As of today, we are now an accepted member of K-9 One and no longer with MISAR. I am very pleased with this switch and look forward to posting many more SAR stories on Leapin’ Labs of our training adventures.

We have also applied with Kent County SAR and are awaiting our application to be processed.

Tonight was an interesting class. The instructor made the suggestion that Midas lose 2 lbs. I found that interesting because I asked her awhile ago what she thought of his weight and she said he was perfect, he’s since lost 4 lbs.

Anyway, this was the first class that Eric had the new camera to use and it was awesome. He got a lot of consecutive action shots, which are really fun.

As far as class goes, we had some more hard work. First we started out with a series of jumps, 4, the last one was a tire jump in one direction or a regular jump in another, depending on what we were told to do. The first time through, I was able to talk to Midas to tell him what I wanted. The second time I could tell him the first Jump command and then be silent after that. He was to get his cues on which final jump to take by my body language alone. I did not think there was any chance at all he would be able to do this - but he nailed it!

Oh and did I mention that there was a cross after the second jump? Yup. This photo shows it, as he goes over, I ran behind him to the right for the next jump cue.

The last jump was at a pretty tight angle as well:

Then the next couple of times we went through the tire instead of the last jump, some dogs automatically headed for the jump we had been doing but all got the hang of watching where their handler was directing.

Canisters with treats were thrown to get away from treating our dogs from our hands. Then they were looking forward and out for rewards instead of twisting and looking for us. Midas then brings the canister to me so I can get the treats out for him.

After that we moved to doing one angled jump, a very tight turn to 6 weave-poles, a double jump, the teeter (bypassing one tunnel’s entrance) and then a tunnel and one final jump. Everyone ended with the teeter at first until our dogs found their rhythm and then added the tunnel and jump to the end.

Sometimes I wouldn’t go deep enough to make the weave entry easy and Midas would fly past it:

So we had to practice a few times, but then he got it:

We also went on the Teeter numerous times before he was allowed to do it on his own:

Then he got a turn to go through the Tunnel after the Teeter:

Next we did the exact same station but did the purple Tunnel instead of the Teeter. That went smoothly.

Our final station we never did get down pat. It was the dog walk, followed by two jumps and then the A-Frame. The jumps were set at such an angle that every single dog spun after the first one, to find out where to go next - even the instructor’s dog. We really need to work on “Go Out!” .

The dog walk and the A-frame were easy though

It took a really long time for everyone to work through that station…

At the end of the class, we did the alternating tall and short jumps for practice again (this is when Midas got the diet advice):

This was another chance to practice the “Go!” command again. Midas wasn’t sure the first time but when I pitched the treat canister ahead of us, he was perfect the next couple .

Today we got up bright and early and headed over to the Sheriff’s substation, by Millennium Park - only 2.8 miles from our house. Eric decided to come along with Mason and I for our first meeting with K-9 One. We skipped the MISAR every-3-week training to come to this one. I had heard great things about this group, they have strong ties to the Kent County SAR group and they were fine with me using a harness on Mason. Bonus that it was so close to home .

We got there early to see what we could help set up. Eric and I set up two EZ-Up canopies and I helped apply the official stickers to the group’s new boat (they have a boat!).

Then we got a talk about boater safety and unique aspects of this particular boat:

Then some plans were made using a map of the lake:

I was in the first group to go out because I would be laying a trail across the lake and around it for the bloodhounds to track later.

The path I was supposed to take ended up being split by a small river that was not on the map so there was a slight change in plans and I was picked up at a different point. Eric and I were split up at this point, he was the victim and I started to follow behind some of the air scent handlers so that I could get a feel for how they worked. It was fun.

After we did that a couple of times there was a meeting inside the building and then Mason got a chance to ride in the boat (his first time being in a boat) and I got a short driving lesson.

At the end of the day, Mason got to do some training. It was awesome! We were on a dirt road and my “victim” let Mason watch her run away and hide in some grass. He now knows what this game is about so he was straining, lunging and choking on the lead.

I revved him up a little more and released him with his search command and he rocketed down the path straight to her.

I made some noise until he was paying attention to me and then ran backward a couple of steps, encouraging him to follow me - which he did! He came bolting back toward me and I started asking for the indication “Speak”. He slid to a stop, sat, and it took a couple of tries but he finally barked and when I said “Show me!” he actually ran right back down the path - he was slower and he kept glancing back to make sure I was following but he did it right! I ran after him so that I would be there to praise him while he got some treats from our victim.

We had a discussion about the bark indication slowing down Mason’s momentum and that perhaps a Bump cue would be better.

It was resolved that I would try that this time. While the victim went to hide a second time, Mason was hid behind a giant tractor tire so he couldn’t see where she went. He still set out at full speed when I released him with his command though.

When he came careening back, I started to ask for the Bump and patting my chest - he wasn’t sure what I was asking so the jumps were a little…all over the place lol.

He did it though and when I gave the “Show Me!” command he ran full-tilt back to our victim, much more sure of himself this time around.

I raced after him and there were more treats and praises:

This was his last search of the day so he got his toy (the ball, now in a sock so that there could be more interaction) and got to carry it back to the van where he then received his very special treats. It was awesome!!! He’s catching on so fast!

Eric took some photos while he was hiding as well, so the whole set is HERE.

It was a long but awesome day!

Eric was able to come to class tonight so there are photos to show what we worked on . When we first got there, Mason was very excited and had kind of a hard time concentrating. The instructor had to come over and say hello - he likes to greet everyone.

He always breaks the lay down/stay at the beginning of class, too excited to sit still.

But, after that initial wiggle-fest he is usually ready to concentrate on the tasks at hand so I usually try to have him do a stay while the instructor goes over the different stations that we’ll be working on for each class. Then he does the stay perfectly.

This is his calm, but attentive, face:

When the stations were all explained and everyone split up to work on separate ones, the only one open to us was the Teeter, so that’s what we started with. This week we actually walked the dog up the one end and down the other, the instructor held it so it wouldn’t slam and scare them while they hit the contacts and Waited at the end.

Mason is still struggling with where his back-end is and if I am hanging onto his collar, he leans one way or the other and then he usually can’t control his back-end and it slips off. Something we definitely have to work on!

We did it over and over, I made sure to keep my hand as light as possible on his collar (a heavier hand caused such intense shaking that the entire Teeter was swaying), until he was steady going up and down. He looked forward to the treats throughout the process and eagerly awaited his treat after the Wait command as well.

We borrowed a tab from the instructor because the tab I was using on Mason was Midas’s and Mason’s poor little foot kept slipping through the loop and tripping him. We’ll have to make or buy one that isn’t a loop that will work better for the little dude.

The next station we moved to was the dog walk. I figure the more practice that Mason gets, the better he’ll be about where his rear-end is.

He really likes the dog walk and likes to sprint the straight away - I think it’s eagerness to hit the Wait command and then get the treat at the end. He is learning the command Easy though so that’s good.

After that we moved to the Weaves. The guides still occasionally screw him up but as long as I go alongside him, he does them fine. He hasn’t quite mastered being able to do the Weaves by entering one end while I wait at the other - he skips several or comes out early etc. I tried lowering the guides all the way to the ground, so that they were out of the way for the most part and then he did them perfectly, without a hitch.

We worked on the A-frame next.