How To Teach Your Dog to Find Pets & People
Deborah Wolfe starts with some world pet news including a town in Italy testing doggie poop DNA and ai involved in reuniting an orca calf with her pod. Karen Nixon joins Deb to talk about how you can train any dog to track, trail or search and find. The dog will enjoy this like a favorite game. She describes beginner exercises you can do at home and tells you how to go further. Every dog may shut down when afraid and lost like the one found after a month missing in the forest by Lynden Washington. Check out the Missing Animal Response Network for more information.
Listen to Episode #186 Now:
Karen Nixon and ‘Halo’, The Dog Who Finds Lost Pets
BIO:
Transcript:
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Announcer: This is Pet Life Radio.
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Announcer: Let's talk pets.
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Deborah Wolfe: Hello! Welcome to Animal Party on Pet Life Radio. I want to tell you some of the world news here, as I often do.
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Deborah Wolfe: In Italy, in a town called Bolzono, they are making every registered dog owner take their dog poop for a DNA test.
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Deborah Wolfe: Now, those of you who live in strata condos in apartment buildings with bad pet owners know exactly why they're doing this.
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Deborah Wolfe: They're doing this so they can make sure that the right people get fined when their dog poops and they don't scoop.
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Deborah Wolfe: And I think that's ingenious.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, so, I hate being blamed for somebody else's, you know?
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Deborah Wolfe: I'm walking by with a big dog and they point to this teeny tiny little poop that a pug did and they say, can you please scoop up after your dog?
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Deborah Wolfe: And I look at them like, that's not coming from my dog.
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Deborah Wolfe: But anyway, DNA testing going on in Italy, so that's pretty cool.
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Deborah Wolfe: In Montreal, my country, they have a turkey problem.
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Deborah Wolfe: I know it's Easter.
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Deborah Wolfe: Many people were eating turkeys this weekend, but it's not that kind of problem.
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Deborah Wolfe: It's a problem with wild turkeys invading the city to the point where there was one on a bus that they had to call police to get off the bus.
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Deborah Wolfe: It's so funny.
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Deborah Wolfe: It's so funny, but it wouldn't be funny if you were attacked by a wild turkey.
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Deborah Wolfe: So Montreal, you make the pet news this week.
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Deborah Wolfe: And then we have a baby orca.
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Deborah Wolfe: People are trying their best to reunite it with its pod when its mother died.
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Deborah Wolfe: it's been going on for a week, and we're really hopeful that it'll happen.
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Deborah Wolfe: And they're using AI.
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Deborah Wolfe: They're using AI to help in the identification of the fins to determine which pod it actually belongs to and reunite it with the right pod.
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Deborah Wolfe: So I think that's the best use of AI I've heard of in a long time.
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Deborah Wolfe: It's better than bringing dead rock stars back, I think.
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Deborah Wolfe: So the dorsal fins are identified by scar shape and markings, and the AI is better at this than we are.
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Deborah Wolfe: They have an app where regular people are eventually, maybe in the spring or summer this year, going to be able to upload their photos to help with the identification of all this.
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Deborah Wolfe: Up until now, it's just been experts, but they've opened it up to a few hundred people who work on the water.
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Deborah Wolfe: First Nations guardians, naturalists, fisheries, bio-watching guides, people like that are now uploading data so they can get more and more into this AI base and get to know the orcas even better.
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Deborah Wolfe: So I think that's great.
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Deborah Wolfe: Right now, the pod they want to reunite her with, this little calf, is 100 kilometers away, which sounds like a lot, 50 miles or so, 60, I don't know.
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Deborah Wolfe: But that's only a day's swim for whales.
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Deborah Wolfe: They say it's too much for the baby, but it's not too much if they can use sound, and I sure hope they try it, to lure the pod back toward the baby.
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Deborah Wolfe: They could make it happen.
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Deborah Wolfe: All right, everybody, we're here with Karen Nixon.
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Deborah Wolfe: I had her on a while ago talking about Halo, her beautiful white Swiss Shepherd dog, who is a slim trim beauty, white like the snow, and came to my rescue when two of my Foster Goldens, a windstorm knocked the gate flying, and they got out in the night.
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Deborah Wolfe: They didn't go far, but they were missing for an entire day trapped in a wet ditch, trapped by the neighbor dog and traffic, not wanting to come home and not wanting to leave.
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Deborah Wolfe: And they probably could have gotten very cold.
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Deborah Wolfe: They could have got ambushed by coyotes.
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Deborah Wolfe: They could have tried to run across the road at the wrong time and got hit, or tried to run across and got chased by the neighbor dog and got hit.
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Deborah Wolfe: A lot of bad stuff could happen to my two Golden Retrievers.
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Deborah Wolfe: Instead, Halo came by, found their trail, found them.
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Deborah Wolfe: They got warmed up, dried off, cleaned up.
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Deborah Wolfe: Two weeks later, they went to their forever homes, and it's a totally happy story.
