# Proud of my dogs



## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

3 days of testing with Master Trainer Diane Bettis and my boy got his land hrd certificate. My girl got her land hrd, water hrd (shoreline and boat), and her article certifications. Very proud of my pups! 

My boy did very well for water, but I called a scent pool downstream from source just a bit over acceptable testing requirements and since water certification is a two part :shoreline and boat, he wasn't able to do boat, which he is very good at. Still and all, it was a great time of meeting some excellent handler's and their dogs, learning from an awesome MT and LE officer. Weather was cold and rainy father first day, then just cold the next two days.. Good to be home and resting and my pups are zonkered and enjoying the Z's they are taking.


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

Congratulations!


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Wow a big congratulations!!! You all deserve a big celebration and time to spoil oneself lol!!!!


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Fantastic!Rest up and stay warm


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Thank you everyone


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Impressive! Congratulations!


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

That’s awesome! Congrats!


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

That's awesome! Congratulations!


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

well earned Z's for all three of you


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

and thank you for your web site. My hubby and I have just switched over from IPO to ManTrailing and your page gives all kinds of great info.


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## sebrench (Dec 2, 2014)

Wow, congrats!!!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Thanks everyone  

Car2ner that is wonderful to hear, I appreciate the feedback.. Are you enjoying the difference in how mantrailing is to IPO? (no disrespect to IPO) I swear, every time I run trails I am astounded at the beauty of the way the dogs interpret odor. Truly magical, imho


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

Hineni7 said:


> Thanks everyone
> 
> Car2ner that is wonderful to hear, I appreciate the feedback.. Are you enjoying the difference in how mantrailing is to IPO? (no disrespect to IPO) I swear, every time I run trails I am astounded at the beauty of the way the dogs interpret odor. Truly magical, imho



I am loving trying to solve the puzzle with my dogs. it isn't just "dog surfing", a term we heard from out M.T. instructor. The first trail it was amusing watching our big boy, he was looking for articles! When he found our decoy, he gave her a glance and then moved on looking for that darn missing article....hubby had to teach him that the human was the living breathing article to find. :smile2:


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Haha! But humans will be sooo much more fun then articles  

On my test for articles, I have taught my dogs using a scent article so weeding through trash wasn't so tedious, ya know? Anyhow, the MT had set the articles on a hillside and it was super crowded, people everywhere. She had also set the source for shoreline testing out. She stood at the base of the hill to denote the ending boundary and to make sure the shoreline test wasn't disturbed. The wind was coming from behind her my direction. I scented my girl and she begins working.. She head pops repeatedly towards the MT and finally can't stand it anymore. She runs over to her and alerts. I asked the MT if she counted as an article which of course got alot of laughs.. My girl worked a hard problem and found her articles with pride, but always with a glance towards the MT, like she was letting her know she dropped some stuff.. Haha.. Dogs are so smart!


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

My gal dog's first ManTrailing track ended with her finding my hubby. Since she is shy to strangers, the instructor wanted to have a well known decoy. When my gal found my husband she practically threw a party! The next weekend we had to find where two kids were sitting and go to the correct child. My hubby followed behind to watch. My dog sniffed a discarded sneaker and followed the scent but continually turned around to look at my sweetheart..."but mom, Dad's right there!" Eventually we worked through it and she got to the correct kiddo. 

She did well on a short split track. My husband stayed out of sight behind our truck 

Keep writing your stories. I so enjoy them. You might want to invest in a suit of armor though, and a new pair of boots.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Congratulations!


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## dogbyte (Apr 5, 2002)

congrats. Love when people use the ability these dogs were born with. And bred for


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

car2ner said:


> My gal dog's first ManTrailing track ended with her finding my hubby. Since she is shy to strangers, the instructor wanted to have a well known decoy. When my gal found my husband she practically threw a party! The next weekend we had to find where two kids were sitting and go to the correct child. My hubby followed behind to watch. My dog sniffed a discarded sneaker and followed the scent but continually turned around to look at my sweetheart..."but mom, Dad's right there!" Eventually we worked through it and she got to the correct kiddo.
> 
> She did well on a short split track. My husband stayed out of sight behind our truck
> 
> Keep writing your stories. I so enjoy them. You might want to invest in a suit of armor though, and a new pair of boots.


Lol! Definitely a new pair of boots and body armor, haha.

Good to hear your gal is connecting the dots from inanimate objects to humans 

I remember long ago, I scented my girl on my own scent article.. How you ask? Well, I was to hide for a teammate and she was to hide for my girl. We both made napkin scent articles and set them in the back of her truck bed on opposite sides. When I went to go get my girl, unbeknownst to me, she had taken her scent article and put it in her cab of truck and left mine on the bed. I of course figured she had taken mine for later use and I took the one in the back of the truck...So I scent my girl and she turns around slowly and looks at me with such an odd and confused look. I actually thought it odd the way she did it, but figured she was just processing the odor, she had only been doing it for a month or so. It was a half mile double blind trail, and she ended up just dropping her nose and following the odor that was before her (and it had contamination! I was impressed, lol) and finding her... Still, a stupid human trick that still has my teammates laughing, lol...

