Deer, Sir Handsome Hamilton Felixander Bleu bear.

 

 

Felix is awesome 9/10 times.  He pulls a random ” I forgot i need to indicate” Felix proved to me Saturday that he may be through with that problem. Myself..I had a problem of my own. I need to work on my navigation. He worked for about a hour (the longest hes done yet)(because I cut the area poorly) After a long while of not finding the subject..he got the scent of a deer instead. There he went, until I could no longer hear his bell. Of course, I had left his astro (k9 gps) collar plugged in at home. Eventually he returned, out of breath and very tired. I rested him and continued the search. Felix soon found Erick (our loyal hider) and after all of that running, a hour of searching he came back to me and barked.  A very tired bark, but a bark. We do have a deer problem, but at the same time I was so proud of the fact that he still indicated and did  perfect 2 refinds. The crazy young rescue Shepherd has turned out to be quite a loyal, hard working, dedicated dog. I’m glad I met you, Felix Bleu.

Felix goes BEAST MODE.

Felix has been pushed into over drive. My once bony shepherd is now a running working machine. He spends a lot of time running up and down steep banks retrieving sticks from the creek. It has been a rainy months so the current has been very strong. Felix also has a new love for Frisbee. He is really good at it too! Felix has also enjoyed pulling me around town on my skateboard. I have also increased his food quantity and he finally looks great. He has packed on a lot of muscle but is still very lean. His stamina is incredible. Felix has also had a ton of search work. His find/refind are perfect and he is now indicating without a prompt. I made a narrow trail through the thick brush out back. This provided Felix with a direct refind to my front. The barking then came easy. At first Felix would jump around me and back. The trail forces him to bark right away in front of me. I believe it will help make his indication solid. I can’t wait to start testing him.

from the spring (new pictures will be up soon)

Memorial day weekend Search

This weekend was spent on the Chenango river with members from Amigo, Eagle Valley, and New Jersey K9 Teams. This was a recovery mission for a missing person from a car accident about a week ago. Weather unfortunately has not been a help for local rescue efforts. Binghamton is known for its drizzly weather bit this year has been very wet. Water levels are high and the currents are very strong. We had six K9 teams searching along the river. We did have interest in some areas but nothing conclusive. I made out with a nice sunburn but it was worth it. Unfortunately in accidents like this trying to give the family closure is sometimes the best we can do. I look forward to having a certified dog so I can help more people. The more dogs, the better.

Rita and Raven getting readu to go out

 

Knight in shining armor

Mr. Felix Bleu has joined our family with open arms. Originally, my boyfriends Idea. ” We need to have at least 3 dogs so it won’t be a big deal when we bring a foster in.” Felix is now a official member of the pack. He made up my mind with his amazing search ability. He has a endless hunt drive and will not give up looking for his toy. This past weekend Felix blew my mind watching his enthusiasm to find his subject and his relentless drive to play play play. Felix is a true athlete. He is a beautiful working machine. His nonstop whining and howling in the house has calmed down a lot. He has been meeting new people, going new places, going for lots of rides and having lots of playtime. He is now working on his indication (bark) This is pretty easy for him because he is a very, very vocal dog. Felix, Mika and Banzai get along well. Although he does tend to annoy them with his obnoxious whining their corrections are well received and they have actually done the majority of training him to calm down in the house.

Mika has been acting flakey on and off for the past few months which makes me glad to have Bleu, in case Mika doesn’t make it as a search dog. The worst has been in the past week. She has been very skiddish acting and seems to be startled easily. This weekend, we intend to take things easy and mainly just play and focus work.

Banzai is growing up. She is over 2 years old now and is starting to mellow out. She has become very snugly and relaxed around the house. She does well on her own now and I can put a lot of trust into her. She is doing good with her obedience and enjoys our walks and playtime. Just as I was writing this I managed to turn around and see her standing on the table licking a plate! so much for growing up! Enjoy the pics!

Felix

Today we trained at the old veterinary hospital on the old vestal road. Vestal, NY. Last weeks training with Eagle Valley at Tech City gave Mika and I a good advantage for today’s training. Mika did a excellent job and seemed very comfortable doing building work. We also did some cadaver indication work, making her platz or (down) at the source.