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Deborah Wolfe: So we're here with Karen Nixon and Halo to find out exactly how that all came to be.
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Deborah Wolfe: What made you think Halo would be good at this, Karen?
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Karen Nixon: Ah, I chose this before I found Halo.
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Karen Nixon: So I had wanted to do this for a long time as a volunteer to help the community.
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Karen Nixon: There's a most excellent professional service here in BC., but sometimes there's a wait list.
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Karen Nixon: It's one service, very good at what they do, very busy.
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Karen Nixon: And there is a fee, not unreasonable, but also not everybody can afford that.
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Karen Nixon: So I wanted another option for people here.
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Karen Nixon: So I endeavored to get a dog that would help me with this.
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Karen Nixon: And I chose the Swiss Shepherd because they still have that work drive, a little bit calmer than the other working lines.
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Karen Nixon: I wanted a dog that would be friendly when she did go nose to nose with a frightened dog.
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Karen Nixon: And so I set out then finding a breeder.
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Karen Nixon: And I found one in Illinois, and I told her what I wanted this pup to do for a living, and she chose the exact right puppy for me.
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Deborah Wolfe: Oh, that's amazing.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, so you get this dog.
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Deborah Wolfe: If people are looking at their dog thinking, I wonder if he or she could do this.
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Deborah Wolfe: What about a dog who's food obsessed and will find food anywhere?
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Deborah Wolfe: Is that a candidate or no?
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Deborah Wolfe: Because they're using their nose and they can trail and track, but are they too distracted?
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Deborah Wolfe: Like a basset or a beagle or is that not a good pick?
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Karen Nixon: Oh, it's a great pick.
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Karen Nixon: Oh, it's a great pick.
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Karen Nixon: It's a great pick.
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Karen Nixon: Any dog that loves to sniff things out is good for this.
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Karen Nixon: It's really a game for them to start.
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Karen Nixon: It's a really fun game.
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Deborah Wolfe: Are you rewarding with food when she finds things?
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Karen Nixon: I certainly try to reward her with food, but she just she just doesn't want it in that moment.
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Karen Nixon: It's the actual find that is rewarding for her.
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Deborah Wolfe: You know, poodles are like that and border colleagues are like that, too.
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Deborah Wolfe: But the beagles and the bassets, believe me, people, they'll take the food reward.
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Karen Nixon: They sure will.
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Karen Nixon: You know, it's a matter of finding really to what's rewarding for your dog.
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Karen Nixon: I have for some dogs, that's going to be a toy at the end of the the game.
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Karen Nixon: Or it could be food.
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Karen Nixon: So, often the person during training that is hiding will have the dog's favorite toy or their favorite snack.
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Karen Nixon: So, it's the target that rewards the dog at the end with the toy or the food.
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Karen Nixon: I mean, you can reward your dog as well, but in the end game, you'll see the dog finds the person hiding in the bush or under the rubble and that person will have their favorite ball or their favorite toy.
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Karen Nixon: And then that turns into a game there.
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Karen Nixon: So, just finding what is most rewarding for your dog when they find who they're looking for.
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Karen Nixon: You'll find that a lot of them, just the actual search itself is so rewarding.
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Deborah Wolfe: You know, years ago, I used to be a dog walker, 20 years ago or so in Vancouver, and I used to go hiking in the trails and sometimes I mean I had a map and the trails had maps and they had signs and stuff, but oftentimes they wouldn't be accurate or maybe I just wasn't that great at reading them.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, I decided early on to teach my own dogs to find the car, right?
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Deborah Wolfe: Because I realized they always knew where the car was, they just didn't know that's what I was looking for, right?
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Deborah Wolfe: So, I would put a cookie on the back of the car and then I started with, you know, 10 feet from the car and I'd say go find the car and they'd go up to the car and eat the cookie and then I'd go like 30 feet and then 50 feet and then I started just to put the cookie on without them seeing it as we left to go on the hike and toward the end of the hike I'd put one of them on leash and say go find the car and sure enough they'd always find it.
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Deborah Wolfe: But I noticed my customers picked it up too and it became a race to the car.
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Deborah Wolfe: They all knew like how to do it.
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Deborah Wolfe: It wasn't some special skill.
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Deborah Wolfe: It didn't take a lot of training.
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Deborah Wolfe: I think almost any dog can do this perhaps.
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Karen Nixon: A hundred percent.
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Karen Nixon: Any of them can.
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Karen Nixon: Absolutely.
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Deborah Wolfe: They just don't understand when we're lost and upset and everything.
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Deborah Wolfe: They don't realize what's wrong because if they knew they'd help us find our car or find our way home, right?
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Deborah Wolfe: They always know how to get home.
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Karen Nixon: They do.
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Karen Nixon: They absolutely do.
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Karen Nixon: You've gone off on a hike.
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Karen Nixon: They haven't been running off scared and a panic.
