Predators Nearby Humans ask a great deal of working dogs. We not only exploit their exceptional sense of smell, but also their capacity to please. When you see an exhausted search dog after a long day of searching, some may wonder if we ask too much.
Ebbey is a veteran wilderness search dog. With over eight years of experience, she has seen it all. She has successfully found dozens of lost people in every imaginable condition and scenario. However, as a search dog, there is one thing Ebbey has never gotten used to.
Any wilderness search can turn dangerous. Anyone with wilderness experience knows this. But knowing and experiencing danger are two different things.
Whenever you enter the wilderness, you must consider wildlife. Calling ourselves the Dog's Raven Search Team, Ebbey and I have had hundreds of wildlife encounters. And we are still alive to tell about it. But you never know when your luck will run out.
On this particular search, we were looking for a missing hunter and wilderness search dog handler's always have to wonder what's around the next corner. Will there be a mother bear with cubs gorging themselves on berries before hibernating? Will your dog search right into a bull elk's mating territory? Or is your missing hunter's fresh kill, now being guarded by a mature male grizzly? During searches, Ebbey and I have also literally run into a couple porcupines and a rabid raccoon.
Just a few minutes after Ebbey showed her 'Predators Nearby' look on this bridge, something started following us on the other side of the river. It was autumn, this area is very remote and there wasn't another human being around for miles. That is, except for one missing hunter who is carrying an armed rifle.
After about ten minutes, of being stalked as prey, I was beginning to wonder exactly how deep the river is and praying it was a big enough obstacle for whatever was tracking us. The remainder of our search, and our stalking predator, continued for over an hour. Parts of the river bank had steep overhanging cliffs, where a cougar could leap across to our side.
So it's a lot to ask of a dog. To willingly go into an area that wreaks of predator scent. To continue to search, while some large meat eater is tracking you across a river. To find some lost stranger, who may or may not be happy to see you.
Both Ebbey and I were really, really glad not only to find the injured hunter, but to get airlifted out of there.
Written by Mikella, Ebbey's handler.
(These photos show Ebbey's 'Predators Nearby' look)
