Cali is a seventeen pound Labradoodle that runs like the wind. Over a seven day period, she ran back and forth over a territory five miles long and three miles wide. We received reports of her at one end in the evening and the other end the next morning. All of the fliers posted on every street in that area advised people not to chase her, but of course the people would chase her first and then read the details in the flier later. Kelsy tracked Cali five times on four different days, but we couldn’t follow the scent trail as fast as Cali could run. On the last trailing attempt, I even saw Cali in a yard, and started Kelsy on the scent trail ten minutes later. As we followed, we kept getting reports that Cali was seen farther and farther away from us, so we gave up that strategy. Instead, on the day that Cali’s family flew home from out of the country, they spread out in the neighborhood where Cali was last seen, hoping for a new reported sighting. Within an hour, Cali’s mom spotted her in a yard.
I pulled up just in time to see Cali’s owner perform a textbook example of our recommended calming signals. From fifty feet away, she got Cali’s attention, and then she lay flat on the ground, not looking at Cali. She set Cali’s favorite toy on the ground, along with a bag of Cali’s favorite treats. Then she waited. I’m sure Cali’s owner wanted to run to her when she spotted her in that yard. As she laid there, for what probably seemed like an eternity, she may have wondered if my advice to lie on the pavement was the best way to catch a dog. Cali sat and watched for a couple of minutes. Then she cautiously started to move closer. At about twenty-five feet away, she must have caught the scent of her owner, because I could see that her tail started to wag. She increased her pace to a trot, and then she galloped the rest of the way, wagging her tail furiously. She pounced on her owner and rolled on top of her joyously. It was the perfect ending to Cali’s week of adventure. Again I got to witness Kat Albrecht’s techniques work like a charm. Reunions like this keep me going. Kelsy, on the other hand, seemed disappointed that she wasn’t the one to catch the ‘Doodle. Next time, Kelsy.
Regarding Kelsy's performance on these searches, it is difficult to assess her accuracy. Most likely, Cali was in all of these areas at multiple times, based on the sightings and her behavior. On the first day of scent trailing, Kelsy seemed like she was really close, at the north end of the trail in Newport Shores, at Vashon Key. We may have even gone right past Cali in the bushes somewhere nearby. Right at the corner of Cascade Key and Vashon Key, the trail lost its directional quality, and Cali had gone every which way. On the last search, the day Cali was caught, Kelsy seemed to be losing her enthusiasm for Cali. Cali had certainly been up and down that street multiple times on multiple days, making it difficult to distinguish one trail from the other. Even if we were on the right track 100% of the time (not on an older trail) Kelsy could never have caught up to Cali while having to drag me along, unless Cali took a break, which was what we were hoping for. The fastest we have been able to track is about two miles an hour. Note that on the recorded tracks below, the average speed on three of them is 1.7 miles an hour. (The one that reads 3.7 MPH includes a car ride back to the start.) Based on the reports we received, Cali was traveling at least two to five miles an hour on average, sometimes much faster when people were trying to catch her.
| Name: | Track 040 |
| Date: | Apr 7, 2011 10:44 am |
Map:
(valid until Oct 4, 2011) | View on Map |
| Distance: | 1.87 miles |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:06:49 |
| Avg Speed: | 1.7 mph |
| Max Speed: | 23.8 mph |
| Avg Pace: | 35' 40" per mile |
| Min Altitude: | 81 ft |
| Max Altitude: | 444 ft |
| Start Time: | 2011-04-07T17:44:24Z |
| Start Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.550580º N |
| Longitude: | 122.187785º W |
| End Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.549398º N |
| Longitude: | 122.189398º W |
Temp: 41F
Feels like: 41F
Cloudy
Humidity: 82%
Wind: NE at 1 mph
Updated: 4/7/11 9:45 AM PDT
| Name: | Track 041 |
| Date: | Apr 7, 2011 12:28 pm |
Map:
(valid until Oct 4, 2011) | View on Map |
| Distance: | 4.02 miles |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:05:03 |
| Avg Speed: | 3.7 mph |
| Max Speed: | 29.2 mph |
| Avg Pace: | 16' 12" per mile |
| Min Altitude: | 6 ft |
| Max Altitude: | 361 ft |
| Start Time: | 2011-04-07T19:28:06Z |
| Start Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.553889º N |
| Longitude: | 122.179037º W |
| End Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.552701º N |
| Longitude: | 122.179048º W |
Temp: 45F
Feels like: 42F
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: 76%
Wind: NNE at 6 mph
Updated: 4/7/11 3:25 PM PDT
| Name: | Track 042 |
| Date: | Apr 8, 2011 1:20 pm |
Map:
(valid until Oct 5, 2011) | View on Map |
| Distance: | 3.62 miles |
| Elapsed Time: | 2:05:16 |
| Avg Speed: | 1.7 mph |
| Max Speed: | 38.5 mph |
| Avg Pace: | 34' 34" per mile |
| Min Altitude: | 0 ft |
| Max Altitude: | 375 ft |
| Start Time: | 2011-04-08T20:20:43Z |
| Start Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.518705º N |
| Longitude: | 122.156697º W |
| End Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.516748º N |
| Longitude: | 122.143761º W |
Temp: 52F
Feels like: 52F
Cloudy
Humidity: 56%
Wind: WSW at 10 mph
Updated: 4/9/11 5:45 PM PDT
| Name: | Track 044 |
| Date: | Apr 9, 2011 6:11 pm |
Map:
(valid until Oct 6, 2011) | View on Map |
| Distance: | 2.17 miles |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:15:17 |
| Avg Speed: | 1.7 mph |
| Max Speed: | 6.9 mph |
| Avg Pace: | 34' 39" per mile |
| Min Altitude: | 224 ft |
| Max Altitude: | 345 ft |
| Start Time: | 2011-04-10T01:11:05Z |
| Start Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.557516º N |
| Longitude: | 122.184864º W |
| End Location: | |
| Latitude: | 47.550231º N |
| Longitude: | 122.183291º W |
