That's a good idea on the bus compound, and the high school. I'll see about getting to those on Monday when they should be opened. I'm going to go to the church on the street closest to where was indicated tomorrow when it's open and see about getting a flyer up there since surely a good number of people go there.
She isn't chipped. I hadnt gotten her to the vet yet to get hers done. If she comes back, it'll definitely be getting done immediately.
I was so proud of Athena today. She is a very green tracking dog. I think the longest a track has been aged for her before has been an hour, and she certainly hasn't been asked to do any really difficult tracks. After the second dog left, I took her out with me, mostly hoping just to canvas the entire area really well, and because I was told to keep my scent fresh in the area, and to call her name when possible. Well, I brought my scent article with me, let her sniff it, and then asked her to track. She took right off into the woods, dragging me along. I often had to drop my line as she charged ahead, nose to the ground, while I fought through brambles, vines, and fallen trees. She ended up taking me straight to where the more experienced dogs had indicated, and also indicated the steep incline. We ended up climbing it, and she wound up leading me to two piles of fairly fresh poop that looks like Lark's in different spots. Shortly after that, she did end up losing the scent. I think maybe Lark turned around near there. At that point, all she would do is stand and bark, and eat weeds, so she was a bit frustrated, and so we quit. She did a good job, especially for such a green dog, and there was no reason to stress her out by asking her to do more. Many may not know, but tracking is very exhausting for a dog to do. Between her, and the other two dogs, it gave me a good idea of where I needed to continue my search, and gave me where to move the trap to. As it turns out, the trap wasn't even close to where she has been recently.
Because of this experience, I am going to continue working on her tracking training. I would like to be able to offer up hers and my help if this were to ever happen to someone I know, and they needed a dog to help them locate theirs. I would also like to think if one of mine got out, we could make much faster progress, as I could use her. Prior to this afternoon, I hadn't even considered trying her because she is just so inexperienced, but she proved to me she is more than capable to do the job.
