This article comes from Ken Janiec from Colorado Springs, CO. He and his
wife Judi, got Zeke as a little older pup who had not had any training for what
they wanted, they have done an awesome job with him, I think you will agree.
Ken promises to send updates regularly. Zeke is out of Merlyn & Baylee.
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Judi and I are happy to be new members of the Black and Tan Coonhound Club.
Since, we call or email Lynda and Stan more times than we remember about Zeke, our
B&T puppy we have from them, Lynda asked me to write a story about of him;
especially, as I began working him in SAR scent trailing. However, before I talk about
what Zeke has done, I need to give a little background of why we have him.
My interest in becoming involved in Canine Trailing Search and Rescue work began when I started Stanley, our seven-year-old Basset, in AKC tracking. I started reading the old favorite “Tracking From the Ground Up” by Ganz & Boyd to “Building a Basic Foundation For Search and Rescue Dog Training” by JC Judah. Unfortunately, there really is not one book on the subject, and my library grew exponentially.
AKC tracking is very different from SAR scent trailing, but the structure of the AKC tracking has its benefits. Importantly, you cannot guide your dog over the track, even if you see the tracklayers’ footprints. If the judge sees you queue your dog to the track, you are finished for the day. What many of us hate to admit too, is trust the dog. You need to let the dog figure out the track and its turns. That means you need to read the indications of when he is working or not, how he indicates the correct direction of a turn and the articles along the track. Stanley and I learned together and I was hooked on tracking.
That started a search for another dog that I could use for SAR work in Colorado. Specifically, I want to become operational with Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado team (SARDOC). I needed a taller dog with stamina and could work in both warm and cold weather. More importantly, the new puppy had to have a intelligence, good temperament, social skills, and be able to be part of our Basset Hounds and us. I researched the Otterhounds, Spinone Italianos, and Bernese Mountain dogs. However, I always seem to come back to the hound group; preferably a scent hound. Even though I had an opportunity to work with a Bloodhound, the breeder said that they really are not pack dogs and can be destructive if not given a daily job. Again, I went back to review the Hound Group and became interested in what I read on Coonhounds. I liked all the Coonhounds breeds, but really liked the B&T. It has the height, endurance, intelligence, pack sociability, and, as I now know, excellent scenting abilities. The fact they can be traced back to the American/Virginia Foxhounds with some Bloodhound stock, Judi and I said that this is the dog that would be great for SAR and future Dog Therapy work. Now, we have Zeke.
Zeke and I attended our first three-day SAR seminar given by the Front Range Rescue Dogs, Longmont, Colorado in October. I explained to the seminar coordinator that I have a B&T Coonhound and I want to see how he does in trailing and socialization. Being unsure on what Zeke could do, she said another puppy would be there and we were invited.
Starting on Friday, we got classroom work and many scent exercises. Then, it snowed. When Zeke saw snow for the first time, he was not sure what it was, started eating it and jumping around, it took a little more time to get him back inside in his crate. He just wanted to stay outside. Neither did the snow slow him down from completing all of the trailing exercises. From the simple “see the victim hid behind the tree” to a complicated ½-mile track through thick brush, snow and finding the person hiding around an abandon farmhouse, Zeke found all the victims. When SAR dogs find their victims, some dogs get excited and bark at their owner, or others look to play with their favorite tug toy. For Zeke, it is simple. Where is the food? Before the training, I cut up a Natural Balance Beef roll into bite size pieces, put them into sandwich baggies, and Zeke was in Coonhound heaven. Walking away from all the exercises, I was amazed on what I saw in Zeke. How did he understand, that when I asked him to put his nose into the victim’s scent article bag and told to ‘go find him’, that he took off without any reservation. He is only a puppy with long legs and I did not introduce him to any trailing exercises before this weekend.
Sunday was the last day of training. There was some classroom work and, then, the K-9 Olympics. We divided into 4-person teams that rotated among a number of dog game stations. Zeke and I were teamed up with other Labs and Goldens. At one station, the team carries a dog in a litter to a point and back, while another gives your dog a chance grab as many balls around you and put them in a bucket for time. Zeke really is not into fetching balls or sitting still in a litter. The last station is a trailing exercise. The team asked whether I thought Zeke could do it; especially, when the track was laid Friday afternoon and the same tracklayer and many others crossed it during the night navigation exercises Friday night. The track was 45 hours old and the weather changed from sunny, cloudy/cold, to snow and rain. Weather can help either retain or destroy scent and it differs from hour to hour.
