Oct 7, 2008

Juno went back to Tampa to train with the firefighters today.  She really had problems with her directionals.  I was glad, because it gave Ed an opportunity to watch and give his opinion.  He thinks she is confused and not getting enough reward for her efforts.  So, we'll back up in distance and amp up the reward!

She did a great job searching.  She is still very visual and first looks to see if she can find anyone.  She knows how to use her nose, she just doesn't know she is supposed to do it here.  I'm not concerned.  She will work it out. In fact, today she did a good job of knowing that she was hunting for a person.  And, when she decided to go the wrong way at the top of the hill, she figured she was wrong and turned and was rewarded with human scent.   She followed it right into the victim.  Yeah, Juno!!  The baby food is working well.  I froze it for today's session.  Ed believes that it is not how much they get, but how long to get it, so when it is frozen, she can lick it for a long time.

We will go back on Saturday for our last time before I return to West Virginia.  We won't have as much opportunity to train on rubble there, so I'll have time to get her foundation skills solid and ready to test.

This is the rubble at Tampa where we were training.  There is not very much, but it is fairly high.  The skinny person is NOT me..., but you can see that the pile is about 12 - 15 feet high in the area where we are working.  You can't see that most of the concrete rubble is standing on end at the top where the dog and I have to walk.  Most of it is from a road, so it is about 8 - 12 inches thick.  There is not much solid surface up there to walk on.