A lot has happenned!

Lets go back 2 weeks.  I went down to North Carolina the weekend of Sept 28-30th for a class on Human Remains Detection.  It was a great class and I learned a lot and met some really great people from that area.  I even managed to pick up a southern drawl in 2 days and then loose it again 2 days later, although my co-workers had a good time laughing at me for those 2 days. 

Storm got exposed to the smell of human remains and WOW, did it smell.  He worked his butt off down there and sadly the only nice days were the day I came down and the day I left, On Saturday it poured like all get out, and we were camping!

This weekend (yesterday), was Storms (and mine), K9 certification test.  It was a really long day and the culmination of a years worth of training.  In case anyone doesn't know what the test consists of, it is a 4 stage process. 

1) A written test on knowledge of working your dog, and dog health and safety,

2) A day search problem consisting of an area search of 80-120 acres.  You must notify the proctors of dogs alert and you have to successfully locate the victim in 3 hours or less.  There is actually more to it then this, you get a briefing, then the proctors become your support members, you brief them, you go out and search, once you locate the person, you have to assess him medically and treat him, then you have to radio in your location and any necessary needs for extrication.  I can honestly say that I almost failed this part, but my brilliant dog saved my butt by finding the subject before I made a fatal error.  There is a waiting period of at least 45 minutes between this problem and the next one.

3) A trail problem.  The trail problem consists of a person going down a trail up to a mile long and off of the trail between 20-30 feet.  The dog must work the trail and find the subject.  Storm did brilliantly and here I screwed up again by not bringing my full pack.  They gave me a patient with a serious leg injury and I didn't have any medical supplies on my because I had left them in the car.  Lesson Learned.

4) The Night Problem.  After Dark you get a briefing, them brief again the proctors as support people and you must search an area up to 40 acres in an hour and a half.  Storm did BRILLIANTLY.  We found the victim in very short order thanks to Storms lead and we managed to pass the day despite all of my personal failures. 

It was a REALLY long day, I think I left the house at 6:15 in the morning and got home about 10pm, but a most satisfying day as we (I say we because Brenda Richards, my Search team K9 Coordinator helped me pick Storm out, and the rest of my team who helped me train him), taught a rescued dog, to help rescue others.  I can only hope that he and I have a long career together saving lives.

Looks like we will be heading down to North Carolina in about 2 weeks for a training class.  I know it seems kind of far, but for the money they are charging it is well worth the drive. 

I think I have also decided not to put it off too much longer, I'm going to schedule Storm to take his test.  I'm both nervous and excited to go do it, I can only hope that I perform as well as Storm does.

Success!

Well it has certainly been awhile since I have posted on here it was a long hot summer and we really didn't train much, but some other interesting things happened.

I started my own business, Working K9 Wear, making vests for working dogs of all types.  You can check out my website at www.workingk9wear.com.  Since I started the company I have had a logo contest where I got some help from an awesome local company called Mosaic Interactive located in Bethlehem PA.  They called me in, got my input on what I was looking for and came up with an AMAZING logo.  I immediately had business cards, a banner and plastered it on my (newer) car.  (I was in a car accident over this summer as well and my car was totaled).  Here are some photos so you can see the awesomeness!

We had an interesting weekend this weekend as well.  Storm and I spoke at a local dog training/pet supply place named CHAAR in Allentown.  They brought us in to talk about search an rescue dogs, their training, etc.  They had also brought in 2 Bethlehem police K9 handlers and their dogs to speak and do a demo.

Sunday Storm and I drove out to the Fredon area of NJ for some multi-team training.  We were joined by at least 3 other teams for a beautiful sunny day of hide and seek with the dogs.  Storm and I were assigned a 20 acre area, where a subject was hiding.  Myself and a support person walked out in head high soaking wet weeds(from the previous days storm), for a little over an hour before Storm was able to locate his subject.  Storm did an awesome job and the subject told me that once Storm found him, he didn't hesitate to bark at all!  It was awesome to hear as his alert is something we are working on.

Looks like I may be assisting with another dogs testing this weekend, sadly Storm would have to stay at home for this one, but who knows, his time for a test may be coming soon!

The search team responded to a call last night of a missing grandfather and his two grandchildren.  Most of the team got their faces plastered in the news report, but Storm got his own face shot up close!  He didn't even get to help, but he made the news in one of the vests that I made.  Here is a link to the clip.  http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/Grandfather-2-grandchildren-found-alive-on-Hawk-Mountain-in-Albany-Township-Berks-County/-/121418/15184684/-/6haerr/-/index.html

I know it has been a while, and I apologize.  I'm in the process of trying to create a business making vests for working dogs.  I have put in an application for assistance on Peerbackers in the hope I can raise enough funding to gain the equipment I need to fund this venture.  Stay tuned for updates!