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Karen Nixon: They know exactly where they are and how to get back.
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Deborah Wolfe: I mean, even worst case scenario, they don't take the shortcut and they just put their nose to the ground and retrace your steps, right?
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Deborah Wolfe: Worst case.
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Deborah Wolfe: But usually they find a shortcut because they know where the car is anyway.
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Deborah Wolfe: Like it's uncanny how good they are at this.
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Karen Nixon: They are so good, aren't they?
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Karen Nixon: It's just brilliant for you doing that.
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Deborah Wolfe: Well, thank you.
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Deborah Wolfe: That's on YouTube too.
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Deborah Wolfe: If you guys want to check it out, it's on there for free.
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Deborah Wolfe: You can teach your dog how to find your car.
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Deborah Wolfe: Deb Wolfe, Pet Expert on YouTube.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, but what we're talking about here is more sophisticated and there's more communication going on.
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Deborah Wolfe: We're going to go to break and talk about how Karen got this going with Halo.
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Deborah Wolfe: Stay tuned on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.
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Deborah Wolfe: Hello, we're back on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, finding my car every time, same car, same thing, is not quite the same as you throwing down a blanket that smells like a cat Halo's never met, or a dog she doesn't know, and saying, okay, go find this in the world, you know?
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Deborah Wolfe: Not just on a trail you know that we've done a million times, but just wherever, here we are in a new neighborhood, find this.
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Deborah Wolfe: She's going to be smelling other animals, competition, things she might be afraid of, hear the traffic.
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Deborah Wolfe: Like, how do you keep her trusting you and doing her job?
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Karen Nixon: Oh, that's a great question.
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Karen Nixon: You know, for us, it's about really building that reward bank.
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Karen Nixon: So I have lots of successful practices where she is always going to find her target and always going to get rewarded.
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Karen Nixon: It really builds that drive and confidence and the motivation.
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Karen Nixon: So even if we're doing a track and we have to call it for the night and we haven't found her target, we've really built up that confidence and that reward bank with her, that she's not disappointed.
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Karen Nixon: We really try to practice more than we do more training and build that reward bank more than we actually go out and work, so that we've always got that topped up.
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Karen Nixon: And we're always trying to also add some complexity to it.
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Karen Nixon: There's something we call negatives.
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Karen Nixon: So we start her where there is absolutely no track to be found.
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Karen Nixon: And we're building up her confidence and her duration, looking for the start of that track, so that she doesn't think, oh, gosh, I've been, you know, 10 minutes later, she still hasn't found the track, so she gives up.
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Karen Nixon: So sort of a balance of adding complexity, but also keeping some nice easy ones in there that she's successful.
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Karen Nixon: It keeps her engaged.
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Karen Nixon: She likes the puzzles, but she does have to be successful.
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Deborah Wolfe: I saw you, I think, I think what I saw, because I was so stressed out about this, I wasn't paying enough attention to your technique, but I think I saw you use the smelly blanket as a reward during the search so she wouldn't get kind of frustrated.
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Deborah Wolfe: You had her sort of find it, I think.
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Deborah Wolfe: Yeah.
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Deborah Wolfe: Is that what happened?
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Karen Nixon: Sure was, you remember correctly.
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Karen Nixon: Yeah.
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Karen Nixon: I do use that search article.
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Deborah Wolfe: That makes sense.
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Deborah Wolfe: So if people are practicing at home, okay, we're going to go to break and come back and then you're going to tell them what to do.
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Deborah Wolfe: Stay tuned on Animal Party.
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Deborah Wolfe: Your dog's about to become a dog that can find stuff.
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Deborah Wolfe: All right.
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Deborah Wolfe: Animal Party, Pet Life Radio.
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Deborah Wolfe: Hello, we're back on Animal Parky Pet Life Radio.
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Deborah Wolfe: Karen Nixon, owner of Shadow, extraordinary dog, who found my two missing goldens.
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Deborah Wolfe: All right, and kept them from harm and now they have beautiful forever homes.
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Deborah Wolfe: Thank you, thank you.
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Deborah Wolfe: So, okay, so people at home with their dog that likes to sniff and find stuff, if you drop a Cheerio, you got a kid in a high chair, drops a Cheerio, dog comes running along, smells where it is and eats it.
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Deborah Wolfe: Okay, put that dog on a leash.
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Deborah Wolfe: Let's go.
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Deborah Wolfe: What do we do, Karen?
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Karen Nixon: Ah, so you're gonna, you can start with a sock, just a random sock, and you're gonna have your family member or friend hold on to that sock for, they don't really need to hold on to it that long, but put it in their pocket, hold it in their hand, and you're gonna take them somewhere, person's going to engage with the dog, get the dog to notice them, play with them a little bit.
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Karen Nixon: They're gonna drop that sock and they're gonna run.
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Karen Nixon: And you know what dogs like to do?
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Karen Nixon: They like to chase whoever's running away.
