Post by oksaradt on Dec 29, 2009 18:28:20 GMT -5
Here in Oklahoma, it's rare for us to get more than 4 inches of snow at a shot. I can recall the last time we had snow on the ground for 30 days was in the early 80s.
On Christmas Eve, we experienced the Okie version of a white out. My local got 14 inches of snow delivered by straight winds. Of course in this area, snow is almost always preceded with an ice storm, so we got to experince something akin to sandblasting with ice. As this was an unusual weather phenoma for this area, the people just weren't prepared for it and calamity ensued. Up north, 14 inches is probably considered just a routine snow. Here it shut a good portion of our state down for several days. I happened to be one of the few that don't get to enjoy snow days and had to drive all over in it performing my duties. I don't wish the suffering that some experienced on anyone and wish they had been better prepared.
That being said, snow is one of the best (THE BEST) training environments for HRD around. It's clean. In the country it can be close to sterile. Natural decomposition stops for the most part. You can dictate the scent source you want to work your dog on. If you just have to work decomp or recent then you can take it right out of the freezer and put it somewhere to be covered up.
But for me, snow's the best for teeth and skeletal. Any time the weather people (and we have some of the best in the world here as we are the meeting of the gulf stream and jet stream) think it's going to snow, I rush out and place sources on the prairie with flags 30-40-50 feet out in four directions so that I can tell that the dog is close. Christmas Eve was my one day off in 8 days working, so I was going to spend it with my family. The impending blizzard changed all that. I ran some quick errands and bee-lined it back towards home. I got out to place sources just as the horizontal ice storm was hitting, so I figured a placement might be off....ice hitting you in the face can be a bit distracting.
I worked Murphy on these sources three days later in pristine snow. My scent (if you believe the scent raft theory) should have been washed clean of the area. Murphy showed me a new trick as he went to work in the vicinity. He walked around then suddenly stopped and check where his feet had just been. He began to exhibit scent behavior and I have to think it was because the scent was stronger at the soil/snow interface. He created his own spiral grid pattern and worked into where the teeth were where upon he indicated. This was the easy one as I'd used a tuft of grass to landmark the teeth and his nose slid down the grass to make the find.
A different one had no landmarks except the outer flags. I'd placed it in an elongated earthen bowl to see if he'd get scent below or above. He did pick up scent below and then worked around again, using his footsteps again. He stopped over where I thought the teeth should be then barked and I took it.
Today I went to recover the teeth and had no tuft of grass to help me. I had the flags. I dipped down into the snow and moved it around at the soil level for six inches with no joy. I had no Murphy Nose Hole to help me. I pondered, "Jim, you have a dog that's good at this. Why not use him?"
I got Murphy out and asked him to target. He looked at me with a stupid expression suggesting, "we already did this one." I sighed, "yea yea, but I really want my teeth. Get Close!"
Murphy moved over to where he'd been before. This time he shoved his nose into the snow about 4 inches further SW to where I'd been. His nose moved a bit about then shifted in the snow another 3 inches to the SW then he looked up and barked. I moved over and knelt down to see and there were my teeth.
Snow is the best.
Jim
On Christmas Eve, we experienced the Okie version of a white out. My local got 14 inches of snow delivered by straight winds. Of course in this area, snow is almost always preceded with an ice storm, so we got to experince something akin to sandblasting with ice. As this was an unusual weather phenoma for this area, the people just weren't prepared for it and calamity ensued. Up north, 14 inches is probably considered just a routine snow. Here it shut a good portion of our state down for several days. I happened to be one of the few that don't get to enjoy snow days and had to drive all over in it performing my duties. I don't wish the suffering that some experienced on anyone and wish they had been better prepared.
That being said, snow is one of the best (THE BEST) training environments for HRD around. It's clean. In the country it can be close to sterile. Natural decomposition stops for the most part. You can dictate the scent source you want to work your dog on. If you just have to work decomp or recent then you can take it right out of the freezer and put it somewhere to be covered up.
But for me, snow's the best for teeth and skeletal. Any time the weather people (and we have some of the best in the world here as we are the meeting of the gulf stream and jet stream) think it's going to snow, I rush out and place sources on the prairie with flags 30-40-50 feet out in four directions so that I can tell that the dog is close. Christmas Eve was my one day off in 8 days working, so I was going to spend it with my family. The impending blizzard changed all that. I ran some quick errands and bee-lined it back towards home. I got out to place sources just as the horizontal ice storm was hitting, so I figured a placement might be off....ice hitting you in the face can be a bit distracting.
I worked Murphy on these sources three days later in pristine snow. My scent (if you believe the scent raft theory) should have been washed clean of the area. Murphy showed me a new trick as he went to work in the vicinity. He walked around then suddenly stopped and check where his feet had just been. He began to exhibit scent behavior and I have to think it was because the scent was stronger at the soil/snow interface. He created his own spiral grid pattern and worked into where the teeth were where upon he indicated. This was the easy one as I'd used a tuft of grass to landmark the teeth and his nose slid down the grass to make the find.
A different one had no landmarks except the outer flags. I'd placed it in an elongated earthen bowl to see if he'd get scent below or above. He did pick up scent below and then worked around again, using his footsteps again. He stopped over where I thought the teeth should be then barked and I took it.
Today I went to recover the teeth and had no tuft of grass to help me. I had the flags. I dipped down into the snow and moved it around at the soil level for six inches with no joy. I had no Murphy Nose Hole to help me. I pondered, "Jim, you have a dog that's good at this. Why not use him?"
I got Murphy out and asked him to target. He looked at me with a stupid expression suggesting, "we already did this one." I sighed, "yea yea, but I really want my teeth. Get Close!"
Murphy moved over to where he'd been before. This time he shoved his nose into the snow about 4 inches further SW to where I'd been. His nose moved a bit about then shifted in the snow another 3 inches to the SW then he looked up and barked. I moved over and knelt down to see and there were my teeth.
Snow is the best.
Jim