Kilohana K9s Wear for Zoey

Today Zoey got her new working T-Shirt. She may or may not wear this while working, depending on the client's need for privacy and discretion. This was ordered from our Kilohana K9s Store. Zoey is very good about wearing clothing. I think it's because as a Min Pin with little hair, it feels warm and cozy for her to have something to put on. 


We also got her some new socks. I know most people do not see the point of socks for dogs and we certainly won't be using these much. However, having some socks for your dog can be really handy if they ever get a problem with their feet that requires topical treatments. 


We found this out last summer when Daisy had a foot problem. After applying topical medication to her injury, we placed a sock over her foot and used some Vetrap bandaging tape around her leg at the top of the sock to make sure she wouldn't pull it off later on. This helped to let her foot breath while making it impossible for her to lick the medication off (which she did all night long before we thought of the sock method). It also solved us being worried about any covering or bandage being too tight on her foot. So, why not get some funny socks for your dog too? 

 Zoey posing in her new shirt and funny face socks. 

 

 Zoey was relieved when the photo session was over and 

immediately started clowning around.

Hers a happy silly girl! Lookie that smile!

Zoey Searches a Bed

Zoey focusing on following my instructions on where to search.

Here are some pictures from a recent training session with Zoey. She was searching a bed for bed bugs. In some of the photos, you can see her eyes looking towards me (the handler). It shows how the dog is really following the handler's lead and looking toward the handler for their responses and changes in body language, just as much as the dog is searching out the intended scent.


This is a very important thing to understand when working with scent detection dogs. Not understanding this can skew the results of the search. The handler needs to be aware of how their actions can influence the dog's search. The training of the team (the dog and the handler) is just as important as the scent detection training of the dog. 


Thanks to our great trainers at Ironheart Dogs, we learned about this immediately and Zoey and I can be the most effective team possible!

Zoey's eye peeking towards me as she is trying to pick up a 
scent in the mattress.

 Zoey is observing me (the handler) almost with both eyes as she 

continues on in her search. 

Of course the dog is not focused entirely on the handler during a search.
Here Zoey is shown pushing her nose with a bit of force, as she picks up 
scents through and beyond the bed covers.

Another shot of her obvious attention to the handler as she 
 carries on her search. 

Summertime Shave Down

Well it's not officially summer yet but the heat is on! Miss Daisy responded to this by shedding all over the place this past week. So we tried something new this year, a total shave down! Off to the groomers we went. Daisy got a bath and shave down (except for her head) and boy she looks great and best of all NO SHEDDING! We don't know why we didn't think of this sooner!!! This may very well be our new summer time tradition!

Zoey Meets the Beach!

Here is the fabulous Zoey Ka'imi. She is a Red Miniature Pinscher (Min Pin). She was born in Kansas and rescued from a breeder that was shutting down. Due to her focus and energy, she was selected and adopted specifically to enter training for bed bug detection. She was fortunate to be trained at Ironheart Dogs in Kansas. Ironheart is one of the best detection dog training centers in USA, providing top quality dogs for not only bed bug detection but also for law enforcement, bomb and drug detection. Zoey passed her training with flying colors! She loves sniffing for bed bugs!

Zoey gets to live life with a bit of fun in the sun now. It is not all work and no play for her! This photo was taken shortly after her graduation from scent detection training. On her way to Hawaii, she got to stop in California for a while and go see the ocean for the first time and play in the sands of Newport Beach. 

She loved playing with clumps of washed up seaweed and digging holes. She was not much interested in getting too close to the water though!


Check out the video of her digging a hole.