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Karen Nixon: And so you're holding on to your dog and the dog sees this person run away and they just tuck behind a tree and you let your dog go.
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Karen Nixon: And instinctually, they stop at that sock and check it out.
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Karen Nixon: And it becomes the cue for them.
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Karen Nixon: And they find that person.
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Karen Nixon: And so this is the development of the game that they go find the hiding person.
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Karen Nixon: And they're very, very excited about it.
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Deborah Wolfe: Well, what if the dog picks up the sock, like some of my Goldens would probably do, or Goldendoodles or any of the Retrievers.
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Deborah Wolfe: What if the dog just grabs the sock and it starts running around like, woohoo, you can't catch me.
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Deborah Wolfe: I have this thing.
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Karen Nixon: And then you can take the sock out of the equation for the time being.
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Deborah Wolfe: OK, so you don't have a Retriever.
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:31.800
Deborah Wolfe: You don't know about this.
00:15:31.820 --> 00:15:33.340
Deborah Wolfe: This is what I don't know about this.
00:15:34.060 --> 00:15:34.440
Deborah Wolfe: Yeah.
00:15:35.040 --> 00:15:41.380
Deborah Wolfe: This Butter Dog, Labrador Retriever is what's going to go on, I can tell you, Boston Terrier.
00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:43.880
Karen Nixon: Oh, yeah, that's hilarious.
00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:46.740
Karen Nixon: You know, you don't have to start with the sock right away.
00:15:46.760 --> 00:15:54.480
Karen Nixon: I mean, that is an item you can add later when they really have an understanding of the game, that this person runs away, then you go find them.
00:15:54.500 --> 00:15:59.620
Karen Nixon: Then you can add a cue once they understand, OK, this person runs and hide.
00:15:59.820 --> 00:16:00.980
Karen Nixon: I'm going to go find them.
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:02.380
Karen Nixon: I'm going to have a party after.
00:16:02.780 --> 00:16:08.400
Karen Nixon: I'm either going to get yummy cookies or my favorite toy or just just a big party with this person.
00:16:08.560 --> 00:16:09.600
Karen Nixon: Then you're going to add a cue.
00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:14.780
Deborah Wolfe: If the dog picks up the sock but keeps traveling toward the person, I would let it go.
00:16:15.040 --> 00:16:15.380
Deborah Wolfe: Right.
00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:16.840
Deborah Wolfe: That's a good thing.
00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:18.620
Deborah Wolfe: They're going to bring the sock to the person.
00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:23.040
Deborah Wolfe: That's what a retriever wants to do.
00:16:23.420 --> 00:16:24.120
Deborah Wolfe: That's OK.
00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:24.400
Deborah Wolfe: Right.
00:16:24.400 --> 00:16:26.780
Deborah Wolfe: If they pick up the sent article and then find the person.
00:16:27.180 --> 00:16:35.000
Karen Nixon: I mean, if they bring it with them or drop it for you, I try to hold on to those sent articles for multiple reasons.
00:16:35.680 --> 00:16:38.280
Deborah Wolfe: I'd so love to see you do this with a golden.
00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:40.120
Deborah Wolfe: It would be funny or loud.
00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:40.940
Deborah Wolfe: Oh my gosh.
00:16:41.280 --> 00:16:41.620
Deborah Wolfe: OK.
00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:42.260
Deborah Wolfe: OK.
00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.300
Deborah Wolfe: So they get rewarded when they meet the person.
00:16:44.520 --> 00:16:46.100
Deborah Wolfe: And then OK, so what's the next step?
00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:46.780
Deborah Wolfe: They've done that.
00:16:46.780 --> 00:16:54.320
Deborah Wolfe: Now, do you hide like I do with hide and go sneak where they don't get to see the person running after they found them running a bunch of times?
00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:59.500
Deborah Wolfe: Does a person yell or make a noise so they kind of know where they are or they don't do anything?
00:16:59.660 --> 00:17:00.740
Karen Nixon: They don't do anything.
00:17:00.860 --> 00:17:09.900
Deborah Wolfe: Do they like drag their feet to make a nice solid trail or like carry cigarettes or mint gum or something to make themselves more stinky?
00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.500
Deborah Wolfe: No, I'm serious, because I do that for a blind dog.
00:17:12.560 --> 00:17:18.060
Deborah Wolfe: I tell people like carry cigarettes or mint or tea, something that is always the same and always in your pocket.
00:17:18.080 --> 00:17:19.840
Deborah Wolfe: Now, your dog knows your smell, right?
00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:23.600
Deborah Wolfe: If it's a blind dog, like a peppermint tea bag is a simple one.
00:17:23.620 --> 00:17:23.800
Deborah Wolfe: Yes.
00:17:23.820 --> 00:17:25.420
Deborah Wolfe: Cinnamon stick or you know.
00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:28.920
Deborah Wolfe: So should they do that or should they just be regular scented?
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:30.100
Karen Nixon: You can start.
