Jobie is shy but pretty. He escaped in September, 2010, and MPP helped his owner recover him with advice and a large trap. Today, Jobie helped MPP back by being a target dog. This trail was 1.4 miles long and about five hours old. The conditions: temp 40 degrees, little or no wind, humidity 64%, starting at 3 PM, with snow on the grass and shady portions of the sidewalks.
Kelsy scored a perfect 100 on this search, getting every turn correct. This trail had about 12 turns and about 25 intersections. The only time Kelsy needed input from me was to stop for traffic at intersections, and to get back to work when she found a couple of enticing smells along the way. She never took me off course, and she was fairly easy to read the whole time. Mostly, she was in the groove, trotting along. When she wasn't in the groove, she was checking out critter scents, and I could see that she had switched modes. She was also distracted by a kid on a skateboard, so I just had her wait until the distraction passed.
The humidity was higher today, even without rain, and there was no salt on the sidewalks where we searched in Auburn. Although the trail was almost 100% paved, there was always grass or vegetation nearby. When we got to the end point, Kelsy seemed like she was going to trot past Jobie, but you could see it in her face when she caught the fresh, direct scent of Jobie after working the five-hour-old trail. She pulled me through the landscape and right up to his hiding place behind a car. Kelsy got her treats (leftover tuna melt) and I played fetch with her on the snow-covered basketball court. To cool off, she laid her belly in the snow, and ate some snow. Overall, Kelsy seemed very focused, and she liked the smell of Jobie when she found him, taking an extra moment to smell him deeply.
Kelsy seems to be liking the routine of searching every day.
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