New puppy pics

Here's some more pics of our soon to be new puppy.  She's adorable.  The breeder says "She is a darling and getting prettier every day, I adore her!  She is a busy girl and is always using her nose, she will be a good working girl."  We have high hopes that she's going to be an excellent working dog and find many missing people.

Do bloodhounds stink?

This seems to be a popular question and the answer is an unequivocal YES.  Now it's not unbearable and we don't really mind it all that much, but they definitely have a unique odor that could bother someone.  Bloodhounds produce oils that are what gives them their hound scent.  A lot of people suggest regular baths, but what we've found is that baths strip away the dirt and leave the oil an open canvas on which to paint their works of stink.  Dirt seems to soak up the oils and dampen the smell so we rarely bath our hounds.  What does it smell like you may ask?  It smells like hound.  It's really hard to describe it.  Their smell doesn't smell like anything else, it's just hound.  Find a bloodhound owner and spend some time with them. Sniff their dog when they're not looking or they may call the cops on you...

Getting a bloodhound puppy!

Great news!  We are soon going to get a bloodhound puppy.  All our other dogs are becoming geriatric.  Tank and Scarlet are both ten and Sierra is seven.  Plus Tank blew out his back and is permanently retired and now Sierra has gone through major surgery and we're not sure how her sniffer was affected.  We're going to wait another month and see if she can still trail.  However, between now and then we should get a brand new shining star and start teaching her to trail.

We're also going to be making a video of her training so we can teach others how to train their bloodhounds.

Tank a year and a half later

I can't believe it's been a year and a half since Tank has had his surgery.  He has never been able to trail again and is in permanent retirement.  However, he can hop around the backyard like nobody's business.  He has lost proprioception in his back left foot, which means he doesn't know where that paw is.  It's hard for him to walk not knowing if he's actually set the foot down on the ground or if he's set it down flat.  Hence why he hops instead.  He's injured himself a few times since, falling down or once being bulldozed by his sister (they aren't allowed together anymore).  Fortunately he hasn't had any serious injuries (minus the bulldozing) and doesn't seem to be in pain.  He is just as happy and goofy as ever.

Mixing Up Magic for Bloodhound Research

We perform bloodhound research to prove that bloodhounds can really do what everyone claims they can do.  This is peer-reviewed and published research.  We work with Victor Valley College (where we also are professors) and get the students involved.

Saying goodbye to a friend

We put down one of our bloodhounds today.

Dakota was the most amazing dog.  She worked for many police departments and had put lots of bad guys in prison.  She was ten and 3/4 years old today, which is really good for a bloodhound.  Unfortunately, she got an infection that turned into pneumonia and it was too much for her.

As much love as animals bring into our lives, they also bring pain.  On days like this it feels like it's not worth it, but I know it is.  Dakota made our lives happy and she made the world a better place by what she did.  It's hard to hold onto the good when something bad happens to us, but we have to.

Update on Tank

Update:  Tank has had his surgery and is doing great (too good actually because he needs to keep still and doesn't want to!).  We didn't raise all the money we needed, but it was enough to pay for most of the surgery (with some help from a credit card-we just couldn't see letting this dog die simply because surgery was so expensive when he worked so hard to help people).  You can see the huge scar and the gazillion staples that are in his back in the pic below as well as the sling that we have to hold him up with (which isn't easy with a massive hound).

Phase 2 is the physical rehabilitation he has to go through.  If you're still interested in donating, even though Tank has gone through surgery, any help would still be very welcome.  Tank was prescribed five different medications and will soon be visiting his doctor again to go through physical rehabilitation to help strengthen his back and get working again.  This of course means more money!  Thank you so much for all the support and the kind letters we've received.  It's greatly appreciated!