What a great week!

This past week was SAR-EX, the PA search and rescue conference.  I had never been to one before and it was cool to meet search and rescue people from all over the state (and NJ).  I took a bunch of classes, but the real big day was Saturday. 

Saturday morning I took my FTM (Field Team Member) exam and passed it without much difficulty.  Immediately after taking that exam I signed Storm up for his Canine Good Citizen test.  In all honesty I was more worried about how Storm was going to do that how I was going to do.  Needless to say Storm passed his exam (I still don't know how), and got yet another step closer to being able to be certified later this year.  There were definitely some nail biting moments for me and I really had no idea what I was doing for the test as I had never taken it before.  Storm LOVES to meet other dogs, but when doing so he usually lunges at them, well for some reason, during the test, no lunging.  Storm also has a tendency to do the same thing when meeting people..during the test...again, no lunging.  Storm and I have NEVER worked on stay, and when the test proctor told me to tell him to stay, and then drop the leash, I assumed that was going to be the automatic failure.  I was STUNNED!  Storm listened, and stayed long enough for him to pass his test.

Later that afternoon I took my FTL (Field Team Leader) test and passed that as well.  It was a really good conference for me and I look forward to leading Storm and other team members on the search for missing people in the near future.

Nearly a month since my last post...

It has been some time since my last post.  There was a week where my training partner Mike was out of town and I was busy with work and didn't really have time to train, but since Mike has come back I admit we have trained quite a few times.  Most recently we trained on Saturday.  Storm did a rather long problem and the wind was definitely not in his favor.  We were training in our usual area near Kidspeace but we decided that we would work the area a little different then we usually do, the opposite direction.  Starting from the West end of the property Storm and I moved up the valley, following the creek looking for Mike.  We went from one end to the other with no sign of him.  It was then we started back in the opposite direction.  Mike called me at one point to tell me that we had passed him a while ago, to which I informed him that we were working our way back through the assigned area.  I caught a glimpse of mike first, he was hiding in a blue tarp, but not long after Storm caught his scent and headed in that direction.  Storm had a small issue with the tarp for about 5 seconds but then figured it out.  Mike had timed me from the start and told me that Storm was working for a good 45 minutes.  Not too shabby!  I managed to snap this picture of Storm while we were taking a small break.

What a beautiful day...

Very hard to believe that today is only March 18th.  The weather today started out kind of iffy with pretty heavy fog and a slight chill but around 10:30 it burned off and the sun came out.  It reached about 70 at Hickory Run State Park where we had K9 training today. 

Storm handled one of his biggest search problems yet today and he hung in there like a trooper and never gave up.  The wind was constantly changing on me while we were in the woods and he never really had an advantage at all until we were literally on top of our subject.  He did appear to catch some scent in a specific area, and we focused our search in that general direction which led to the find.  He did finally find his subject, but I was disappointed in his bark to let me know he had found someone.  It is obvious that it is an area that we will still need to work on. 

Storm did get to put his new search vest to good use.  It fit him well but it has some room for improvement on my side with the materials I used as the edge piping didn't hold up very well.  I'll have to find something a little more durable.

An old picture....

This picture was taken by a friend..(I didn't know she had it)  This has to be about 2 months after I got Storm and I just had to share it because it is PRICELESS!

Looking forward...

Well, we are supposed to train on Sunday and I'm looking forward to it.  Storm has been doing excellent and I just can't wait to see him excel even more.

On wednesday this week, I accompanied another team member, Audie Poole on an excursion to find a search puppy.  After many miles we think we found a puppy that will do great and she is now the proud owner of a border collie.

Sadly Storm is no longer the puppy of the search team, but I think this new border collie will be a great new addition and I look forward to seeing great things from him.

Storm in his new hand sewn search vest

What am I going to do today..

While most people had to work yesterday, I put in some long hours at work so I had off.  In addition the school is on Spring Break, so I am off for 10 days!  This has its pluses and minuses, but this is not the place for that. 

I called up Mike, and he agreed to meet me after he got off of work to do a little training.  Storm and I haven't been able to train much due to his being Neutered, and that we had just been busy, so it was a real treat to be able to get out there and train. 

The weather was kind of chilly, but the sun was out and it was a nice afternoon/evening.  Storm went first.  We are still working on his bark and hold and so we only did something really short.  Mike hid behind a nearby tree.  When I released Storm he seemed to lack focus, ran all willy nilly all over the place before coming back to Mike.  He did take a little coaxing, but he started barking his head off.  I was VERY pleased.

