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.