October 29, 2008

I took Mercury in his crate and walked with him around Jean and Al’s property. Since he is heavy in his crate, I put the crate on a dolly and wheeled him around on the gravel driveway in various directions until I found a secure, safe space around on the driveway where there are various old vehicles and “junk/stuff.” I liked this location because of all the stuff that could cause the scent to go in all different direction. There must be all kinds of different scents because of the old vehicles.

I waited about an hour to bring Dino out. It was just starting to get dark. It was warm out with a bit of breeze. I started Dino completely in an opposite direction of where I knew Mercury was. I even stopped for about 10 minutes with Dino in harness to talk to Jean after she got home from work. I started Dino out saying “Find Felix” and started near another house with a large fenced yard and known cats in the yard. Dino found three locations in the fencing where the cats come and go. At each point I clicked and treated and praised.

Dino also found a dead bird that he was very interested in. I have noticed since starting this training with Dino that he is very interested in dead “stuff” we find on the road and various spots. Instead of eating it like he used to, he now sniffs it and seems to figure out what it is. When I find what appears to be the remains of an animal like blood on the street, I call Dino over to show him to let him know that it is OK to check this stuff out and kind of “keep it in his memory banks.”

This continued around the house, behind the house and around another old building, each time checking various spots. He did seem very interested in various spots, but we didn’t find any cats. He continued behind the house with cats finding a couple entrances and exits, each time clicking and treating and praising.

Dino continued on his own away from that house and to the front of warehouse where Mercury was waiting. Dino followed the trailed of how I rolled Mercury in his crate and dolly around various objects and vehicles directly to where Mercury was waiting. I said “Find Felix” and his pawed at the crate and came back to me, jumping on me. I immediately clicked and let him have the bag of treats and then played with the rawhide.

I was pretty happy with what Dino did. I have him doing searches now at an hour and so far, so good he is able to get them. I am trying to vary doing tracking and area searches for cats do he gets ongoing experience with both. I liked that he remained interested in focused.