And now I've got a new search dog (maybe)...

[Catu]

She sounds like my kind of dog!!!

Congratulations!!

[RowdyDogs]

Abi and Hector are getting along very well. This is the only shot of them that my camera managed to take before they got out of frame as they played for an hour or so this morning.

I really need a better camera!

[RowdyDogs]

Abi passed her first formal evaluation last night with flying colors. We'll be doing another one next week just to be sure (I'm paranoid about getting another Hector, who also passed his initial evaluation with flying colors and then was inconsistent to the point he wasn't accepted on the team at his 6-month eval), but so far it is looking promising. I also had a couple of people tell me that I have to keep her whether she's a search dog candidate or not because she's so charming...but neither of them have 5 dogs so I said they could have her instead. If she passes 2 formal evaluations and the extremely casual meet-and-greet eval she did on Saturday with the few team members at that training, though, then I think that's about as good a guarantee as you can get (like there's such a thing as a guarantee in dog training LOL).

I hope she works out though...she's like a fungus, won't stop growing on me.

[jocoyn]

Hope so too. FIVE dogs is a lot. Guess you need to add her to the Rowdy dogs list.

[Bear GSD]

Abi sounds very promising! I hope she passes the next evals, and
I'm glad she and Hector are getting along so well!
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you both.

[RowdyDogs]

Originally Posted by jocoyn

Hope so too. FIVE dogs is a lot. Guess you need to add her to the Rowdy dogs list.

Yep, I was holding off in case she bombed the eval, but I think it's about time... She really is the last one I'm taking in until one or two of the old ones pass on (which will hopefully not be for a long time!), because 5 is the limit of what I can provide for time and money-wise. Not like "scary edge limit" but "great quality of life" limit, if that makes sense.

I already had to get a permit to keep Abi as only 4 dogs are allowed without one...the county came unannounced and inspected my house to make sure I'm providing for the dogs and keeping things clean. The funny thing though is that Abi came from a city animal control that works closely with the county, so they already had heard about the adoption and the guy who did the inspection was like, "Yeah, usually we actually are really concerned about these inspections, but it's pretty much just a formality in this case."

So yeah, NO MORE ROWDY DOGS after this one!

[RowdyDogs]

So this is what Abi was up to this morning when I thought she was chewing on a toy (she was under my desk and apparently so was my book):

Should I take that as a good sign or a bad sign?

[Bear GSD]

Hahaha! It's a good sign...she's into it

[jocoyn]

LOL well if my copy of "The cadaver dog handbook" is an example....(Can't take a picture as it is with a teammate) I would say good.....

[RowdyDogs]

So Abi passed her second eval with flying colors still...I'm feeling confident.

That's it for evals, she's on the team now officially. She did so well at all of them that we're about as confident as you can be with a dog just starting the training.