Sat, 17 Jan 2004

It's been a long time since I've communicated with you about my wonderful Seneca Airedale.…born 8/12/98. Registered as Seneca Saratoga Search ..., his kennel name is Darwin. When I bought him from you, I told you of my interest in doing SAR although I had no experience. He is certified SAR (as of 12/29/01), which in the state of NY, makes him eligible to be registered as a service dog which he is. (Two more Seneca titles!) Darwin has a deep water find (147 ft in Lake George) to his credit. Also working in tandem with another search dog on our team, he found the body of a murder victim in Luzerne, NY on October 28, 2002. Lots of evidence was found at the scene, and we are extremely proud to say that the murderer is behind bars now. ….

Fri, 25 Feb 2005

Darwin works off-lead to find lost hunters, hikers, children. He can cover alot more ground and may be out of my sight in the daytime or we may be called to search at night. Therefore he has to have a way to communicate to me, his handler that he has made the find. His trained indication is to come back to me and bite the rope tug-toy that hangs at my waist. He is extremely enthusiastic about this as
you can see from the photo - ALL FOUR PAWS ARE OFF THE GROUND! He is soaring through the air to grab his toy, hitting me like a
freight-train! Of course, it is a huge thrill for me as well.

Although there is no photo to illustrate the next step, what happens next is: I detach the toy from velcro strap, allow Darwin to have it and give him the command, "Show me!" He then runs back to the lost person with me following him. His reward when we reach the person is a game of tug-of-war and yes, he is allowed to win the toy!

Karen W.