had our meeting before the practice. We are starting a new fund raising shop, at Zazzle.com. will let you know the details when i get it going..

Blogged with the Flock Browser