00:17:30.120 --> 00:17:38.160
Karen Nixon: So if you're walking on vegetation like grass, we start when we're doing tracking by really, really digging our feet in.
00:17:38.180 --> 00:17:41.580
Karen Nixon: So kind of a shuffle stomp type move, if you will.
00:17:41.600 --> 00:17:45.440
Karen Nixon: And you're crushing that vegetation and it really leaves that odor.
00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:53.720
Karen Nixon: When we practice tracking on asphalt, any hard surface, we spray it with water and then we walk, we shuffle along on it.
00:17:54.080 --> 00:17:56.000
Karen Nixon: That's the tracking part.
00:17:56.060 --> 00:18:03.820
Karen Nixon: The trailing, your dog is going to be sourcing odor from the ground, from the shrubs that you walked by and left your odor on.
00:18:04.100 --> 00:18:05.660
Karen Nixon: They're going to be air-scenting.
00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:08.340
Karen Nixon: Keep in mind, you're starting with baby steps.
00:18:08.520 --> 00:18:13.380
Karen Nixon: So you're going to be doing short tracks that eventually get longer.
00:18:13.420 --> 00:18:16.720
Karen Nixon: And you'll find that your dog's skill really adjusts.
00:18:16.740 --> 00:18:19.360
Karen Nixon: They get very, very good at this as they go.
00:18:20.300 --> 00:18:29.200
Deborah Wolfe: So if you're going for a walk, like in the forest with your family, could you have some of the members of your family separate from the group, put your dog on leash and make them find them?
00:18:29.220 --> 00:18:30.200
Karen Nixon: 100%.
00:18:30.280 --> 00:18:33.120
Deborah Wolfe: That would be like a fun exercise, right, for the dog?
00:18:33.280 --> 00:18:33.920
Karen Nixon: Absolutely.
00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:35.240
Karen Nixon: It's so much fun for them.
00:18:35.360 --> 00:18:42.340
Karen Nixon: They really, to them, it's a really rewarding game, especially those dogs that love to work and puzzle problems out.
00:18:42.520 --> 00:18:46.580
Karen Nixon: I mean, for Halo, she gets to run, she gets to go find somebody.
00:18:46.600 --> 00:18:48.520
Karen Nixon: It's just her most favorite thing in the world.
00:18:48.540 --> 00:18:56.280
Deborah Wolfe: So even at like a city park, you could have one kid hide behind a bench and another kid inside the jungle gym and your dog could do this.
00:18:56.300 --> 00:18:58.540
Deborah Wolfe: You don't really need tons of room, do you?
00:18:58.820 --> 00:18:59.940
Karen Nixon: No, you don't need tons of room.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.020
Karen Nixon: No, you don't.
00:19:01.280 --> 00:19:02.720
Karen Nixon: You can do it in the house.
00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:06.540
Karen Nixon: You can do it behind your house, walking on trails.
00:19:06.560 --> 00:19:09.480
Karen Nixon: You can go to the park, hide behind a car.
00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:12.820
Karen Nixon: There's lots of places that you can have your dog go find someone.
00:19:13.200 --> 00:19:23.740
Deborah Wolfe: I like to warn people when I'm teaching them the dog find the car that they not ever do it off leash or find your kid, because your dog will find the car, but you won't be there.
00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:28.880
Deborah Wolfe: So you'll be back two miles in the bush wondering where the dog went.
00:19:29.280 --> 00:19:31.800
Deborah Wolfe: So put it on leash when you tell it to go find something.
00:19:31.820 --> 00:19:34.320
Deborah Wolfe: I noticed you never had Halo off leash the whole time.
00:19:34.620 --> 00:19:35.280
Karen Nixon: No, never.
00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:40.580
Karen Nixon: The only time I let her off leash for any kind of trailing is in my back property.
00:19:40.600 --> 00:19:45.660
Karen Nixon: And there's some acreage and some forest back there, and it's quite safe.
00:19:46.120 --> 00:19:54.020
Karen Nixon: And she will run to her target, and then she will return to me, and then she'll go back and forth and lead me to her target.
00:19:54.220 --> 00:19:58.260
Karen Nixon: But that's not something that I would do on a real search ever.
00:19:58.520 --> 00:20:03.120
Karen Nixon: There's cars, there's just too many dangers in that.
00:20:03.340 --> 00:20:07.700
Karen Nixon: So, and then, you know, I don't want to lose my dog if for every...
00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:08.460
Karen Nixon: It's just not safe.
00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:09.480
Karen Nixon: It's just not safe.
00:20:09.500 --> 00:20:10.740
Karen Nixon: I'm no search and rescue there.
00:20:10.760 --> 00:20:12.900
Karen Nixon: A lot of them will do off leash off in the forest.
00:20:13.040 --> 00:20:15.660
Karen Nixon: But for what we do know, we're always on a leash.
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.620
Karen Nixon: And keeping in mind, some pets are going to be frightened if a dog comes running up on them.