Molly went next, but when Storms turn came again the weather had turned, just like that.  The clouds rolled in and the wind picked up and it started snowing, SIDEWAYS!  Mike was already hidden, so I released Storm and he took off immediately.  I trudged through the blinding snow up the hill to the area where Mike was hidden, when he calls me on the radio that Storm has found him.  I wasn't anywhere close and I couldn't hear him barking as the wind was just deafening.  I finally made it up to both Mike and Storm, but Storm wasn't barking much anymore.  We got him to bark a few more times, and then we rewarded him with his ball.

We ran Molly again and then did another quick one for Storm.  Mike hid and Storm just found him right away, even against the wind and started barking at him for his ball.  All in all I would say a pretty successful day.

A little late since this was Thursdays news...

Today was a big day in Storms fairly new life.  Somewhere along the line Storm got broken, so I took him to the vet today to get fixed.  Yes this is a bit of a joke, courtesy of my father but I took Storm to the vet today to get neutered.  I dropped Storm off, not at my usual vet. as they were too expensive for me for this.  I dropped Storm at Pleasant Valley Animal Hospital after picking up a coupon at the Humane Society for a low cost Spay/Neuter form.  They are located in Quakertown, although about 5 miles out of town to the east.  It was a nice long country drive through the woods, but man it was out there.  I dropped Storm off and went to work. 

I picked up a co-worker on the way who told me a horror story about a friend of his who took a dog to that same animal hospital and it died!  I was really upset for him telling me this, but I had already left Storm there, and had no time to really do anything about it, and he needed to be neutered.  I was filled with dread all day worrying about my puppy.  About 4:30 I got a call that his surgery was done and that he did fine, I can't tell you what a relief it was to get that phone call. 

I left work at 7:15 and drove like crazy to go pick up Storm.  I arrived there about 8 and picked him up.  Storm cost me an extra $24 because he was one pound over the 40 pound limit, unbelievable!  Storm seemed fine and is back to his normal rambunctious self. 

Six days later Storm is definitely back to his old self with no apparent ill effects or consequences.  He is bounding around the house fine, and as controlled as I can keep him.  Storm drove with me to a Search on Sunday, he got out of the car to socialize a bit, but he wasn't able to do much else.

Hooray for training!

So we had training yesterday at Nockamixon State Park.  Storm initially did a runaway to try and get a recall going but he just wouldn't seem to leave his subject.  Brenda decided to try and frustrate Storm to try and get a bark from him but he just wouldn't do it.  We ran all the dogs present through problems and Storm was especially funny, we encountered some mud and he decided that he didn't want to go in it so he took a longer route and walked around.  He managed to find his subject faster than Brenda or I could keep up and we told Dan to try and get him to bark as well, still no dice. 

Brenda and I talked about getting Storm to bark and we decided that I would train Storm to bark on command using his ball when I got home.

Needless to say that it didn't take long.  Probably about a half an hour of intermittent teasing with the ball,Storm will now bark on command when teased with the ball.  It will take a little more work before he just does it without the ball, but the ball is supposed to be his motivator anyways.

Saturday. A cold, but fun day.

I volunteered to help out Ranger Bacon at the Lackawanna State Park Winter Fest today with Storm.  My job was basically to tear apart my search pack to show and discuss with any interested parties what we carry around with us on and why.  While we didn't have quite the turn out that was expected, we did get approximately 30 or so people to come see the dogs, and I got to discuss the pack contents a little bit.

Storm took this opportunity to show off for the kids with his 6 month old enthusiasm and just made the find look easy.  That dog will do just about anything for his ball.  Vikki Coup told me that she was really impressed with his progress and considering the source that is high praise!

After returning home I found that the information and pledge pages are up for the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community is up and I registered ASAP!

Make a pledge for my Walk for a Healthy Community

A lot has been happenning...

Seems that I am always apologizing for not writing here on my blog, well this will not be an exception.  Life has been really busy lately as I have returned back to work after being off for 5 weeks.  In addition, last week I was sick and in bed for 3 days with something horrible that I wouldn't wish on anyone. 

Sadly the training has been cut back a lot due to returning to work and my work hours changing, however, there have been three trainings that a few of us have attended that I have not written about, most recently was yesterday. 

Storm is still having issues with his recall, and we are trying to work hard on that.  Basically a recall is when the dog finds someone, he needs to come back to the handler and notify them that he has found someone.  Storm gets a reward from the person he finds in training and is so excited about getting it that he doesn't want to leave them.  It is quite a bit of training, and something that will require a bit of practice.  Right now Storm is more than capable of finding lost people with very little difficulty. and he approved it again on Saturday.

The two previous trainings we were also focused on recall, with similar results, mediocre.  I just need to work harder with him and get him motivated in some way to come back.

Ah Tuesday....

As many of my other dog handling friends on the team will tell you, it never fails that when we want to train on a Tuesday night the weather is ALWAYS crappy, this past Tuesday was no exception.  The day started off with rain and freezing rain, and a lot of the roads had ice on them.  As the day wore on though it switched to mostly rain, and was supposed to stop by the evening.