Thanks again, everyone! My pups have been wonderfully rewarded, they are now refreshed and ready for more training, or new missions...


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Man trailing sounds like it right up my alley I hope there is something like that around here. I have the kids hide and they always find them. I love it when max goes to far stops on a dime turns and finds whom ever is finding. We were in the trails my daughter had dropped her phone so she doubled back to get it. Max did not notice she left when he did his nose hit the ground and he took off to find her later they came jogging back together he was happy as heck. It is magical to watch them use their nose. We had a worker in the house dogs were put away. Max picked up the scent of a different person and followed the scent through the house it was cool to watch


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Trailing is extremely fun! Very addictive and truly amazing.. But, I am biased, lol


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

with the cooler weather our instructor is taking us out into the woods this coming weekend. Any tips you feel free to share?


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Have fun! Lol... Seriously though, do have fun.. If your girl is still having a bit of an issue translating human from article I would do a runaway or two. Yes, it is visual, but your girl already knows how to follow odor, so the visual is to get the excitement up and prey drive (vs just hunt drive) up and help her shift to humans vs article. Might help. Otherwise, without knowing what you are working on, I would say enjoy and watch the beauty of your girl follow the invisible masmia.. Magical!


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Beau is still jamming on HRD. 

Tilly is doing fine with trailing but I am pushing hard on weight loss and ankle exercises. Trailing is brutal to the handler . So far I am down 46 lbs with more to go. I carry my weight well and am fine for HRD but really need to trim down all the way for live find. .............

IT is definitely neat stuff.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Good for you Nancy! Trailing is extremely demanding on the human and i understand the pain;I've had four knee surgeries and a partial replacement in my left knee. I can imagine the pain in your ankle. Beau is awesome!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Is he water certified as well?


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## deacon (Sep 5, 2011)

Car2ner if I may ask what is the web site? Would like to know for reading purposes. Thanks


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Hineni7.simplesite.com


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Hineni7 said:


> Is he water certified as well?


Just through NAPWDA; he has also had several water finds.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

That is great Nancy! Water is harder, imho, although both my dogs seem to have not had an issue thus far.. I just need to be able to read them better from in odor to over source. They both have shoreline finds, which was/is easier than Lake I think, lol.. Great job though! Beau is awesome!!!!


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Water is exasperating because the dog can't work its own way to source and you have to read them and then try to get the boat moved the right way. We always run water with 2 dogs when possible (with dog 2 and their handler not seeing dog 1 working) and then consult with each other to come up with best estimate for position. Funny thing is the deeper the body the easier it can seems to pinpoint.

Our funniest one was when Beau hit an area and I am going. "You need to get another dog here as this is odd. I cannot pinpoint but he definitely has odor in this area but he is not giving me any strongest source" and I just drew an area on the map. Another dog ran it another day. Got the same thing we got [actually several dogs got different specific alerts in the same area] scratching our heads. Body was 2 miles away. The cemetery from the early 1800s that was not moved when they flooded the land to make the lake was about 80 feet down. Right where Beau was showing the change of behavior.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Wow!! That is crazy! That is where the adage 'trust your dog' really comes into play.. Just because we can't explain the odor doesn't mean odor isn't there! Lol.. While working a shoreline drowning I was told that it was along Indian burial grounds, so if my dogs alerted but no body was found, it could be because of old burial site... Thankfully, the body was found where they said it was, lol. But it made me think of the other boat ride we had done for another drowning where my girl kept giving alerts but nothing strong. Wasn't more than a month later when the lake went down due to annual runoff that an archeological team found some old bones in that area... Makes me wonder if that was what she was alerting on...?


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Very possibly. It is very tough when you have a "false alert" with clear body language on a dog who is reliable in known training areas when you realize how much old remains are out there.....When you train on pre civil war graves and the dogs hit hard on them.....And we are not even talking about historical HRD dogs who routinely search for very very old remains.

I had one of those odd ones today at training where I just marked it on my GPS and will go back later and see if we get anything again working the area as a negative. It was in the vicinity of a hide but not in a location where you would expect scent to pool and it was a very definitive response AND he also gave the same body language and trained final response as we were leaving the area. ............this not not happen to us very often at all.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Kind of eerie, lol.. But amazing. Truly astounding how attuned the dogs noses can be. Hhrd are amazing. I mean, finding remains with, well, juice, is one thing, but finding dry dry dry bones still buried is another. Makes you wonder if it is the gaseous waste in the soil or plants, or the bones... If something turns up on Beau's interest , please let me know


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Have you trained on human cremains. That one blows my mind because we have and have tested it against animal cremains and they can sort it out.

Same thing at a seminar where bloody rags were washed in oxyclean and the dogs could sort them out. 