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:20.640
Karen Nixon: So we don't want that either.
00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:27.700
Deborah Wolfe: Well, even in my case, even though my Golden Retriever foster dogs loved other dogs, they were pretty freaked out.
00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.800
Deborah Wolfe: And when your dog came along, when they barked, they were upset.
00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:35.100
Deborah Wolfe: And I know you wanted to reward Halo by letting her do a little meet and greet.
00:20:35.320 --> 00:20:42.040
Deborah Wolfe: And I said, I don't think so, because they looked absolutely terrified from being harassed all day by the ridge back next door.
00:20:42.080 --> 00:20:44.780
Deborah Wolfe: You know, they just weren't in a meet and greet kind of mood.
00:20:44.800 --> 00:20:46.260
Deborah Wolfe: And you were really understanding about that.
00:20:46.280 --> 00:20:49.080
Deborah Wolfe: I think we rewarded her some other way with a different dog or something.
00:20:49.080 --> 00:20:49.800
Deborah Wolfe: I don't remember.
00:20:50.080 --> 00:20:56.360
Karen Nixon: With the blanket, just with the blanket at the door, with the door open a crack, she can smell them through the door.
00:20:56.620 --> 00:21:00.000
Deborah Wolfe: So all these things you think like, oh, my cat will come out.
00:21:00.020 --> 00:21:02.620
Deborah Wolfe: He loves me or my dog is trained.
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:03.400
Deborah Wolfe: She'll listen.
00:21:03.640 --> 00:21:06.840
Deborah Wolfe: They do get into a panic state and they're not themselves.
00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:07.860
Karen Nixon: Correct.
00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:13.760
Karen Nixon: They quickly switch into survival mode or fight or flight, if you will.
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:18.700
Karen Nixon: When you're finding a lost dog, they're fight, flight or all right.
00:21:19.060 --> 00:21:28.920
Karen Nixon: And so once they're frightened, they quickly switch from being your pet into a dog that's doing its very, very best to stay safe.
00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:35.160
Karen Nixon: And so a large part of the factory shuts down and there are a lot of ears and eyes.
00:21:35.180 --> 00:21:39.000
Karen Nixon: So any sound, anything that moves, they're on high alert.
00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:42.880
Karen Nixon: So even their owner coming close will send them hiding.
00:21:43.360 --> 00:21:45.460
Karen Nixon: Running, hiding, staying silent.
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:49.220
Karen Nixon: So that is really quite normal for dogs when they're frightened.
00:21:49.620 --> 00:21:55.020
Karen Nixon: Once you get that leash on them though, once you get them home, they're right back to your pet again.
00:21:55.300 --> 00:21:56.500
Deborah Wolfe: I find that with cats too.
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:58.280
Deborah Wolfe: But yeah, please tell us the story.
00:21:58.520 --> 00:22:03.120
Karen Nixon: We recently trapped a dog in Lynden Washington.
00:22:03.140 --> 00:22:07.300
Karen Nixon: He had been missing for 41 days and he had run in a panic.
00:22:07.540 --> 00:22:09.220
Karen Nixon: He's very bonded to his owner.
00:22:09.520 --> 00:22:14.120
Karen Nixon: Beautiful recall, you know, does all these like frisbee sports and dock diving.
00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:16.780
Karen Nixon: He has a great life and quite bonded with his owner.
00:22:17.240 --> 00:22:20.600
Karen Nixon: And during a storm, he got quite frightened and he'd run.
00:22:20.860 --> 00:22:23.960
Karen Nixon: And people had chased after him and calling his name.
00:22:24.540 --> 00:22:25.880
Karen Nixon: His name then became a trigger.
00:22:26.180 --> 00:22:31.100
Karen Nixon: And he hid in this forest and hadn't been seen for something like a month.
00:22:31.360 --> 00:22:35.880
Karen Nixon: And we had the owner put up a trail cam with bait station in that forest.
00:22:36.100 --> 00:22:37.540
Karen Nixon: Sure enough, his dog was in there.
00:22:37.800 --> 00:22:39.560
Karen Nixon: But he was in survival mode.
00:22:39.580 --> 00:22:46.340
Karen Nixon: So there was no chance of getting his owner within a few feet of him so that he could go recognize him.
00:22:46.620 --> 00:22:49.540
Karen Nixon: He would just run, hiding back into the forest again.
00:22:49.560 --> 00:23:03.640
Karen Nixon: So definitely in survival mode, did not recognize his owner's voice, couldn't recognize his owner's odor, even when he was, you know, sitting near the traps for hours at a time, his dog would not come close to him.
00:23:03.660 --> 00:23:10.640
Karen Nixon: I'll tell you, I was there with him when we approached the trap, when we trapped this dog.
00:23:10.940 --> 00:23:14.320
Karen Nixon: And when he was within two feet of this dog, Cap was his name.
