Tracking in the Woods

Tracking is going very well. This is how it works. Buddy is trained to be a scent-specific search and rescue dog. That means he only searches for one person. Up to this point, he's been tracking the scent of a 4Paws staff person named Kayla. For the past two days, Kayla has been hiding with Jonathan (and either me or Dave) and Buddy has been tracking her scent mixed with Jonathan's. Today we took Kayla out of the equation and Buddy found Jonathan!!! I controlled the track while Dave hid in the woods with Jonathan. Jeremy, the head trainer, ran along with me to coach-but he had me do the whole thing since I've been through the training before. Buddy's body language is pretty easy to read. It's obvious when he's on the scent and when he's lost it. That's great news! I didn't enjoy running through the muddy ravine that was filled with fallen timber (I'm terrified of snakes), but I did it.

After tracking we spent the afternoon at a busy mall working on heeling Buddy through crowds of people while tethered to Jonathan. We started off by eating lunch at the food court, and Buddy did great in a 'down' under the table. (Although I'm going to have to work with him on ignoring the distration of falling french fries-Jonathan's favorite food!) We walked all over the mall, up and down stairs, riding in elevators, and I even bought something in one of the stores. (Well, we WERE at a mall after all!) Jonathan stayed tethered for and hour and a half! Major accomplishment!!! He was even happy about it unless we stopped moving.

Jonathan is becoming more and more tollerant of Buddy. I've seen him reach out to touch Buddy several times. He enjoys touching him with his feet, and Buddy, being the attention seeking goof-ball that he is, loves it.

Keep the prayers coming-they're helping so much!!!

Heather