IT is fascinating what they can "see" with their noses


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

We had creamains on our test, it was the 2nd time they had been exposed to it.. I was amazed! I haven't tried the washing of clothing, but it blows my mind as well that they can make that distinction... Have you found something that can set dogs on a false alert? I know some dogs have had difficulty in bogs or swamps with methane although I would think that should be easily proofed and worked out of. We had a couple of dogs alerting on beaver dams. We figured it was because the odor got pulled into the hollow and created a scent pool (source was out)


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Mouse tea (mouse in jar and let it "cook"), sardines (just learned that one)

I just saw buzzard nose for the first time on a search but Beau did not pay any attention to it.

Fungus leaves foul odor as students leave for break - News - Ocala.com - Ocala, FL


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Who would make mouse tea?? 
LOL! That is new one! Wonder why sardines could give a flash positive..? I have some so I will see what my dogs do.. Think I might skip the mouse tea, haha


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I saw the mouse tea at a seminar. .............. A teammate did the sardines to me this week. The thing is when he first went in I said, not his body language. Then as I started walking towards him he started digging AND offering his body language. Sometimes he will throw his sit alert if he wants something (like the ball going out of the fence). 

The folks at the seminar told my teammate it throws a lot of dog but you trying them probably won't work because the dog will cue on you...... I was working a completely unknown area of 0 to 2 hides.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Ahh, gotcha.. But you could read something wasn't really eight in his body language, just off in a way?


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

mouse...tea....(I have visions of the mad hatter tea party now). 
I guess that would make sense if you were in an area where there would be a number of mice. My novice sniffers tend to do a little extra visiting in some areas that I know don't have dog smell on them. My guess is mouse or rabbit making distracting smells.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Yes, dogs are usually interested in mouse nests etc (although the mad hatter tea party made me laugh outloud! Great image  ) For HRD dogs, it is distinguishing between the interest of a 'cool' smell and them actually working and alerting on the source odor (yes, mice have been known to bring a finger or toe or some other body part into their little nook...eww) . It is truly astounding the fine tune instrument God gave this animals, and how we can train them to find what we want them to seek out.. 

I ran 3 trails yesterday. One was the longest aged urban trail I've so far attempted, mostly blind (I had an overlay of the trail on my phone and glanced at 2x for confirmation my girl was working...even though I had little doubt she wasn't due to her body language). It was just shy of 2 weeks old and she was amazing!!!!! Blew my mind! NO direction from me as I did not know where the trail was, even upon the 2 glances it was literally a chance to see if my line overlay the track layer line. I then brought both dogs home and, from the house had a family member who lives here lay a trail on the property and then off the property. My boy went first and took a moment to find the DOT (literally out the back door which is our main entrance) before he settled and nailed the trail, including the backtrack (because few track layers can follow directions, lol).. I then did my girl, same style; from out the back door on the property to off the property but a different direction). She took less time to get DOT and pretty much ran (ugh) the trail with precision.

I am blown away at the ability to distinguish the freshest track over the multitude of scent pools, layered trails that were minutes to hours old, and get the correct one. To work a very old aged trail and a hot trail in the span of an hour, and nail it! The hot trails were almost double blind (suggestions were made with various options, otherwise my wandering track layer might have gone 10 steps and 'finished, or gone 2 miles and 'finished', lol) but I had no clue how those options would be put together, or even if they would be... 

I will work my dogs with source out and articles out. Give them a command for the specific odor and watch them work for that odor. Turn around and work the other odor and they single that one out.. Just amazing!! Dogs noses are truly a work of art.. a MASTERpiece!


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

It is really incredible what these dogs can do. Matched with a really good, hard working handler like you and the accomplishments are amazing!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Thanks! But I think I am the odd 3rd wheel sometimes, haha.. Their noses and drives to find odor are extraordinary... If I stay out of the way, lol.. Odorand how they work it, to me it is magic, to them it is innate and symbiotic, a beautiful dance. I love it! I think I am weird, haha


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Hineni7 said:


> Ahh, gotcha.. But you could read something wasn't really eight in his body language, just off in a way?


I noticed his body language approaching the sardines was not the same as he did not have the same head carriage or the funky way his tail wags. I think he got excited about it like he does his tail for HRD because it was FOOD to him. So I need to proof him off of his food more. I do all kinds of dead animal proofing but not so much his actual food. 

It could be the body language associated with HRD is anticipatory for his reward (the toy) and his anticipation changed it for the food so I am working on extinguishing it. Just a guess. And sardines is not a "dead animal" I have proofed on before.


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

My boy passed his NSDA water hrd test today (boat and shoreline). We had run out of time for IPWDA due to quantity of dogs testing and the difficulty in set up for water tests. Anyhow, the lake was freezing in areas and it was 27F and cold! The lake was like glass and calm; no wind, so I had to really read him well because he was in a zen state and calm. Just head pops and twitches of nose, occasionally he would while and paw at the boat a little in the area I would ultimately mark as where the source was, but otherwise he was not his usual loud and boisterous self.. Probably due to the calm conditions and cold.. Anyhow, proud of him!


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

Awesome! Way to go!


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## Hineni7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Thank you


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