00:23:14.560 --> 00:23:16.640
Karen Nixon: Oh my gosh, his tail started going.
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:20.000
Karen Nixon: He was absolutely switched back into being a pet again.
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:23.620
Karen Nixon: But he had to get so close to him before he recognized it was him.
00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:25.780
Karen Nixon: And the change was immediate.
00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:30.180
Deborah Wolfe: Yeah, years ago, there was this black and white cat that went missing during construction.
00:23:30.400 --> 00:23:31.380
Deborah Wolfe: And it was in his shed.
00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:33.460
Deborah Wolfe: And it wouldn't come out, wouldn't come out, wouldn't come out.
00:23:33.780 --> 00:23:34.620
Deborah Wolfe: I helped the people.
00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.200
Deborah Wolfe: They knew it was there in the neighbor shed.
00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:37.800
Deborah Wolfe: So I helped the people with a live trap.
00:23:38.360 --> 00:23:40.200
Deborah Wolfe: And the cat was completely feral.
00:23:40.200 --> 00:23:42.780
Deborah Wolfe: Like as we were carrying the trap, it was hissing and everything.
00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:44.740
Deborah Wolfe: They put the trap in their living room.
00:23:44.760 --> 00:23:46.140
Deborah Wolfe: They opened up the trap door.
00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:48.240
Deborah Wolfe: It looked around and behaved like it always had.
00:23:48.560 --> 00:23:52.420
Deborah Wolfe: Purring, meowing, like it had never left, never gone feral.
00:23:55.320 --> 00:23:57.740
Deborah Wolfe: It went back to house cat in one second.
00:23:57.840 --> 00:23:59.680
Deborah Wolfe: It was amazing, amazing.
00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:00.960
Deborah Wolfe: I thought, are you going to let it go?
00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:02.140
Deborah Wolfe: Like it's going to go nuts.
00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:03.140
Deborah Wolfe: It's going to shred the curtains.
00:24:03.280 --> 00:24:05.820
Deborah Wolfe: Now, just totally back to its old self.
00:24:05.840 --> 00:24:07.700
Deborah Wolfe: Well, no longer in survival mode.
00:24:07.860 --> 00:24:09.300
Deborah Wolfe: But that was a house cat.
00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:11.600
Deborah Wolfe: It wasn't supposed to be outside, you know?
00:24:12.060 --> 00:24:15.140
Deborah Wolfe: And I think people think cats can just survive any old place.
00:24:15.380 --> 00:24:16.000
Deborah Wolfe: They can't.
00:24:16.120 --> 00:24:18.880
Deborah Wolfe: Every place is already occupied out there.
00:24:19.300 --> 00:24:28.300
Deborah Wolfe: Like I worry about dogs like Halo doing their job, trudging through backyards with loose dogs and trespassing in all kinds of animal ways, you know?
00:24:28.300 --> 00:24:31.600
Deborah Wolfe: So you've got to keep her on leash so you can keep her safe.
00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:33.080
Karen Nixon: Yes, absolutely.
00:24:33.260 --> 00:24:37.080
Karen Nixon: We're very careful about yards and dangers.
00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:38.440
Karen Nixon: We ask permission.
00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:47.900
Karen Nixon: Often, before I get there, I'll have the family knock on their neighbor's doors and gain permission ahead of time so that we can access that property safely.
00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:53.740
Karen Nixon: I do try to take a peek and make sure that they haven't forgotten and left their dog outside.
00:24:54.140 --> 00:25:00.280
Karen Nixon: Their dog's not going to be very welcoming of Halo coming around the corner, but it is a real danger and we have to be very careful.
00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:05.980
Deborah Wolfe: So if people are listening and they want to get involved, either they want to have somebody help them find a pet.
00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:07.400
Karen Nixon: For everybody's safety.
00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:12.120
Deborah Wolfe: So where would you suggest people start if they're interested in finding out more about this?
00:25:12.340 --> 00:25:18.720
Karen Nixon: YouTube has a lot of amazing videos on man-trailing, is what it's called, or just trailing.
00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:25.400
Karen Nixon: And there's somebody locally here that teaches the beginner's course for man-trailing.
00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:27.020
Karen Nixon: So you can go, I think it's a one-
00:25:27.040 --> 00:25:31.820
Karen Nixon: or a two-day event, and you do the basics of this man-trailing.
00:25:32.120 --> 00:25:34.140
Karen Nixon: And her name is Danica Auld.
00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:37.440
Karen Nixon: She's the only one that I know of so far that is doing trailing.
00:25:37.460 --> 00:25:42.380
Karen Nixon: I know Maureen Fielding, who teaches tracking, is going to start trailing as well.
00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:46.480
Deborah Wolfe: Well, the listeners are all over the world, so you're going to have to look in your area.
00:25:46.500 --> 00:25:47.580
Deborah Wolfe: But we've got the terms.
00:25:47.600 --> 00:25:54.360
Deborah Wolfe: Look up man-trailing and try and find a place that has good reviews and talks about their certification.
