The good news is that Butters has been found and returned safely. The not-so-good news is that Kelsy was following the wrong dog, again, and I didn't know it. If Kelsy and I are to be of much use, we need to work through this problem.
Admittedly, Kelsy didn't have great material to work with. For a scent article, she used the back seat of a car where Butters would always ride. Kelsy got the scent of a dog, and she followed the trail of a white dog, according to the reported sighting. Butters had been picked up Sunday night, so the dog she followed couldn't have been Butters. Somehow, I need to communicate to Kelsy that I need her to follow the scent of just this dog, not the next best thing.
What got Butters home was our large signs. The person who took Butters home saw a large sign a few blocks away, and called the owner.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Search for Butters
Kelsy searched for Butters today. He is a West Highland Terrier, about 2.5 years old, all white, about 20 pounds. He got out an open gate two days ago, at 17th SW and SW 98th Street. The owner got a sighting today at 11 AM at SW 106th and 17th SW. Kelsy started on the trail at about 2:15 PM. Unlike our attempt yesterday, when the winds were as high as 50 MPH, Kelsy seemed to have a good scent. She followed the trail down the alley to 112th, then west to where 112th dead-ends just past 29th Ave SW. She came back to 29th and followed south to where 29th dead-ends at Salmon Creek ravine. Then Kelsy came back up to 116th and headed east to the elementary school, where the trail ended. The trail ended at a locked gate by the playground at Shorewood Elementary, at SW 116th and 27th Ave SW. Kelsy tracked for about 1.5 miles. For most of the time, she held her head in the "I'm in the zone" position, slightly below level, with the tips of her ears bobbing up and out with each step, and not looking around. At the three dead-end turnarounds, she did give me the negative sign, turning and looking up at me.
Along the route, Kelsy found many interesting things that would have interested Butters as well. She found spoiled food dumped on the ground, several chicken coops, some small dogs allowed to roam free near their yards, and corn scattered in an alley to feed the crows. When she found the small dogs, she did not show much interest in them, and she was more interested in following the trail of Butters. I would say I'm about 90% sure Kelsy was on the right trail.
The winds had calmed to about 5 to 10 MPH, the ground was damp, and it wasn't raining.
Today's trail got me thinking about why Kelsy takes the dead-end trails instead of following the route where the target dog continued on. It would certainly make the searches faster if she didn't dive into every yard where the missing dog went in and out. I realized that the scent would be stronger on the dead-end trail instead of the continuing-on trail because the dog walked there twice, once in and once out. So, when Kelsy comes to an intersection where the dog turned right into a yard and then came back out and continued in the previous direction of travel, the strongest scent is turning right into the dead end, where the dog is not. I will have to design some practice trails with dead ends to confirm that Kelsy is doing this.
Along the route, Kelsy found many interesting things that would have interested Butters as well. She found spoiled food dumped on the ground, several chicken coops, some small dogs allowed to roam free near their yards, and corn scattered in an alley to feed the crows. When she found the small dogs, she did not show much interest in them, and she was more interested in following the trail of Butters. I would say I'm about 90% sure Kelsy was on the right trail.
The winds had calmed to about 5 to 10 MPH, the ground was damp, and it wasn't raining.
Today's trail got me thinking about why Kelsy takes the dead-end trails instead of following the route where the target dog continued on. It would certainly make the searches faster if she didn't dive into every yard where the missing dog went in and out. I realized that the scent would be stronger on the dead-end trail instead of the continuing-on trail because the dog walked there twice, once in and once out. So, when Kelsy comes to an intersection where the dog turned right into a yard and then came back out and continued in the previous direction of travel, the strongest scent is turning right into the dead end, where the dog is not. I will have to design some practice trails with dead ends to confirm that Kelsy is doing this.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Decoys
Kelsy trained at Renton Village today, starting at the PIMA school. Valerie and Pearl had laid a scent trail about 24 hours earlier. Darlene and Buddy set up as a decoy at the Discount Tire store. Bill and Bear made a short decoy trail at the Evergreen building. Sky and her owner stayed at the end of the trail as a final decoy when Kelsy reached the end. We stated at about 3 PM, with the temp around 48 degrees, little wind, and no rain at the moment. The ground was damp from recent rains.
Valerie walked with us to tell me when Kelsy went off trail. For the first 200 yards, Kelsy was exactly on the trail. When she hit the scent trail of Bear, she accelerated and tried to run to him. Had this been an actual case, I would have interpreted that acceleration as either a fresh scent of the target dog or excitement over a new scent trail. Following it, I would have discovered that it either was the target dog or not, and if not, I could go back to the point of divergence. When we got up to the power line towers and over by Wells Fargo, Kelsy briefly jumped from the out trail to the back trail, and then she crossed over again to the out trail. The two trails were less than twenty feet apart at that point. She followed around the Holiday Inn, and I could tell she caught the scent of a little white dog I had seen people walking. I could tell because her gait changed and she started looking instead of smelling her way along. When we came to Buddy's decoy trail, she glanced in Buddy's direction, but she didn't veer from Pearl's trail. Going by a restaurant, she got off the trail by about twenty feet. Then she zoomed right up to the target area. She did run up to Sky first, but realized it was not the right dog. When she charged up to Pearl, who is a puppy, this made Pearl nervous. After I rewarded Kelsy with treats, she and Pearl got to meet properly, and Pearl relaxed. Kelsy's treats this time were McNuggets, and she really liked them. Kelsy stayed on trail over 90% of the time, and the two times she strayed, I could tell that something was different. Again, I watched for when she was using her nose versus when she was using her eyes. The trail was about a mile long. I forgot to set my GPS at the start, so I don't know the exact length.
