murraysmom

For those of you interested in tracking:
Today was a bloodhound training day for local search and rescue organizations on our local college campus. Volunters are always needed to play victims- I've done this a couple of times over the years. It's fun hanging out with the dogs and I always learn alot from their handlers. The above pictures were taken a couple of years ago; today I didn't bring a camera because it was too cold to take my hands out of my pockets!

Princess Buttercup

Reminds me of that joke of the little boy looking at a K9 in the back of a police car. "Is that a DOG back there?" "Why yes it is!" "Jeez, what did he do?"

Wworm

hee hee... lol

personally, i'd like a bloodhound sibling so it can come find me when i run away and get lost..

Murray...er, how exactly do u play victim? do u hide and they come finds u?
--Worm

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see what the Worm is up to: http://bassetworm.blogspot.com/

Jnfr

As much as I dote on my bassets, I would love a blood hound. I think of them as "tall bassets".

We have a firehouse down the road where the local scent dogs train. Many times I have pulled over just to watch them train and do their thing.

murraysmom

Murray doesn't go- just me. 'Victims' have to bring 5 items that we've touched- we leave an item with the handler to show the dog, then we follow a map and walk to a hiding place picked by the handler (I was in a building today because it was so cold).

One interesting thing is that the dogs don't follow your foot tracks- they follow little particles of you floating in the air- so if the wind blows your scent 50 yards upwind against a building, that's where the dog tracks you, not where your feet touched the ground.

Trails deteriorate drastically around 24 hours, but some dogs can scent for a few days. The handler I was paired with is out every weekend tracking and his two 7 year old hounds Gracie and LuLu, who've have been able to find things on 3 day old trails.

If anyone is interested,here's a website for Summit Search and Rescue which was there today-
these folks are volunteers and really dedicated to what they do.:
Welcome to Summit Search and Rescue (SSAR)

houndmomma

Oh, I love Bloodhound’s – I’ve thought about getting one once. But the long legs are too much for me – I like the little stumps better

I wish they had something like this where we lived – I’d go for sure – bet it was a blast.

Jen~

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Momma to Lucy age 12 ~ Basset Hound
Momma to Rickie age 5 ~ Shi-Poo (don’t tell him though – he thinks he’s a hound dog)
Momma to Mabel age -1 ~ Basset Hound
Momma to Flash – RIP 2000 ~ 2011 – Gone in body but with me in spirit ~ You will live on forever in my heart baby ~ Je t'aime