Training Log 01-18-09

We had a bit of a heat wave at training today. :) The high made it into the 30s. At least with the sun out, it didn't feel as cold as it has been lately. In any case, we had some creature comforts today at training since our Sunday sessions are longer.



I brought some coffee to share and Greg started a little fire to warm our fingers and toes between training sessions. If we had just had access to a restroom, we would have been very spoiled.

K9 Tanner makes his way back to handler Danielle after finding his subject Brian. Tanner is a refind dog which means he will find the subject and then return to his handler to indicate that he has found someone. If you look in the upper right corner of the photo, you can see Brian hiding. Shortly before we arrived at Brian's hiding spot, a Coyote and multiple Deer crossed right in front of Brian. Must have been a really cool sight.



Once Tanner 'refinds' the subject, he is greatly rewarded with tug and a game of fetch.




K9 Tanner and handler Danielle had a good day. After this longer session, Tanner went on to find subject John whom he'd never met. It's always great to have fresh subjects to ensure that the dogs don't get used to finding the same team members time after time.

Trailing K9 Nina makes her way between 3 subjects and ties each of them to their respective possessions.





Greg and Spotter Kathy make their way to find subject John with K9 Tala.


Can you find the articles hiding in this photo?


K9 Cooper Can!


We had a really great session today. We have several new folks with us who also had good sessions including K9 Brady; a awesome Boxer puppy showing huge potential on his first visit and K9 Blue that is really enjoying the 'hide and seek' runaways. It truly is amazing to see the dogs learn and progress and really enjoy search work that can provide essential aid to our community when called upon.

Cub Scout Demo

Tonight we met with a local cub scout troop. The boys were 1st through 5th grade and full of energy. They asked very insightful questions about the dogs and seemed very interested in what the dogs can do.

Team Leader Greg Hicks explains how search dogs work to the group of cub scouts.


We did a short demo in the cafeteria for the kids to see. Tala found a young cub scout hiding in a corner out of site. The kids went crazy when Tala made her find. It was a hoot.

K9 Tanner relaxes during the presentation.

Training Log 01-06-09

More building access at training tonight. Here is young K9 Nina, a blue tick coon hound working an empty dormitory. Nina is in training for trailing and is excelling very quickly.


The all important reward for Nina occurs when she finds her missing subject. For the dogs, finding the person is essentially a big game of hide and seek. And when they find the person praise and reward are the order of the day. The quickest way to Nina's heart is through her stomach. Here she enjoys her reward after a long building search.


Here Article K9 Cooper gets some live building search work in. Cooper plans to test in building search later this winter. He is one exuberant Golden Retriever!

MSD Training January 4th 2009

We had a crisp training session on this first Sunday in 2009. The temperature was in the low 40s and seemed to dip as the day progressed.

We had another visitor today that was really intrigued by how each of the dogs work differently even in the same discipline. Some dogs work closer to their handler, some range long distances, others cover an area with a moderate speed, while others seem to move like lightning.

Today Live and HRD K9 Kota worked a long problem and found me hiding in a big field of this. My blaze orange clothing actually blended in well. I was laying on the ground as well so as not to give any visual help during the scenario.


Here is Kota alerting on my location. He is trained to stay with the subject and bark until his handler arrives.




A good time was had by all; what a great start to the new year.