We trained at UCSD again, today, which we do about once a month, but we left our old dogs at home, this time. Cielo still has a great nose that enables him to pick up the scent of his subjects at long distances, but today, he has a lot of difficulty moving around, so he is retired from Search and Rescue.

I'm so glad that I have this video to remind me of how he used to be. I'm dreading the day, but I know that it's inevitable, when I will say, "Free Dog!" one last time.

© All Rights Reserved

In this video, you can see the difference in styles of search dogs between Rizzoli and Gunner, who was in the previous video. Rizzoli is more methodical and deliberate than Gunner, but both dogs seem to be asking, "I know that you know that this is where the subject is. If this is such an emergency, why don't you come over here, instead of me going back to you?"

It's a good question and if it were a real search, we would of course, do just that. However, the writers of K-9 search policy feel that since the dogs might be out of sight and out of hearing range when they make the find, they need to be able to communicate to the handlers when they come back to them, that they have found the subject. Therefore, it is a requirement that the dog come all the way back to the handler, do its trained alert, then lead the handler back to the subject, in order to pass the certification tests.

Both videos look pretty good here on Flickr, but you have to sacrifice a lot of quality in order to meet the requirements for posting, and they are not indicative of the quality of the videos as they come out of the Canon 5D Mark ii. Straight out of the camera, they are true 1080P and they are spectacular, especially on a large screen. I haven't played them on my HDTV, yet, but my guess is that they'll be even better than on my computer monitor.

Tags:   www.southwestsearchdogs.org Rizzoli Search Dogs Canon 5D Mark ii Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS Labrador Retriever Golden Retriever

© All Rights Reserved

My first video on Flickr, from my first day of shooting video with my new camera.

Area search practice at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. I was the subject, kneeling behind a burned, fallen tree, using it as a tripod. I was also in the shade, so neither dogs nor handlers could see me. It was a great day for the dogs, if not the handlers. We had strong Santa Ana winds, which are not always hot, as most people think. It was 47° while we up there and the wind chill probably made it feel like below freezing. When we got back home, though, it was 76°.

Speaking of video, remember the photo that I posted recently of the New Guinea Singing Dog? Well, my friend GlobalDog had two of the puppies in her back yard, recently, and she made this video. You gotta check it out. They're so cute!

Tags:   www.southwestsearchdogs.org Gunner Search Dogs Canon 5D Mark ii Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS

© All Rights Reserved