We solved two cases in one day, today. It wasn’t the best possible victory for us because it appears the missing cat did not survive, but it was really excellent work by the search dogs.
Our first search was for a missing cat near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The cat had an unusual mixture of fur colors. Mu found significant amounts of fur in two locations. The fur was found in an area where the cat was known to go. It is possible that a cat with the same colors of fur, the same length, just happened to run into trouble in the territory of the missing cat. The more likely explanation would be that a coyote was responsible for the disappearance of the cat. Mu has found fur after coyote attacks at least 100 times in his career. The way the fur was distributed, and the condition of the fur, was consistent with what we have seen in the past. I told the owners of the lost cat that I could not be 100% certain that that’s what happened to their cat, but it was the most logical explanation for the evidence we found.
Although it was sad that we found this evidence, it is a small miracle that we did. A visual search for the cat would not have located this evidence. You could be looking right straight at it, and your eye would not register this fur among the leaves and twigs and dirt. Only Mu’s nose could have drawn my attention to the evidence. Once he pointed it out to me, I was able to look closely, take many pictures, and gather the fur that Mu found. While I can’t say with 100% certainty that Mu solved the case of the missing cat, I feel that the evidence we found strongly suggests what happened. I advised the owners of the cat to not give up looking for their lost cat, just in case the evidence came from a lookalike cat, however improbable that might be. In any event, Mu did a fantastic job finding evidence that could not have been found any other way.
After that search, Tino went to search for a dog that happened to be missing just a few blocks away. Just as we arrived to get the scent item to start the search, they received a call that the missing dog, Talia, had been seen on a surveillance camera just fifteen minutes earlier. I told them that they probably didn’t need a search dog, since there had been such a recent sighting. They were likely to be able to go there and visually locate Talia. She has a distinctive appearance, and she was dragging a red leash. Just out of curiosity, I went to the location, figuring that they would have her in hand pretty quickly. When we got there, she was nowhere in sight. Since she wasn’t found right away, I started Tino on the scent trail. He took me in loops around the area, where Talia must have been hanging out over the previous 24 hours. Judging by the strong scent in some places, I think we found where she slept or rested. The loops took us back to the start. We found a new loop that went into a yard in the neighborhood. From up in that yard, elevated from the street, Tino caught a strong scent in the air. His nose went up, and he followed the scent stream in an arc to a stone wall, and then his nose pointed down. I could see the back of Talia under a junk vehicle. I told Tino what a good boy he was, and I ran him back to the car.
I returned to the inoperable vehicle, and looked under. Talia was tucked way up under it, and near the rock wall. People could have walked by her all day long and never seen her. Although I had thought the search dog was unnecessary, it turned out that the dog’s nose was the only way she could have been found in that hiding place.
I used calming signals to slowly approach Talia without making her bolt from her hiding place. Over the course of 20 minutes, I scooted closer to her, starting from across the street. My legs were out in front of me, and I was leaning back on my hands, demonstrating to her that it was physically impossible for me to make any sudden movements towards her. In this way, I got right up to the side of the old car. I just sat there for a while, letting her get used to me. Talia’s previous foster was on the way, and we figured she would come out for someone she recognized and loved. My job was just to keep her there until a familiar face arrived. I used a stick to fetch the end of her leash from under the car. Once I had ahold of it, she was safe. We waited for her person to get there. When she heard a familiar voice, she came out from under the car. Eventually, when she realized she was safe, she greeted me and took treats from me.
I returned to the car where my dogs were patiently waiting. Mu was asleep, exhausted from his long and thorough search. Tino was ready to go again. I told them how proud I was of them, and they shared a stick of string cheese, to celebrate their good work. In both of today’s cases, the work of my dogs was crucial. Although one case was sad and one was happy, both dogs did excellent work. I am immensely proud of my boys.
Great job boys always , thank you all for your dedication.
Bitter sweet but great job for Mu and Tino.