We were looking for a pink ribbon, attached to a rock with half of the ribbon buried under the rock. From what I saw of Zeke during the weekend, I felt comfortable that he would find it. When we started out in about 5 inches of snow that quickly changed to rain, I had second thoughts. However, I trusted him as visibility dropped from the low clouds moving over us. A team member followed and kept track of the paces, so that we could determine about where ribbon should be. After taking the tracklayers scent, Zeke started quickly working the track with his nose to the ground.
Traveling through brush, pines, and open areas, Zeke stopped and looked at me and sat down. It was about the correct paces from the start. Both the team member and I looked around the area, but did not see the ribbon. I tried to walk Zeke away from this area to do a grid search, but Zeke was not interested. The other team member thought he sat down because he lost the scent and she headed back.
The tracklayer met us and I asked if he could find the ribbon. He said that with the snow on the ground, he could not see the rock. However, with a compass, he could retrace his exact steps. We went back and put Zeke in his crate, while we got a compass and headed back out. It took us about 20 minutes of shoveling snow using our boots, but we found the ribbon. To our amazement, Zeke sat down 15’ from the ribbon. The tracklayer is a local firefighter and said he never saw a puppy be as close to the ribbon, on a track as old as this one, with these weather variations. We would definitely see a victim within 15’ from where Zeke sat down.
I put the ribbon in my pocket as a keepsake and can only describe my feelings as though I won a lottery and was in shock by repeatedly looking at the numbers. When the word got back to the other handlers, he gained the respect as very good trailing dog and rightfully so, he is a B&T.
Zeke and I continue to train with SARDOC with the goal of becoming an operational trailing scent hound team next year. I am proud to be his handler and know that we will become a welcome sight to those lost or in need in Colorado. We will keep you updated with our training.
I received this note from Judi the morning of the 4th
Last night, after Ken returned from his SAR meeting, he was paged that 3 children were missing and dogs
were needed. The pictures speak for themselves. Ken and Zeke drove up into the mountains, 38 miles or
so, and everyone was getting ready to search. Ken was talking to the mother about clothing to use as a scent. Apparently there were Air force Cadets camping in the area, and they too were searching …and they found them right when the two dogs were about to hit the trail. The family was camping, as we don’t know why the children walked off. Ken should find out more at an PCSAR meeting.
I feel safe knowing Zeke is with Ken when they’re out and about in the middle of the night. He’s such a solid dog and so good at his job. Judi
Relayed through a phone call from Ken:
The next mission started with a call out around 2pm for dogs and horses to do a search in a National park.
The Rangers were concerned about a car that had been there overnight. Sadly the vehicle belonged to a
man who had planned his suicide after the death of his wife, choosing a Chapel deep within the Park . Three
teams responded, a air scenting German Shepherd, a Bloodhound and Zeke. It was a very hot 98 degrees
at an altitude of over 6000 ft., both things can be hard on both handler and dog. The local Fire Dept rescuers
( no dogs) were also called out.
The dog teams started at the vehicle with nothing more than a swab from the interior. They started out
together but soon the Shepherd was struggling to find the scent in the air, he took off in one direction with
the Bloodhound following behind. With Zeke being so young and by far the most inexperienced of the 3, Ken
thought for sure Zeke was off track since he did not follow the other teams. But Ken also knew he needed
to trust his dog and Zeke was telling him "They're wrong dad, we need to go this way", so Ken followed his
young hound, stopping only to cool Zeke down with water he was packing for the both of them. Staying in
radio contact with his team leader Ken received word that the man had been found by the Fire Rescue team at the Chapel, where they went to straight away. Ken asked that he be allowed to finish the search with his dog so the dog would get to complete the mission, very important for search dogs. He was allowed to come on into the scene after the man had been removed so Zeke would finish his mission, his reward was a cool soak down and a ride in the air conditioned rescue truck back to camp. Oh yea, the other dog teams never showed up and were called back in.
UPDATE:
The man is alive and recovering from his ordeal, thank goodness!
