MPP received the call around 2 PM and I called Emmett's owner around 3. Kelsy and I reached the area of Lincoln Park about 4, but I saw an old hound dog wandering in the street, so I took a fifteen minute detour to corral her, call the number on her tag, and reunite her with her owner. Kelsy didn't start on the scent trail until about 4:30, six hours after the escape. The conditions were relatively hot and dry, and I would not have opted for a search, but I knew the original escape path went through the cool, shady, damp woods of Lincoln Park where the scent would be preserved and available to Kelsy's nose.
| Name: | Track 055 | |
| Date: | Jun 25, 2011 4:48 pm | |
| Map: (valid until Dec 22, 2011) | View on Map | |
| Distance: | 2.51 miles | |
| Elapsed Time: | 1:24:41 | |
| Avg Speed: | 1.8 mph | |
| Max Speed: | 5.8 mph | |
| Avg Pace: | 33' 44" per mile | |
| Min Altitude: | 0 ft | |
| Max Altitude: | 180 ft | |
| Start Time: | 2011-06-25T23:48:50Z | |
| Start Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.535949º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.394944º W | |
| End Location: | ||
| Latitude: | 47.526669º N | |
| Longitude: | 122.391616º W | |
I failed to record the weather conditions, but I seem to recall it was about 62 degrees, low relative humidity, with a steady wind out of the northwest of 5 to 10 miles an hour.
Kelsy ambled up the steep trail from the beach to the top of the bluff. She seemed like she was on the trail but not enthusiastic. At the top, she picked up the pace a little, as if the scent was fresher. In the cneter of the park, in the woods where people don't usually walk, Kelsy started pulling hard like the trail was less than an hour old. Kelsy took me down a creek bed toward the barbecue grills (following the scent trail, not at all interested in what was being cooked). The path we took was not a path someone would walk their pet, nor was it the path of a squirrel or raccoon, being so direct toward the cooking shelters. When we reached the area by the grills, Kelsy looked up at me like, "We are here--where's the dog?" We hit a dead end, with the strongest scent, and Kelsy could not find the dog. I took her all around the area, hoping she would locate Emmet hiding in the bushes.
When I told Emmett's owner that we had followed the scent trail to its freshest location, but we couldn't find Emmett, she did not understand why we could not locate him. It is difficult to explain, I don't know which explanation is the correct one, and an explanation sounds like an excuse. Still, although it doesn't help Emmett, going over the possible explanation may help someone else.
One explanation is that Emmett was hiding in the bushes very near the dead end. This is a difficult situation for a trailing dog. A trailing dog wants to follow a trail from point A to point B. This type of trail has a distinct path and a directional quality. If a dog circles one confined area, he creates a scent pool that obliterates any distinct scent trail. It's as if the dog is everywhere at once. This is common behavior for a cat, and the reason that we use different training and techniques for a cat detection dog. It's possible that Kelsy walked right by Emmett hidden in the bushes without being able to detect him.
The second possiblity is that the trail was a dead end. Emmett may have run down to the source of food and water, hung out for a bit quietly watching the people, and then retreated to the quiet woods in the center of the park. If that were the case, it would create a long dead end trail as illustrated on this map:
Possible Emmett Path
As Kelsy passes the point of divergence in this scenario, she must follow the strongest scent. Although following the divergent trail would be following the freshest scent, it would not be following the strongest scent. This is because Emmett would have walked the dead end twice, once in and once out, for double the scent of the freshest trail. We have verified this in training, that Kelsy will follow a dead end instead of taking the quickest route by following the freshest scent. When the dead end is very long, it can be difficult to back track to the point of divergence. At the end of the trail, I had to investigate one of the two possibilities: check the bushes for a hiding Emmett, or backtrack to find a point of divergence from the dead end. I chose to check the bushes near the end of the trail. Later we went back to find the divergence, but we were unable to find one if there was one.
The third possiblity is that I read Kelsy wrong, and she was on the wrong trail. This has happened in a few cases before. It seems unlikely because the path she took me on was not the path a person would take while walking their dog. It was more the path of an unattended dog, like Emmett.
Emmett came home at 1:30 in the morning, about 15 blocks from the point of escape. Emmett didn't say where he'd been, and whether he was hiding in the bushes or had doubled back. He definitely outsmarted us, wherever he went. It is possible that Kelsy was right, or that she was wrong.
The lesson for the future is that I should have treated the trail as a dead-end double-back and let the owner scour the bushes at the end.
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