Brenda and I had previously arranged on Sunday that we were going to meet Tuesday night for training, and I had pulled Mike Eck in on it as well.  Brenda got out of work late, but Mike and I still went out to train and met up at about 6pm. 

While it had stopped raining the fog had moved in with a vengeance.  After parking my car I moved up into the field to do some recall work with Storm only to turn around and not be able to see my car.  Visibility was about 10 feet, but the temperature was warm enough that I was only wearing a sweatshirt. 

We started off with Storm, Mike hid in the woods and I moved further out into the field.  When I told Storm to "Go Find Him", Storm immediately took off for the woods.  I was only barely able to see him moving from the little light that hangs from his collar.  When I reached the field, Storm was moving back and forth across the edge as if waiting for me to catch up.  I started on the North side moving about 5 feet from the northern edge.  Storm was ranging well into the woods and back out to me.  At some point he got Mikes scent and found him, I honestly couldn't tell through the fog.  Mike called me and told me that Storm had found him, I called Storm back to me, and he came, after he sat looking at me I told him to "Show Me", at which time he returned back to Mike.  I honestly still could not see Mike through the fog, so I recalled Storm again.  After his return and my command I was able to follow him into Mike and told Mike to give Storm his reward. 

We ran molly next with a similar problem, and Molly found me just fine.  Since the fog was so bad the next problem that we did for Storm was just to hide out in the field.  Mike went out and hid somewhere in the fog, while I waited with Storm til he was ready.  Upon release, Storm ranged very well to the left and right of me as we worked our way across the field.  Again, at some point Storm caught Mikes scent and was able to find him.  It took 3 times before Storm returned to me on his recall, but I was then able to recall him again in 1 shot the second time and I was able to follow him in.

Seems like every Monday I am writing about Sunday..

Needless to say yesterday was a quite a bit hectic.  I had made arrangements with Mike and Chrissy to do some training Sunday on Saturday evening when I get a phone call from Mike.  Turns out we had been called out for an actual search on Sunday morning to look for a missing 19yo kid that had been hit by a car and then ran off.  You can read the actual article here - (read the article here) Meeting time was 7:30am up in the Poconos. 

Being currently out of work my schedule is...well kind of messed up and I don't think I got but 2 hours of sleep before being up at 5 to take care of the dogs.  Sadly Storm is not certified so he could not work.  After getting up there and getting organized the three search teams that were there located the victim at approximately 10:30 (read the article here).

When I got home I was exhausted, but I messaged Mike and he and Chrissy were still up for doing some training at 2pm.  I passed out briefly on the couch before heading up to Shnecksville station 22.

I met Mike and Chrissy up at the station and we ran all of the dogs at least twice.  Storm did amazing and we are working on starting a recall so that after he finds the subject he comes back to get me to lead me in to him. 

I came home and immediately passed out in bed, it was a very long day.

Sunday!

While normal people are looking at having to go back to work tomorrow, I am looking at another day of library research for grants for the Team.  Brenda sent us an email about training out at the Appalachian Trail last minute, although Mike Eck and I had actually already planned on meeting up there for training at the same place.  It was really good to see the whole team out and good fun was had by all. 

Storm got to show off for Brenda, (she actually hasn't seen him work a real "problem") and she made a comment about not having to do "runaways" anymore.  We entered assigned area against the wind (my mistake) and started grid searching with Storm off leash.  Per Brenda, the gully we encountered was going to be a natural boundry for my area.  I continued along the gully until we reached the edge of the woods at a paved road and started back into the woods when Storm caught a scent and took off running.  He immediately found team member Diane Nickerson who was hiding in the woods for him.

It didn't take him long at all, but Brenda was really impressed at how Storm was progressing.  I'm so proud of my little puppy!

10 days!

I cannot believe it has been 10 days since I last posted on this blog.  Happy New Year to everyone!  I have done some training in the last few days, the first being Thursday. 

Mike Eck and I met at Shnecksville station 22 and took the Storm and Molly out for a a few runs.  We made sure to use the wind to our advantage and man did it work!  I put Storm WAY down the hill from where Mike was hiding and no joke as soon as I told Storm to go "Find" he took off running.  I hadn't made it more that 75 feet before Storm had already located Mike, who I have to say was pretty far away.

Molly also did really well, but was having some issues with her recall, she wouldn't give an alert to Mike despite coming in and finding me several times. 

Mike hid for Storm again and the same thing happened, although a funny thing, Storm wet way up another hill looking for Mike and thinking he was on the wrong trail I called to him to kind of reel him back in, only to find out in another 10 seconds that Mike was actually hidden in the area that Storm was looking for him.  I don't think I will ever doubt my puppy again!