molly

… complements of Merit! Below is a post we got this week from Merit’s owner and handler – Terri Heck. We are so proud of these ladies and the service they provide to their community. We never can hear enough about the searches – Keep up the great work! You can read more about Merit, Terri and their other working team (Apache & husband Jim) on their website: Summit Search & Rescue

<<Hey all,  Most of the time our searches are not such that I am compelled to bore you with the details but last night’s is an exception.

first and foremost I am proud of “Merit” and maybe somewhat of this “not so young handler”. A brief synopsis follows. Auto accident – car on roof – flattened. Driver and passenger fled on foot. Passenger apprehended approx. 1/2 mile away laying in thicket. First I had to impersonate an auto mechanic as I layed on the road on my back to be able to have access to the air bag and steering wheel as I prepared a scent article. Trail was picked up on the road, crossing a major creek (bridge thankfully) and into a field. Working across the briar laden field she came to a thicket area (I was then informed that this was where the passenger was apprehended. She continued into increasingly thick thicket. At this point this handler had to belly crawl (police department estimated atleast 50 yards). Scuff marks were observed in several areas. Note: fenced in GSD’s were running a fence line next to us barking – ignored by “Merit”. Barbed wire tried to take us down as well. “Merit” then had a strong alert on the fence wanting to get to the other side. Fence was bent down a bit. After we were assured the GSDs could not get to that area we lifted her over the fence. The trail continued through an area of storage sheds, abandoned buildings etc and out to the road about 3/4 of a mile North of where the accident occurred. Trail ended at that point. After several casts she jumped up on me. Strong trail for an hour! Walking back on the road – back tracking was clearly not a plan – but walked to see if anything else was noticed. Shortly after ending point “Merit” on collar had a strong alert at the golf course . Across grass from road tire tracks were observed and scraped pavement – police department felt strong likelihood they had lost control at that point but were able to continue until lost control again at crash site. 30 minutes after returning home I was notified that the subject was in custody – dog’s trail confirmed. Police department credits the dog with the quick direction of their investigation and subsequent apprehension. Love this dog!  Terri>>

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday too yoou. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FINNY, Happy Birthday tooooo yooooou! Wow – it’s been two years since our last litter?! Fin is the light of my life and I am very blessed to have him. He had a great birthday! He wore his ‘Birthday Dog’ bandana (a tradition in our house on their birthday) and had his friend Tucker come play for the day. He got lots of goodies – including the jumps. Look at him go! 🙂

Henry is our 3yr old nephew that lives in Seattle, WA. Though Henry has a yellow lab, for some reason he is afraid of other dogs. When he comes to Charlotte, we’ve made a point for him to visit with Fin (I very slowly bring Fin into the scene and have him adjust to Fin being there) and realize that he is not scary. Just the other day we got a piece of mail addressed to Fin. I waited to open it today ’til I had help getting pictures. It was a very special valentine from Henry to Fin. Fin had to email Henry back to let him know he got it:

“Dear Henry, It’s me Fin! I am so excited that you sent me a valentine. My Mommy and I opened it together this morning and now it is on our refrigerator. Mommy’s friend Melissa took pictures of me so that you can see me opening it. You did a great job coloring the envelope and we loved your finger prints. I put the valentine in my mouth after I put my whole nose in the envelope and wagged my tail b/c I knew your smell and it was in the envelope. Remember, I sniffed and found you while you were at GranMary’s? I knew you sent it to me and I miss you! I hope I can come see you very soon when you come to Charlotte. Happy Valentines Day to you too Henry! I love you.

Love, Finny”

West coast – Way to go Barry & Carolina! In Fresno, CA this past weekend Carolina picked up three more points with Barry handling both days. One point to go to her championship. Way to go guys!!

East coast – In Atlanta, GA , both of us (Molly & Michael) had the opportunity to judge Bloodhound sweepstakes at the regional specialty. This was our first time and we really enjoyed it.  Thank you to the Southeastern Bloodhound Club for the invite to do so! Hopefully we’ll find the time to load up to youtube the videos that were taken.

Last week felt like spring – this week brought us some of the white stuff. We usually get it once or twice a winter and the dogs love it!

I got an email from Sherman’s Mom, Beth, and here it is: “Hi! Just a quick brag- Sherman earned his 2nd Rally Novice leg today with a perfect score of 100! Took 2nd place to an Airedale who also earned a 100 but was faster…………….but we couldn’t be prouder!”  And neither can we!!! What a team you two are!

UPDATE!! – Sherman (Sunday) finished his Rally Novice title today – again second place. What a huge accomplishment for a dog less than 2yrs old! His name now reads:

HIT Sherick M&M’s Red Hot Howlitzer, CD, EECT, Can MT, Am/Can RN

Holy Smokes! 🙂 We congratulate you both and are beaming because we are so proud!!

Wow – it’s the 20th of January and Price could not have hand picked a better day for his birthday. It’s 70 degrees!?! We had a very nice afternoon playing outside and taking advantage of this random weather. Last year on this day it had snowed!  Price enjoyed starting his day with putting on the ‘Birthday Dog’ bandana (a tradition in our house) and with leftovers in his food for a ‘birthday breakfast.’ Then he was given his new toy and has been lavished all day until ‘birthday dinner!’ As I write this, he is peacefully sleeping at my feet. It is easy to remember it, like it was yesterday, when you were a little baby …. our sweet Pricey who we love. Happy Birthday big guy!

Not sure about you, but we’re not so much into entertaining unless we are around other ‘dog folks’ because those who don’t like the dogs just can’t understand us that well. We decided that we’d host a pot luck Christmas party at our house this weekend (after Fin’s big trail!) and invited the group that we normally go trailing training with. The only requirements were to bring something and to come in dog clothes. Some folks also brought their dogs to play and we had a great time together! Thanks to everyone who came, we had a fantastic time and the dogs did too. Bloodhound (well, and black/tan coonhound – thanks Chip!) folk just ‘get it’ and b/c of that we all had a great time… 🙂 Thanks Mike for the photos!

Yep, that’s right!! The oldest trail Fin had worked to date was a little over 24hrs old. We went trailing last weekend and all week afterwards I wondered if Fin could do a ~really~ old trail. Could he be put up to the test to run 36 or 48hrs old? What about a week long? Wouldn’t that be asking a lot? It was b/c of these nagging thoughts that I finally decided I’d act upon them and see what he could do! We got out there Sunday, harnessed Fin up, gave him the search command and he commited to it right away. Parts of the trail were foot step for foot step and other parts he worked fairly wide. This trail had aged in a very busy corporate park, next to (and the bulk of it parallel to) an interstate (separated from the interstate just by a wrought iron fence), through rain & snow over the course of that week. He made his way to the runner in about 15 minutes and boy were we ALL so happy!! These dogs never cease to amaze me with their abilities…what a neat day!