Tino finds Caper

Cool, wet weather and a fresh sighting helped.

Today we went to search for a Wheaton terrier named Caper.  She had come to a new home in Magnolia and escaped shortly after arrival.  She had a collar and leash attached when she first ran off, but she was seen later without the collar.  The leash must have caught on something and she backed out of the collar.  A surveillance camera caught a video of her Thursday night, in the vicinity of several other sightings. We were on a different search yesterday, so today was the earliest we could get there.  We started on the scent trail about 36 hours after the sighting.

I talked to the owner about our strategy, and she showed me the location of the last sighting.  She handed me the scent item, which was a harness the dog had worn recently.  I took it to the car and presented it to Tino.  He was so eager to sniff the item that he wouldn’t let me unseal the bag.  It took several moments to get his snout out of the way so I could open the bag.  Once he got his nose in, he sniffed all over the harness.  I got his harness on, and he jumped out.  It was raining lightly but steadily, 48 degrees, with a light breeze: very good conditions for Tino to follow a scent, although it would have been nice if it was cooler.  Tino tracked the scent into the driveway and to the location where the cameras caught the dog.  From there, he went between the buildings, to their front yard, and then down some steps to Magnolia Boulevard.  I asked him to go slow down the steps, but of course he ignored my request.  Fortunately, they weren’t too slippery, and I managed to stay upright.  He took me across the street to a narrow strip of grass between the road and the bushes.  He sniffed this area carefully, and started following the scent south.

Then the owner received a call that Caper had been seen several blocks south, just a few minutes earlier.  Tino and I ran back to the car, and then drove to the area of the sighting.  The witness explained that the dog had run north from Raye Street to Armour Street, then west, then east again.  I got Tino out of the car and started him again on the fresh scent.  He took me up the hill on Armour, through the corner of one yard, and then he wanted to go deep into someone’s backyard.  I stopped him.  The new owner and the previous owner both told me to go ahead into the yard.  I told them I couldn’t just run into someone’s yard with my 105-pound Gerberian Shepsky.  The new owner, who lived several blocks away, said she knew these people and it would be okay.  I was a little skeptical of her claim, but figured we would probably be okay.  She could take the heat if someone was upset. Tino took me deep into the yard and behind the house.  Then he took me behind the next house.  At one point, he wanted to turn south, but the bushes were pruned so that a dog could go under, but I would have to crawl under.  When I resisted, Tino turned up into the yard, going north.  In hindsight, I think the scent went both ways, first north and then south.  We came to a dead end in the corner of the yard when we went north.

I brought Tino out of the yard, around the block and to the south side of where we just were, where the lost dog could have come out on Magnolia Boulevard.  Tino picked up on the trail again, leading me back and forth across the street several times.  He took me to a roadside park, with a lawn surrounded by native shrubs and ivy.  He sniffed all along the edge of the grass, with his nose low to the ground, and then he stopped at one spot where it looked like an animal had gone into the bushes, turning some of the leaves of the ivy.  Tino seemed to be specifically sniffing the ends of the branches, where an animal had passed and deposited scent.  He pointed into the bushes with his nose.  He looked in, and he tipped his head as if he could hear something.  I moved my head back and forth, trying to see through the brush.  I caught a glimpse of something about the color of the lost dog, about 12 feet in from the edge of the grass.  After a few moments, I was able to get a line of sight so I could make out part of her face, and one eye.  It was definitely her.

I pulled Tino back so we wouldn’t spook her from her hiding place.  I texted the new owner that we had found her, and asked her to bring the puppy.  I gave Tino the string cheese I had in my pocket, his reward.  I praised him repeatedly and told him what a good dog he was. The previous owner had brought one of this dog’s puppies, to lure her if we found her.  The person driving the car with the puppy in it couldn’t be reached right away.  The previous owner was the first to get to the hiding place.  I instructed her on calming signals, and I pointed out where the frightened dog was hiding in the bushes.  Then I took Tino away so the dog could relax.  By the time I got Tino back to the car, the lost dog had come out to a familiar person, and she was safe.  They got her in their car right away.

Several people in the search party thanked Tino and me.  Then we went to play fetch in a nearby park.  I threw Tino’s orange ball for him, and he chased it down.  Of course, when he brought it back, he wouldn’t give it to me, as usual.  I ignored him for a few minutes while he chewed on the ball.  When he finally dropped it, I quickly stepped on it, and then I held his collar while I took my foot off so I could grab it.  As he was waiting for me to throw it again, I took his picture a few times, and then I tossed it again. He sprinted down the sloping lawn after it.

When I recount these adventures, I typically say how proud I am of Tino and what a great dog he is.  I won’t repeat all of that praise here.  As we drove home, as I was thinking how much I love him and how lucky I am to be his partner, I was also thinking that he is a huge part of my identity.  Who I am is entirely wrapped up in him, and in Mu.  We can do something that very few human-canine teams do, and we have had many successes.  We have saved lives.  The dog we found today, searchers could have walked past her a hundred times and never seen her. I certainly never would have seen her in the bushes if not for Tino’s nose.  I’m sure she would have moved eventually and been seen again, but then she would be hiding again, and difficult to find.  Tino found her fairly quickly when it would have been nearly impossible for humans to find this dog.  I like who I am when I am working with Tino.  Together, we have superhuman abilities.  He lets me live a larger life, and I take him on big adventures.  We team up to become one symbiotic organism, something better than either of us could be alone.  I am very glad to be Tino’s human.  I will always remember days like this, working and playing in the rain.