The Search for Lilly

John, on the left, Lilly, and John's partner, Mark, holding Lilly during their happy reunion.

Lilly escaped from John when two Rottweilers knocked down their owner to get to John's dogs.  Lilly and John's other dog both backed out of their collars to get away from the Rottweilers, leaving John holding two empty leashes.  John was able to catch one of his dogs, but Lilly was too frightened to come to him.  During morning rush hour on Thursday in downtown Seattle, Lilly raced up the Seneca Street off ramp, onto the Viaduct.  Lilly ran south in the northbound lanes, and traffic came to a halt as people tried to get her to safety.  At last report, Lilly had run all the way past Starbucks, toward the West Seattle Bridge.

When John called me Thursday afternoon, I told him I wasn't available for a search, and that I wouldn't advise a search dog in this situation.  For one thing, he didn't have a scent article for just Lilly, but the biggest problem was that I couldn't start Kelsy on the scent trail on the freeway in downtown Seattle.  On Friday, John got more detail about the sighting near the West Seattle Bridge, and he again asked for a search.  I advised him that the search was unlikely to be successful given the contaminated scent article, the subfreezing weather, the lack of a specific starting point, and industrial nature of the area--all paved over with almost no vegetation.  John said he understood it was a long shot, but that he wanted to try it anyway.  I agreed to meet him on Saturday morning.

Kelsy started searching south of the turn off for the West Seattle bridge, where the elevated portion of 99 comes back down to surface level.  Kelsy didn't find any scent of Lilly at that location.  Next, we tried a spot on the shoulder of the freeway, across the railroad tracks from the Starbucks headquarters building.  Kelsy did find the scent there, but she wanted to follow the scent onto the freeway, southbound in the northbound lanes, which we couldn't do.  Then we went to the next location where the elevated roadway touched down, all the way across the West Seattle Bridge at the Delridge Way on ramp.  As we were getting ready to start the search there, John received a call that someone had found a dog matching Lilly's description. I never heard the story of how they captured Lilly, but they found her owner through his craigslist ad. 

We got to Tullys as fast as we could, and John's partner, Mark, had gotten there first.  He was holding Lilly, who was very relieved to be safe.  Lilly had run two miles on the freeway against traffic, and she had been out in subfreezing weather for two nights.  Even though Kelsy didn't solve this case, I was very happy to witness the reunion of John and Mark and Lilly.

Practice searches for Sampson and Cheeto

Pictured above is Karma, one of our cat-detection dogs.  I worked with her today in cross-training, meaning that she and I practiced working together so that we can possibly go on searches together if her owner is busy.  I also worked with Griffin.  Both dogs found Cheeto, of course, and it was interesting to see their different reactions.  Both Griffin and Karma know what to do, and I am the one that needs training with them.  I habitually give directions like I would to a dog-detection dog, and I need to get in the habit of working in cat-detection mode, a different process.  Karma and Griffin are both terribly sweet, and a pleasure to work with. 

Kelsy did a quick search for Sampson on a trail that was about 20 minutes old and half a mile long.  She pulled me right along, but she might have skipped a leg of the trail.  I'm not sure because there was some confusion about the trail in talking with Sampson's owner.  The conditions were cool, about 40 degrees, with bright sun and variable wind, sometimes strong, sometimes calm in the protection of the forest.  Humidity was about 70%, and we did the search at about 4 PM. 

Search for Tick

Kelsy searched for Tick around midnight last night.  Tick had wandered away from home around noon.  Kelsy took a long time gathering scent from Tick's bed.  The trail she followed seemed to meander in and out of people's front yards.  We followed the trail for about 1.5 miles, in a loop, and the end point was only 900 feet from home.  Where Kelsy stopped tracking, we found two cans of premium dog food opened and dumped near a fence, with much of the food remaining.  It looked to me like someone had found a stray dog and was trying to lure her.  At that point, Kelsy couldn't find a trail leading away.  We wondered if Tick was inside the house right there.  The owner thought that Tick might bark if she clapped her hands the way she had in the past to get Tick's attention.  Instead, the homeowner, who was still awake, poked her head out the window to see what we were up to.  She didn't have Tick, but she had seen her ambling down the road headed west.  Perhaps the trail looped over itself or doubled back, but Kelsy couldn't find the continuation.  We called it a night, at about 12:30, and the owner had a new lead.  Tick's trail had crossed from Auburn to Federal Way, so she knew to check with Federal Way's Animal Services. 

