Abigail nails it!
Last month Abby completed her certification for live airscent and Human Remains Detection for New York State Federation of Search and Rescue. Earlier this month at our annual Combined Federation Training she completed her water HRD certification as well. Congrats to abby for such a wonderful job!
Playing catch up!
Well it would be impossible to catch up this blog as i have lagged behind to much! My free flow of words just seems to get stopped up, whats that called writers block???
A quick recap finds everyone well. The sar girls are amazing, really working their butts off!! Emeline is doing great, her indication is solid and fast. I will never have to question whether or not she finds a subject. Her multiple refinds provides long hard bark and bounces at me loud enough to wake a deaf person! She actually makes the ground tremble!!!! Her searching was natural, just pure genetics but her brain was assembled differently then her sisters, something her mother threw in to the mix. She is a thinker and will not allow me to pass by the scent cone. I’m amazed at the progress she has made and am thrilled that i gave her the chance to nail everything perfectly like i knew she could do before moving her on. Bravo Emeline Bravo!
Raina will be a year old in less then a month! It’s crazy to imagine that she has already been with us for that long. Such a quick learning pup she amazes me every day with her balance, work ethic, and drive to be a prominent friend to her owner. I have held back on her testing because of her age, not lack of ability. She could have certified months ago with flawless searching and indication, and has yet to reach that “hiccup” period in her youth. While everyday i wait for it, every time we train she re confirms to me that she really is just that good. There are good things to come in the future with miss Rainy and i will keep you posted!
Abby has been doing great and is proving to be a solid worker. Her skill level is above and beyond what i had dreamed and she is fitting into the pack well now that she has learned all the dog play rules. The remainder of this month will be a huge test for Abby and i know she can do it. I’m so proud of her and what she has already achieved!
Problems, problems
That is of course search problems
below is a picture of our GPS log. We use the Garmin Astro, this way i can track my path and with a collar on Raina i can track her exact path as well. Then we load them into MapTech software and bingo i know exactly where we have been!! This track i believe is in Harpursville New York and the BLUE track is mine and the RED track is Raina. You can see the huge swing out she took away from me, this was when she had a blast of his scent from his location which is right after the curve. If the wind had been stronger, she would have gotten him before we finished the area around.
Raina and Titan
The pack structure at its greatest! You will see my 10 month old German Shepherd Raina submitting to her 6 year old 7 pound Chihuahua brother. Raina is a crazy high drive working german bred girl with an amazing bite on her. When it counts, she is gentle as a baby. Size doesn’t matter, dogs are dogs and my pack is a very valid demonstration of that!
The show that goes on
I’m a little behind in my blog posts but trying to catch up!!
Last sunday Eagle Valley search dogs had to attend the dog show in Whitney Point NY. I was presented with the AKC CAR award money for the grant i wrote earlier this year. This 2000 dollars will go to supporting our fall Combined Federation search seminar in the end of september. Abby and her real sister Raven both did short demo’s of the recall refind indication sequence and abby was available for people to meet and greet.
Our table attracted a lot of attention and hopefully we were able to scout out some new volunteers to come hide and train with us!!! If you are ever interested and in the Broome County or Delaware County area email me EliteInstinctCanine@gmail.com We are always looking for volunteers to go get lost!!!
The working girls
Last weekend was a rough one, but we still did what we could and the girls had fun. Saturday we trained with Amigo Sar dogs up in New Berlin. We ran everyone on some HR hides as well as live hides. The HR was great, we hid it in a 130 pounds replica guy from the firehouse!!
Abby decided not only was it an easy find but also an easy indication to mom!
It was hot out and everyone went for a swim after their problem to cool down. Raina had a blast jumping into the fast moving water to grab her ball. She’s getting pretty good at catching it, though mom doesn’t let her do it often she is still to young to beat up her bones like that!
Raina and Abby both sustained some muscle and pad injuries and were put on light duty. This last week they rested up and appear good to go! Down time is always the worst with these girls, they are just not meant to be couch potatoes!!
Search for a new Logo
Well my artistic need is coming through…………a new logo is in the works!!! Thanks to some amazing pictures taken by my friend Amy (who is a professional photographer if you like her work let me know!!!) i am toying around with a few pictures as potentials for my logo. Let me know what you think is the best or what other ideas you have!!!
Abigail
Ms Abigail is the newest member of the canine copilot pack. Abby is a 3 year old GSD who is sister’s with Raina, just from the previous litter. Abby will be certified by the end of the year as both live find and HR. Abby is learning that living with the pack has rules and being the newest member means she has a lot to learn! She loves traveling with mom and the girls on training weekends and is frequently my demo dog during private training classes with clients. This black and tan beauty is all love but don’t let her fool you she packs a mean punch! Abby’s trained indication is a “bump” and she thoroughly enjoys slamming me on the chest as hard as possible with muddy paws.
Abby is a sweetheart and loves everyone she meets. Full of energy and always ready to do what is asked of her Abby is the perfect example of a German Shepherd Dog! Please keep your eye out of the amazing workings of Abby.
The art of playing with your dog
Part of having a good relationship with any dog is play time. At Elite Instinct Canine we pride ourselves on having fun with our pooches! There is of course an “art” of playing with your dog and the girls would love to demonstrate it for you!
The girls playing in the water after some searching
Look for a post tomorrow with all the details from our fun day!
The shining stars
The weekend was great, and the girls really really made me proud. We hit up walton with Amigo SAR dogs saturday and did a great training with live, snow burial and some HR. It was some great new land and the dogs got plenty of exposure to snowmobiles and people all around.
Sunday was a great training day at ritas and the girls both had good long problems. They ranged beautifully once they were in scent, scoured through a passel of pine trees, found the subjects and headed straight back to me!
We also did some good HR work which neither girl had worked in a while. Our focus was getting our airscent and refind and indication set but with that all in place we are getting back into doing HR. Both girls did great and stayed on task. Video’s to follow!!!

