After Kelsy, I worked Zeke. I made the mistake of placing the scent article on the dirt, and he was more interested in smelling the dirt than the scent article. In the future, I should be certain to place the scent article on pavement, to avoid any contamination. I picked up the scent article and had him smell it in my hand, which seemed to get him started on the right trail. Zeke works with his nose to the ground much more than Kelsy does. Zeke stayed right on track most of the time. He was distracted by the scent of Bear, and I had to pull him back on course. He cut off a big loop when he jumped across from the outbound to the inbound trail. When we got close to the end, he saw Karma, who was being a decoy, and he would not go any further until he could check her out. Once he smelled that she was not the target dog, he continued on. At the end, he checked out the first dog he saw. Pearl was hidden, and instead of going to the next visible dog, he followed the scent trail to Pearl's hiding spot. Zeke did very well. Reading him is different in many ways than reading Kelsy.
Valerie walked with us to tell me when Kelsy went off trail. For the first 200 yards, Kelsy was exactly on the trail. When she hit the scent trail of Bear, she accelerated and tried to run to him. Had this been an actual case, I would have interpreted that acceleration as either a fresh scent of the target dog or excitement over a new scent trail. Following it, I would have discovered that it either was the target dog or not, and if not, I could go back to the point of divergence. When we got up to the power line towers and over by Wells Fargo, Kelsy briefly jumped from the out trail to the back trail, and then she crossed over again to the out trail. The two trails were less than twenty feet apart at that point. She followed around the Holiday Inn, and I could tell she caught the scent of a little white dog I had seen people walking. I could tell because her gait changed and she started looking instead of smelling her way along. When we came to Buddy's decoy trail, she glanced in Buddy's direction, but she didn't veer from Pearl's trail. Going by a restaurant, she got off the trail by about twenty feet. Then she zoomed right up to the target area. She did run up to Sky first, but realized it was not the right dog. When she charged up to Pearl, who is a puppy, this made Pearl nervous. After I rewarded Kelsy with treats, she and Pearl got to meet properly, and Pearl relaxed. Kelsy's treats this time were McNuggets, and she really liked them. Kelsy stayed on trail over 90% of the time, and the two times she strayed, I could tell that something was different. Again, I watched for when she was using her nose versus when she was using her eyes. The trail was about a mile long. I forgot to set my GPS at the start, so I don't know the exact length.
After Kelsy, I worked Zeke. I made the mistake of placing the scent article on the dirt, and he was more interested in smelling the dirt than the scent article. In the future, I should be certain to place the scent article on pavement, to avoid any contamination. I picked up the scent article and had him smell it in my hand, which seemed to get him started on the right trail. Zeke works with his nose to the ground much more than Kelsy does. Zeke stayed right on track most of the time. He was distracted by the scent of Bear, and I had to pull him back on course. He cut off a big loop when he jumped across from the outbound to the inbound trail. When we got close to the end, he saw Karma, who was being a decoy, and he would not go any further until he could check her out. Once he smelled that she was not the target dog, he continued on. At the end, he checked out the first dog he saw. Pearl was hidden, and instead of going to the next visible dog, he followed the scent trail to Pearl's hiding spot. Zeke did very well. Reading him is different in many ways than reading Kelsy.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Training in the rain, again.
On November 6th, Kelsy and I trained with Kat and Kody and Karma and Ryan. This trail was two days old, near Military Road and S. 268th, at Greg Nelson Park. The temperature was about 50 degrees, raining off and on, with little wind. We started trailing Kody at 262nd and 42nd. Kelsy started out at a walk, and walked most of the time, occasionally breaking into a trot. Had this been a fresh trail, she would have run most of the time. On this day, I watched her head, noting if she was using her nose or her eyes. Most of the time, she was in a groove, just using her nose and plodding along. When she started to look around, using her eyes instead of her nose, I put tension on the leash. This kept her away from distractions most of the time. The trail was about a mile long, and at about the half mile point, Kelsy perked up and took a trail into the woods. I stopped her after about twenty feet, since this was not the trail Kat had drawn for me on the map. We got back on track and didn't have any other deviations. At one intersection, she took some time figuring out the direction of travel, but she used her nose and worked it out. 100 yards from the end, she saw Kat's bright green vest and started running toward it, cheating. But Kody wasn't with Kat, so Kelsy had to go back to using her nose. She pulled much harder at this point, being in the fresh scent. Finally, she saw Ryan's green vest from about twenty feet away, and sprinted to Kody.
I rewarded her with treats and a game of fetch with a stick. Had this been an actual search, I feel that Kelsy and I would have done very well. She went off track once, but I noticed her changed behavior and made note of the point of deviation, so we could get back to business.
I rewarded her with treats and a game of fetch with a stick. Had this been an actual search, I feel that Kelsy and I would have done very well. She went off track once, but I noticed her changed behavior and made note of the point of deviation, so we could get back to business.
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