Go Find by Susan Purvis

Author:Susan Purvis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2018-08-21T20:27:49+00:00

“Back to Red Feather Lakes, Black Dog.”

Once again, I bundle us into my truck for the seven-hour drive, but instead of me searching without Tasha, the two of us will test for certification in wilderness air-scent. Since no evaluators live around our home turf, Tasha and I must test with the disadvantage of travel and unfamiliar terrain. This time, Doug goes along to be my navigator, responsible for keeping track of our location, just as I did on the mission with Ann and Jenner.

I had pushed for a late-May test date to coincide with Doug and I departing for a honeymoon backpacking in Montana, a trip long overdue. Even though we’ve traveled some of the finest white-sand beaches in the DR, we never took time out for the two of us—he’d always be fishing, reading, or working on something. Unfortunately, even in late May, Red Feather Lakes is buried under two feet of snow. My shoulders drop. Wind-crusted snow increases the difficulty for Tasha. To complicate the search test, a cold front pushed through Colorado that morning, gusting with high winds.

Hunkering into my jacket, I greet Jenny and her husband, my lead evaluators, who have hidden a stranger for Tasha and me to find. Since no one wants to dilly-dally in the cold, we launch right into the test.

In lieu of a scent article, I open the victim’s car seat to give Tasha a whiff. “Here, Tasha, check out the scent here.” She nabs a quick sniff of the driver’s seat. It’s been fourteen months since we passed our avalanche test on Aspen Mountain, and nine months since I switched from trailing to air-scent training. I pray we’re ready.

We slog into crusted snow that collapses with each step. The crust holds us for a second until our full weight forces postholing—Doug to his knees, me to my thighs, and Tasha to her chest. We labor with sluggish movements, Tasha taking a slower-than-usual charge.

“You can do it, girl.”

Racing down the east flank of the Continental Divide, forty-mile-per-hour gusts hammer us. Tasha fights the wind, chasing the subject’s scent to the edge of exhaustion. Her white tongue falls nearly to the ground. I make her drink water often.

Once refueled, she charges forward again, pursuing the invisible odor of the hidden subject. With the wind, the scent bounces, rolls, boils up into the trees, and clings to depressions. Tasha pushes on.

As we struggle into the second hour of the test, in search of the hidden subject, the crusty snow rubs Tasha’s pads raw. Her energy wanes. Yet she powers on against the wind and snow. In fear for her safety, I’m eaten away by her efforts.

Jenny calls the test two hours later. I force air into my lungs, my warm exhale disappearing in the wind toward Kansas. Back at the trailhead, Jenny analyzes our performance.

“You’ve done a fabulous job on all the technical components of search: navigating, map location, strategy, working terrain features, handler and dog endurance, communication, respect for us and your dog, consistent dog-alert recording and reading.

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