October 27, 2008

I put Mercury in his carrier and hid him underneath a vacant house a couple of houses away from mine. I waited almost an hour before I brought out Dino. I brought Dino in from a different direction from how I walked Mercury down to the spot.

From out on the highway, out in front of the house, I told Dino “Find Felix.” He immediately started to look around and check spots. I walked him around the house and up on the porch and telling him “check” in different spots. He was very interested in finding something. We were in the brush and open space in front of the house doing “checks.” We walked closer to the house, and Dino zeroed in on the direction of where Mercury was. He checked the side steps and came back down and then went down the short hill and underneath the house to exactly where Mercury was. I said “Find Felix” and he came back to me and jumped on me, which is his signal when he finds a cat. However, he forgot to paw the crate. So, I said “Find Felix” and he went back to the crate, pawed at it and came back to me and jumped on me. I clicked and gave him his bag of treats and played with his rawhide bone.

I was surprised how fast he found Mercury. I thought due to the time frame of an hour that it would take him longer, and also, since I had walked with Mercury from the opposite direction. The weather was overcast with a light breeze.