When a group of squatters were being evicted from rural land in Grant Pass, Oregon, an observant neighbor noticed there were many stray dogs also living on the property. Concerned for the dogs’ welfare, the neighbor contacted Canine Trainer Katrina Van Der Linden of Van Der Linden K9, hoping to keep these dogs out of a shelter. Katrina cared for the dogs and noticed that one dog in particular, a German Shepherd mix, possessed the high toy drive and characteristics desired for search dog candidates at SDF.
Katrina then reached out to SDF Director of Canine Recruitment Sylvia Stoney who agreed that this amazing dog showed promise, following a series of evaluation videos. Kirsten Fulk, who is located in Oregon as well, was able to step in and further assess this handsome dog before transporting him to the NTC where he was officially accepted as a candidate at SDF.
Once on our campus, he proved he was worthy of a special name: Montecito, in honor of the humans and canines who deployed to the Montecito mudslides in January 2018.
Trainers have been working on teaching Montecito, or Monte for short, to turn his nose for air scenting. Since he naturally wanted to search for visual cues, trainers kept him working exclusively on hides which required him to follow his nose in order to find his “victim.” He quickly improved and developed an expert search strategy. He has a nice strong bark alert—which is great!
This once timid candidate is excelling in his training to become a strong and confident Search Dog—he is a top candidate currently in our program! Trainers share he’s a very strong dog and a ton of fun to work with.
Everything seems to be clicking for him, as he gets Direction and Control
and easily finds his “victim” in even the most difficult search scenarios. Monte continues to love his job and pleasing his handler. At the rate he’s going, Monte will be ready to pair with a handler at our next Handler Course!