Captain Lowry and Lennie - Search and Rescue Dog Team

We were incredibly proud when our big sister, Captain Lowry of the San Diego Fire Department, and her search dog partner Lennie recently passed their certification with FEMA to be an official search dog.

Lennie was rescued from a shelter and was thought to be a suitable candidate to become a search dog. Numerous handlers from the Search Dog Foundation assessed and trained him daily for many months until he was "matched" with his handler. The end of the first stage of the process is an official matching ceremony between handler and dog.

After several months of intensive training the handler and dog team take the next step toward certification, a Foundational Skills Assessment, finding people pretending to be victims in various simulated (but very realistic) disaster areas. From there it's on to Virginia where they perform a full rescue of an unknown to them number of victims from a realistic disaster scene. Only after successfully completing this final test are they certified by FEMA as a search dog.

Lennie is a German Short-haired Pointer (GSP) and they are pretty common in the search and rescue world. What makes him a good search and rescue (SAR) dog? High energy, endurance, easy to train, athletic, and above all else a single minded focus on the greatest thing in the world - in Lennie's case, his favorite dog toy or a tennis ball. 

His favorite toy or a tennis ball is his reward for scampering around a huge pile of rubble and finding victims. Lennie (like all SAR dogs) has a borderline neurotic obsession with his favorite toy or tennis ball. All he wants to do is play with it, day and night, and that obsession is what is harnessed to train him to become an SAR dog. To him it's just a big game, wander through a disaster site and find the people, because if I do, I get to play with my toy.

We are incredibly proud of our big sister and the months of training she and Lennie went through to become a SAR team. It's hard work, training happens daily, and recertification happens on a regular basis.

You can follow them on Instagram - searchdoglennie or check out The Search Dog Foundation on Instagram.

A Winter Day at the Beach

We've had several weeks of mostly rainy weather here at the Oregon Coast. It happens and is expected in Winter. So when the rain clears and there are a few sunny days, we seize the opportunity to get out, explore, and get some Vitamin D.

It was a lovely day to eat at my desk and then spend my lunch hour strolling the beach. As usual after the Summer tourist season, I only saw two people in an hour walk.

The big rains that we've had turned every possible drainage into a stream. In the Summer this particular spot is usually little more than a small trickle. I didn't have my rain boots (this is cool new term for galoshes apparently) on and didn't want to get my feet all wet, so I turned around here and made my way back home.

The day ended with a lovely sunset. The Oregon Coast never fails to disappoint, even if there are some days where the rain changes our plans, it always makes up for it.

Napping Choices

We've got so many options for a dog to nap around here. Many comfy dog beds for whatever particular napping session you're looking for.

 Look at all those available dog beds. So many to chose from.

 

Naturally then instead of using one of those beds, we're going to take our nap on this old bathroom rug that we use to put on our hiking shoes so we don't get the carpet dirty. Sure, that makes sense.

Minor Modifications at Home to Help an Old Dog

Shadowfax is 14 years old and still gets around pretty well for her age. We've tried to do everything we could to keep her healthy for as long as possible. Even with her Cushing's Disease (which we have posted about before 1st post here and 2nd here) we have managed to be pretty lucky with her health.

As she has gotten older we have made some minor changes to our daily activities, we help her up and down the stairs and monitor her more closely when she's outside on the deck when it's raining and slippery. We're also keeping her active. Our two walks a day may be shorter and slower, but we still do them, rain or shine. Allowing her lots of time for sniffing on walks keeps her brain engaged as well as her body physically active.

In the house we've started adding more area rugs and runners so she can easily get from place to place. We've noticed her feet slipping every once in a while on the tile floor and the rugs seem to help her keep her grip on the floor. 

We have also started making it easier for Shadowfax to get in and out of bed by stacking her dog beds, raising their height. Since we have a lot of dog beds, we put the less popular ones on the bottom and they aren't missed.

When Dog Beds Attack!!!

We have a cover for the back seat of our car for Shadowfax to sit on, and for safety we always have her harness on and secured to the seat belt. But we figured an additional dog bed designed for a car on top of the car seat cover, would give her a more comfortable spot to sit.

The bed has made car rides more comfortable as we try to take Shadowfax with us when we go into town for an errand. One of us will run into the grocery store and the other will sit with her in the car. We've also started integrating stops at small parks in town to let her spend some time sniffing.

The other day I was dropping off Alycia to pick up her car from the repair shop. Sahdowfax was apparently very concerned that Alycia was going to abandon her forever so she started thrashing about in the backseat. And in 10 seconds ended up like this...

I did what any self-respecting dog parent would do, make sure she wasn't in any immediate physical danger, then take some pictures. Shadowfax realized that she'd gotten herself in a pickle and stopped thrashing and let me help her out of her predicament.

Thoughts on 16 Years of Blogging and a Throwback Picture from 2017

Time travel back to 2017, Shaak Ti and Shadowfax snuggling on the floor with Alycia at our house in North Dakota.You can find the original post here.

This blog is at 900+ posts, spanning the last 16 years and four states. It started as a way to easily post stories and pictures to family and friends that were spread across the country. Deaf Dogs and Benevolent Gnomes has been many things over those long years: a low stakes vehicle for creative writing, a place to try to become a paid interweb blogger (didn't work), a burden that could never be alleviated, a source of guilt for not posting enough, a medium for expressing love and grief after losing Tito and Shaak Ti, and finally a place to document a life well lived. 

We've finally come full circle and are back to where we started, a place to share stories to friends and family near and far. But now instead of inducing guilt, it feels lighter. A hobby that I get to when I have time and inspiration, or to post a quick photo. Not a burden or a source of unfinished work. Most importantly I've come to realize that it's a way to chronicle a loving history of amazing people, places, and pets. A living photo album that will never be completed, to be enjoyed as a guided tour down memory lane.

A Very Tall Tree and Shadowfax Sleeps On

 Wow it's been months since we've posted. Sorry.

All is well. Shadowfax is a happy camper.

We're enjoying the Oregon Coast and all the rugged outdoorsy beauty it has to offer. 

Blogging is great fun and we enjoy sharing our stories and pictures, but there are really tall trees to go check out too. Sometimes posting takes a back seat.

Assorted Weekend Projects Starring Shadowfax

We spent some time this weekend in the garden working on a few projects.

There were a few plants that John had gotten on his birthday trip to the local nursery that needed to get in the ground. Shadowfax stuck to her core competency of supervision. She's more of an idea person than an action person.

Shadowfax was more focused on recharging her batteries than pitching in to help. Supervising from her various spots on the mulch.