Leo escaped through a wonky gate on his first day at his new adoptive home. He had been running around Shoreline for several days before Kelsy searched. We started on a scent trail 24 hours old. After following a meandering path for a couple of hours, we got the call that Leo was right back where we started. I took Kelsy there and started her on the fresh scent, 20 minutes old, but we couldn't catch up. As we worked the scent relatively slowly, we got many calls that he was north of us, west of us, south of us, always many steps ahead. As Kelsy was searching, Leo ran within 20 feet of another volunteer. Leo kept coming to one location, near a shed with cat food for feral cats. We called off the search and set up a humane trap. Leo was spotted in that area several times after we ended the search. I was hoping to get close enough to use Kelsy as a magnet dog, and a snappy snare, but he was always gone before I got to each new location. Leo went into the humane trap the morning after we searched, right in the area of all the sightings.
Now for Seattle, WA (98155)
Temp: 42°F
Feels like: 35°F
Light Rain
Humidity: 87%
Wind: S 15 mph
After the search, we stopped off in Des Moines to do a quick practice search for Izzy. This was a fresh trail, just under one mile. Kelsy got to find Izzy, which was the important thing, and she got her cheese reward. From now on, it is my goal to make sure Kelsy has a practice search for every unsuccessful live search. Kelsy will only do this if it is fun, and not finding the dog 85% of the time is not fun.
Now for Seattle, WA (98198)
Temp: 42°F
Feels like: 37°F
Light Rain
Humidity: 93%
Wind: SSE 9 mph
A few other lessons to learn from the search for Leo:
- I had a hard time seeing things in the distance because my glasses were drenched with rain. I will need to replace that hat that Komu ate, to keep my glasses dry.
- Before searching with Kelsy, I advised the people who hired us that a search dog was probably not the most effective tool in this case, and might not be necessary. They had sightings grouped around this area, and I was leaning toward a humane trap and a camera. They chose to hire the search dog just to cover all the bases, which I would probably do if my dog was missing. It turned out that the search dog was not the best tool in this case because we simply could never catch up. There's a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Elmer Fudd follows rabbit tracks around and around in a circle until Bugs comes up behind him and asks him what he's looking for. If a dog won't stop running, Kelsy can be on the right trail all day long and never catch up. A volunteer asked, "Do dogs ever run until they drop?" Maybe, but I would drop long before any dog would. Dogs can run for days, non-stop. Even if the dog is running in circles, it can be very difficult to catch up.
- The search dog gets attention and attracts involvement. Most people have never seen a dog searching for a lost dog. It attracts attention, which can be useful. In this case, many employees of the various agencies on the Fircrest campus took an interest in Leo, and they called in sightings, helping us track his movements.
- I should have brought a wildlife camera with me. I could have set it up the first day. It turns out it wasn't really necessary, but I should have had it on hand and ready.
- The lead volunteer in the search forgot to bring her phone charger. All the fliers had her number listed, plus, the volunteers were calling her. Cleverly, she borrowed a volunteer's phone and had her phone forwarded to the borrowed phone. In the future, I should remind people to make sure they have a phone charger.
- Leo found food left out for feral cats. Quite often on my searches, the trail Kelsy follows leads to food left out for feral cats. If your dog is missing, try to find out who is feeding feral cats in the area. If they can tell you where they place cat food, that would be a good place to look for your dog.