This morning, Tick's owner got the call that Tick had been found 2 miles west of home.  The finder checked craigslist and saw the ad for Tick.  I don't have all the details yet, but she appears to be healthy.

Temp: 35F
Feels like: 35F
Fair
Humidity: 73%
Wind: CALM at calm mph
Updated: 2/10/11 12:25 AM PST

Practice search for Sampson

Before Kelsy searched for Sampson, I worked Griffin the Wonder Beagle in a practice search for Cheeto.  Griffin is the size Kelsy was when she was about 11 weeks old.  It was fun to work a search dog where I didn't have to concentrate on not getting pulled off my feet.  When Kelsy got on the fresh scent of Sampson, I had to just focus on remaining upright as she pulled me along at a jog.  With Griffin, it was just like a walk in the park.  I watched Sally, Griffin's owner, work him for a while.  When I took over, I had a hard time not saying the things I would say to Kelsy.  I kept saying, "Which way?" which makes no sense for a cat detection dog.  I could tell Griffin smelled critters in the area.  When we got close to Cheeto's hiding place in the bushes, Griffin started to get excited.  He then got distracted by Laura, who was guarding Cheeto from a distance.  After he checked her out, he homed in on Cheeto.  The way his nose moved through the air, I could visualize the cone of scent emanating from Cheeto.  Griffin gave his signature sniffing sound upon finding Cheeto's carrier, his tail did the helicopter whirling, and then he started to whine, all just as Sally said he would.  Griffin got lots of hot dog treats, but he seemed to enjoy Cheeto's company at least as much as the treats. 

The trail that Sampson laid for Kelsy was fresh, less than 15 minutes old, and probably about half a mile long, in a loop.  I started Kelsy away from the trail to practice her negative.  She went a little farther than usual, I think because a bunny had just raced through that area, but she soon turned and gave me her negative signal.  Then I took her to the start of Sampson's trail.  I could tell she was already on it before I presented the scent article.  When I did give her the scent article, she didn't give it a thorough sniffing like she did the first time.  She just gave it a quick sniff, like, "Yep, that's Sampson," and we were off to the races.  She dipped into a dead end by a door to the office building.  From my read on her, I would say that she was checking out Griffin's scent, and not on the trail of Sampson at that point.  When Kelsy got back onto the trail of Sampson, she pulled like a tractor again.  At the far turn, Kelsy spent several minutes circling, working things out.  I forgot to ask Danny where they had actually walked, so I don't know what that was about.  There were about a dozen large molehills in that patch of lawn.  I wonder if Sampson had run around in a circle, checking out the molehills.  Eventually, she settled into a groove for the last leg of the trail.  Sampson and his brother Willie started barking from their hiding place behind the truck, so it wasn't a mystery for Kelsy at that point.  When Kelsy ran up to the two dogs, sitting side by side, she seemed to single out Sampson, although it happened so quickly that it was hard to tell.  Then Kelsy turned and sat and asked for her treats, meaning she was sure this was the dog she was looking for.  I rewarded her with cheese and more fetching.  This trail wasn't meant to be challenging--it was just to let Kelsy win and have fun.  Of course, our last practice trail, looking for Reina, wasn't supposed to be challenging, either, but it turned into a frustrating experience.  It was nice to have Kelsy work easily and quickly, and get her reward. 

Temp: 47F
Feels like: 47F
Cloudy
Humidity: 86%
Wind: CALM at calm mph
Updated: 2/5/11 3:05 PM PST