This is Moonshine. He is a purebred Bloodhound. He is in training to help locate missing people by trailing their human scent. We volunteered to hide for Moonshine so he could come and locate us. (This picture was taken after Moonshine was done with all his work and then playing with the kids. He was exhausted.)
We met Moonshine and his Handler, Chuck Jones at a park with lots of places to hide.
Moonshine gets so excited to start his work.
The first to hide was Adriana. Lindsay and her went together. The girls went off into the park about a mile. Moonshine smelled Adriana's scarf that she left behind and he was ready to go. He did an amazing job. When he got to the girls he went right past Lindsay and straight to Adriana. He definitely knew who he was looking for.
Christian was next. He took a bundle of flags and placed them in the ground about every 20 yards or so. This way Moonshine's handler (Chuck) can see if Moonshine is going the same way the victim (Christian) went. Moonshine smelled Christians hat and off into the park he went. Over brush, deep into the bushes, across the street a few times, up a huge hill, in the mud. Moonshine even had to deal with 4 dogs and he still stayed focused. Christian went a little over 2 1/2 miles.
Moonshine gets a lot of praise and a yummy treat after he finds his victims.
Christian was up in the tree. Moonshine circled the tree and then put his paws on it and looked up. How does he do it. There are so many other smells out there but he only focuses in on his victims smell.
He really enjoys his work. You can tell how happy he is once he finds who he was looking for. Then on the walk back to the center of the park Moonshine keeps an eye on Christian to make sure he doesn't get lost again.
Jon and Summer came for the excitement.
Play time !!!!!
Fetch...
It's been a long day. Looks like pup and handler are ready for a nap.