Learning What We Know-

Jasmine Autumn Gold- That is her name. She is a Belgian Malinois and was 10 weeks old at the time of this story. If you are even reading this blog then you are a dog person. I dont write because I am a writer- I write because it makes me think. No jokes now- "Then you should write more often. hahaha" It does, it causes me to think and focus on whatever it is that I am writing about. The person who set me up with this blog, now she is a writer. To me writing is all about forming pictures and thoughts in the readers mind. I good writer does that well and a gifted writer does that times 10!

12 weeks ago we were blessed with another great litter of Malinois pups. I enjoy so much watching them grow up and learn new things. They do it so quickly too. I was also blessed with the opportunity to train one of these pups full time. She has been my top priority and I have been taking her places and showing her all kinds of new stuff. Some things she was hesitant at first but soon no problem at all. I try to see the world from their perspective  and their view point. Their heads are roughly 2 feet off the ground and they see a lot of legs and knee caps. I try my best to introduce her to my world.

In return she introduces me to her world. Everything that dogs do naturally is her world. Scenting and processing that scent is one great attribute that all dogs have. We dont teach them this God has put that in them. We dont teach them to bite, walk, run, jump, they do all of that naturally. We try and mesh their natural abilities into whatever job that we have for them. Their greatest gift is the gift of scent. How they take in their environment around them, process that information and react is mostly scent. You can pretend to be happy and in a good mood to me- my dog can smell you weather or not you are indeed happy.

Since I have been with Jasmine constantly Im getting to know her quite well. That is important for this story. It was evening time and I spent it with Jasmine down by our lake. Around dark, which is 500pm now in Kentucky I came up in our parking lot and took a walk on our road with Jasmine. When we got back to the parking lot I climbed up in my Kabota RTV, Jasmine followed and she sat in my lap. Very nice cool night out and a slight wind was hitting my face. We just sat there taking in the quiet and solitude as I live on a dead end road with no neighbors around.

All of a sudden about 175 yards in front of me I noticed two quick flashes of light from two flashlights. I knew instantly that there were two people walking in the wood line about 175 yards in front of us- probably meth heads coming back from there meth lab in the woods. I did not hear them or see them and I would not have even known that they were there had I not seen those lights. I only see them once, quickly and that was that.

About 5 seconds later Jasmine looking steadfastly in that direction starts a low belly growl like dogs do. "Urrrrrrrrrrrrrr" I knew instantly that she was indicating on Mr and Mrs Meth head walking in the woods. She growled for about 15 seconds constantly looking in that direction. Of course I took advantage of this situation and turned it into an awesome training scenario. I encouraged her with some very quiet "watch em's"   She stopped growling- never barked- and I said again in a quiet but very very impressed and happy voice "Good watch em gooooood watch em!"

This was all genetics and natural and put there by God in this pup. The wind was blowing right at us and when she smelled their scent- she knew it was out-of-place. Typically when meth heads come back from a lab that is when the Camo Police come out and bring them to their new home in the county jail. They know this and I am sure their adrenaline is going quite well. They might even have the stuff on them. Either way they cannot hide their scent.

Here is my point. I know dogs have extraordinary  scenting capabilities and this is really not that big of a deal to the dog as it is something that they do not even think about. Just like you walking or breathing or sleeping- you just do it without thinking about it. But to me this was one of my greatest dog moments. It is one thing knowing a parachute will float you safely to the ground and a whole different thing strapping it on your back and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Learning and knowing to me are very different. I knew all of this that I am telling you but when I have a 10 week old Mal pup sitting on my lap growling at two meth heads almost 200 yards away- I learned.

I learned a great lesson and was filled with such great confidence in Jasmine that I know she felt it too. She felt and smelled my great enthusiasm and excitement over this one little incident compliments of Mr and Mrs Meth Head.  I could not of set up this scenario any better with trained professionals. This is also another great illustration of why we do not reward dogs here at Liberty K9 with food or a toy. My 110% sheer excitement and joy over this is exactly what Jasmine needed and  is so much better for her and us.

I dont know where Mr and Mrs Meth head are or if they will be back. I do know that I learned what I already knew. Knowing and learning equals experience.

Chance favors a dedicated person. I learned what I knew.

I know that this is no big deal at all for a lot of dog people and those with no dogs are like- "Whatever-" To me though it was such an awesome moment. How dogs scent fascinates me and I had a great WOW moment.

It also made me take notice on how many other things that our dogs do that we dont take notice of or fully appreciate.  If I had not seen those lights I would not of known what she was growling about. I would of thought this or that but probably not two people walking in the dark in the woods where there should not be anyone. So when you dont understand your dogs behavior or why they are doing something, look again- closely. You just might learn something.

Yea- dogs are awesome.