Outer Bounds K9

10/31/2026

Looking forward to hosting Fort Garry Kennel Club’s Sanctioned Scent Match tomorrow!

It’s going to be spooktacular!!!

Don’t forget your costume! There will be prizes for best dog and handler!

10/30/2026

Sometimes the best training days don’t look much like training at all.

Griffin and Murphy regularly get to head out into the wide open, stretch their legs, follow their noses and just explore. No agenda, no expectations. Just two dogs having a great time!

It’s easy to get caught up in the work when you have working dogs, but they need to just be dogs, too. And honestly, training should almost always be fun for your dog. If it isn’t, it’s worth exploring why.

I want happy dogs that love what they do, not robots that just mechanically do what I ask of them without enthusiasm or joy.

You might get short term results micro-managing your dog’s training and activities, but when the going gets tough, long and hard - like it does in Search and Rescue - they may not have the resilience you need from them to push through.

Griffin and Murphy seem to like this approach.

What do you think?

10/29/2026

An informative two days with the Invasive Wild Pig Leadership Group at the 2026 Wild Pig Summit.

This was an invaluable opportunity to learn about the environmental, economic and animal health risks wild boar pose, and how populations and potential outbreaks of African Swine Fever are being managed around the world.

We are now armed with a better understanding of how our K9 search teams fit into a Wild Pig Emergency Response Plan and how we can best support initiatives and prepare our teams for deployment if and when there is a need.

Bonus: Griffin’s search videos were a hit and gave us an opportunity to have some fantastic conversations with a number of stakeholders!

10/22/2026

It was a two dog training kinda day. Squeezed in some quick drills and skills before I have to be away unexpectedly. Good boys!

10/22/2026

A short hunt to see if Griffin could source out wild boar carcass in a wooded area with no track to follow.

It’s been challenging to set these type of searches but I think we have it mostly figured out and he’s getting a better understanding of the question being asked of him so other familiar odours are becoming less distracting.

Article was dropped from opposing direction, flagged so I knew where it was once we got closer and aged 20 minutes.

Not a bad search and good effort by Griffin. Even those pesky squirrels didn’t distract him for long 😏

10/19/2026

Was a weekend of trials that began with a day of scent work with Griffin and ended with a day of rally obedience with Murphy.

Griffin had a bit of an off “nose” day (might have had something to do with me and the blinding migraine I was managing all day)- though his attitude was again exceptional and I was thrilled to see him so happy and relaxed hanging out at a trial (I’m starting to think I may have broke my Mal 🤔) - but he did manage to come away with a qualifying round in Open interiors.

Murphy, on the other hand, knocked his first runs at Rally O out of the park today with two high in trials and a second score of 100% - after I learned from a mistake in round 1 that cost him a -10 point deduction for moving my feet when I shouldn’t have)...friggin handlers! 🤣Thankfully the 36 hour migraine finally let up and I could actually think through the problem in front of me.

Griffin better up his game…little brother Murphy is starting to show him up!

Proud of the effort both these boys give me no matter what I put in front of them.

Can’t ask for more than a willing, happy dog!

10/12/2026

10/10/2026

A very interesting overlay of Murphy’s first night search.

The training for the SAR team was to find a series of lost items, record and report their coordinates back to base, practicing navigation and radio skills along the way.

The search was set in a heavily wooded area at night with no land marks. Searchers relied on gps, radios, flashlights and headlamps to navigate and work together to cover the search area.

A grid search was set up and Murphy and I (and our flanker - the person responsible for navigation aka: keeping us from getting lost 😏) were sent in 15-20 minutes ahead of the team to give Murphy a chance to work the track laid when the dropped items were placed.

My goal for Murphy was mostly exposure. The task was not designed specifically with him in mind and, though he was unaware, I knew there was no lost person waiting for us.

What I was wanted to test, was his ability to:

a) work in the dark
b) work for an extended period of time without reward or any real measure of success (over 2 hours)
c) pick up an aged, potentially highly contaminated, track.

It’s easy to question his ability when at the end of the night he had only led us to one lost item (out of a collection of nearly 20)…but when you look at the map overlay it shows you how on task he really was and how incredibly skilled he is to source out a person’s scent and take the most direct route to their last known location.

Remember, his job is to find the person, not follow their direct route or even find their belongings. IF he happens upon lost items that belong to the lost person, he is to show interest and move on quickly. They are more like reminders and hints, not final destinations at which to get stuck.

In the map overlay you can see very clearly where multiple dropped articles form a circle and create a converging odour puzzle that spun him around several times before he was able to pick up the direction of travel and carry on (correctly I might add).

Fascinating stuff and another reminder to trust your dog 😊

10/08/2026

Griffin’s excellent exterior search from an SDDA trial a couple of weeks.

Can you tell when he’s working odour and when he’s simply checking the area/items?

How many times do you notice him check his work before he commits to odour and alerts?
I have to admit that I am endlessly fascinated watching him work!

10/06/2026

A great evening of trailing with some super dogs and their humans 😊