00:25:54.560 --> 00:26:02.040
Deborah Wolfe: But no matter where you are, I would recommend you dress for this, like an outdoor adventure.
00:26:02.060 --> 00:26:06.720
Deborah Wolfe: This is not a bikini moment, not a slingback shoe moment.
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:10.080
Deborah Wolfe: This is going to take you in and out of everywhere, all terrain, right?
00:26:10.300 --> 00:26:11.060
Karen Nixon: It sure is.
00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:12.140
Karen Nixon: Absolutely.
00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:13.500
Karen Nixon: You have to dress for it.
00:26:13.500 --> 00:26:21.500
Karen Nixon: I like to wear a shell over my pants because we are most often going through Blackberries, and you're going to get snagged up.
00:26:22.600 --> 00:26:30.340
Karen Nixon: Definitely wear some layers, because if you have a dog on a hot trail dragging you around, you're going to warm up quite quickly.
00:26:30.760 --> 00:26:34.460
Karen Nixon: Extra batteries, extra flashlight, definitely gear up.
00:26:34.660 --> 00:26:36.940
Deborah Wolfe: I think you had a light on your head, didn't you?
00:26:37.320 --> 00:26:38.080
Deborah Wolfe: I did.
00:26:38.100 --> 00:26:41.900
Karen Nixon: I have a headlamp and flashlight in my pocket.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:44.280
Karen Nixon: I do have a spotlight that I can hang around my neck.
00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:49.400
Karen Nixon: The headlamp is great, except when we're crawling through bushes, it often gets stuck on things.
00:26:49.820 --> 00:26:51.460
Karen Nixon: So I've got the backup spotlight.
00:26:51.900 --> 00:26:53.480
Deborah Wolfe: Well, I want to thank you again.
00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:54.800
Deborah Wolfe: You help me so much.
00:26:55.260 --> 00:26:58.480
Deborah Wolfe: And how can people reach you if they want your help locally?
00:26:58.820 --> 00:26:59.560
Deborah Wolfe: On Facebook?
00:26:59.760 --> 00:27:00.100
Karen Nixon: Yes.
00:27:00.260 --> 00:27:05.520
Karen Nixon: So two of my training partners joined up with me, and we formed a group called the Scent Rescue Team.
00:27:05.960 --> 00:27:08.160
Karen Nixon: You can find us on Facebook.
00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:09.060
Karen Nixon: We're volunteers.
00:27:09.080 --> 00:27:11.780
Karen Nixon: We do work full-time jobs, so we're not always available.
00:27:12.360 --> 00:27:14.900
Karen Nixon: We do this on our days off or after work.
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.180
Karen Nixon: We're donation only, but there is absolutely no requirement to donate.
00:27:19.280 --> 00:27:22.600
Karen Nixon: We really just want this to be about finding the pet and reuniting them.
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:32.760
Karen Nixon: Locally here in BC, we'd love if, well, all over the world, really, we would love if other people decided they wanted to be pet detectives, either as professionals or volunteers.
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:51.080
Karen Nixon: If that's something that interests people, they can look up the Missing Animal Response Network, and you can actually take online courses to learn how to be a pet detective, and you can also take an online course that is the full course to training your dog from start to finish in being a pet searching dog.
00:27:51.240 --> 00:27:53.040
Deborah Wolfe: Well, thank you so much for that.
00:27:53.060 --> 00:27:58.200
Deborah Wolfe: All right, everybody, put your dogs to work finding lost pets and what happy endings.
00:27:58.220 --> 00:28:04.240
Deborah Wolfe: I mean, Karen, you must get so much joy out of seeing the reunions, really.
00:28:04.260 --> 00:28:06.640
Karen Nixon: It's the best feeling in the world.
00:28:07.180 --> 00:28:08.300
Karen Nixon: It's the best feeling.
00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:11.340
Karen Nixon: You know, you meet people and they're distraught, they're exhausted.
00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:15.360
Karen Nixon: They've often been up all night, all day looking for their pets.
00:28:15.460 --> 00:28:19.560
Karen Nixon: And you can see that the hope, they're starting to lose hope.
00:28:19.800 --> 00:28:23.500
Karen Nixon: And you assure them that, you know, your pet's going to be found.
00:28:23.860 --> 00:28:26.460
Karen Nixon: And you can see a little glimmer of hope in their eyes.
00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:32.540
Karen Nixon: And then when you find the pets, the relief that washes over them, I can't even describe the feeling.
00:28:32.820 --> 00:28:34.440
Karen Nixon: This is exactly what we do this for.
00:28:34.560 --> 00:28:36.040
Deborah Wolfe: Thank you so much, Karen.
00:28:36.120 --> 00:28:40.760
Deborah Wolfe: All right, everybody, from me, Deb Wolfe, and Karen Nixon, and Animal Party Pet Life Radio, be good to your animals.