Tags:   Vizsla Search dogs

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Here's Cielo (Spanish for sky/Heaven), at 6 years old, doing his favorite thing - running free. Cielo is a Vizsla who is a Search and Rescue (SAR) dog with Southwest Search Dogs in San Diego, California. Here's a video (WMV) of Cielo "relaxing" after a training in the Cuyamaca Mountains, East of San Diego. This area was devastated by the 2003 Cedar Fire and although there is still evidence of the damage, you can see it is recovering nicely.

Tags:   Vizsla Search dogs AnAwesomeShot

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Tags:   Vizsla Search dogs

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A funny thing happened at SAR dog training, yesterday. My old dog, Cielo, is pretty much retired from Search and Rescue, since it is difficult for him to get around, but I still get him out every week to work a small problem, just to keep his hand in it. It's pretty sad, because nose-wise, he's as good or better than he's ever been. Or maybe, it's just because he's so experienced, but even at 13 1/2, he's still a great SAR dog!

Yesterday, I decided to work on firearms location, only I didn't know until I got there (which was at the bottom of the above image) that they had already picked up the shell casings and gun. Since he is also certified in Article Search, I decided to hide my iPhone and let him find that.

When he found it, he managed to put his paw on the button and activate Siri (the voice recognition feature of the iPhone.) Since his alert for finding an article is to bark, that's what he did, and as I was picking it up, I heard Siri say, "Sorry. I didn't understand that, Jim." What, you mean Siri doesn't speak dog?

If you check the map and click on Hybrid, you'll be able to see what a cool place it was where we got to train. It was at a water park, called "Soak City" and it was shut down for the winter, so we had the whole park to ourselves.

Tags:   Cielo Search dog www.southwestsearchdogs.org Soak City iPhone

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Tags:   Vizsla Search dogs

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