What happened next was rather remarkable. Jen got a call about a dog who needed a home. The lady said that he was a German Shepherd, who needed a job. She wasn’t far away so we figured we could stop over and check him out. Of course we had our doubts, most GSDs in the area are poorly bred American GSDs.  We arrived to the house where  a beautiful, tall, sleek German, German Shepherd stood standing in the fence. No defensive barking, a bit skiddish but friendly. He was a dream. German, GSDs unlike American GSDs are smaller, more agile, and typically higher drive and make crazy working dogs. The final test is when I brought Mika out of the car. They met through the fence, he didn’t even let out a bark (very rare for a Shepherd) They played like crazy while they signed him over to us. His name was Bleu. I changed his name to fit his background, and his new working life. His name is now Felix, a German name meaning lucky, or happy. He is already becoming attached and very in tuned to me. Felix is now fast asleep in front of the TV, welcome to the pack, Felix.

Male, not neutered, 78 lbs, about 1 year old

TECH CITY

Sunday we got a chance to train at Tech City in Kingston, NY. This was the home for thousands of IBM workers. We got to train in a empty office building. Mika had to dart into dark rooms and check for human scent. Building work is a lot different than wilderness. The scent moves in strange ways making it much more difficult for the dogs. Mika had got the strongest scent in the room before the subject, and even missed the subject twice and had to re-enter the room a 3rd time. She kept a level head and kept working. She came across a lot of difficulty following the scent back on the “show me”. I got rid of the show me all together, and rewarded her at me. It worked great. She had tons of fun, did a lot of work and learned how to work scent in buildings. Enjoy the pictures!

22nd & 23rd training

22nd& 23rd Training

This weekend was a blast. Mika and I spent the weekend Training with Jen and Mika’s favorite sisters Emeline and Raina. Saturday Amigo Trained at Cole Park in Harpursville, NY and Sunday we Trained at Rita’s school in Hancock. It was extremely cold but we did alot of training.

I had set up a long off trail problem, snow burial and cadaver.

Mika loved the snow burial. The off trail problem however wasn’t as good. Mika seemed scared to approach the subject. She then even acted strange about taking a certain trail. After training Jen and I went to gander mountain and home depot. we worked on some obedience. That got Mika right out of her funk and was her normal self again.

Sunday at Ritas School in Hancock Mika did excellent. Rita showed me a good exercise to help mika build up subject loyalty and have her move into the subject, instead of being apprehensive like the day before. It worked and Mika really made me proud. She got to meet a lot of different kids and even play and even be handled by them. One boy, chris had Mika doing obedience commands.

The end of November.

November has been a busy month for me, and the pack. I turned 20, went to Arizona, I Spent a weekend  at a Life Long Tail’s adoption drive. Two of my fosters got adopted!, I am so happy for them! this month I have done a lot of training with mika, and it’s really showing.

Mika is doing excellent with training. Mika has proven time and time again she has what it takes to get certified and that’s exactly what we will aim for. Now the question is, do I have what it takes?

Mika is about 9-10 months old now. She weighs roughly 70 lbs. She has a thick furry coat, A great temperament, and most of all she loves to work. Mika works for squeaky tennis balls, she loves them.

Mika now has a full find, and 75% of her alert  and a refind. She has automatically worked in her own find/refind for cadaver. I chose a sit for the alert.

Last week, Mika worked down a hill into a quarry in the pitch black. She found the person, alerted me, then did the refind perfectly. Then after she forgot her ball in the quarry. When I asked her where her ball went she stopped, turned and ran down the trail out of sight, and came back prancing with her ball in her mouth. She makes a great partner.

AZ Trip

SO this past week was very busy! My boyfriend Nick and I went to AZ to visit his mom and family. The plane ride was horrible (they make me very uncomfortable)When we finally got there it was beautiful! We got to shoot guns in the desert, drink lots of beer and go to tons of fast food places we don’t have in NY. Perfect way to spend the week!

Nov 9th was my birthday. So That makes me 20. It also makes me feel that I have really accomplished alot in the last few years. I started my own Dog Training Business, Joined K9 SAR (about a year ago) and I  also met Jen Culver who got me into rescuing/fostering. Who knew another “K9 Addict”[ <--Titchler(can't spell) line!! ] was just a few miles away from me this whole time! Although I am not living off of dog training income at this point I am proud to say that I am heading in the right direction. 2011 hit’s of my first real advertisement. I will now be featured in the yellow book for Broome and Tioga county.

I am proud to say that I am young and already have a good grip and head start on what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’m going to keep on trucking and make my goal a reality.

Here are some pics of the trip! Enjoy!

Friday Training day!

Friday Training day! Mika did awesome, and I did not. I definitely need to work on my navigation. If it wasn’t for my awesome dog and Jen telling me where I should go, we probably would have never found the subject! I realized how easy it is to get turned around while watching your dog. I had no clue where the subject was until Mika took off ahead of me. She did a good refind and alert. It was however pretty cool having to rely 100% off of my dog. When she came back to alert she barked at me on her own and then I asked for stronger ones before allowing her to bring me back to the subject.