Rowan—previously named Kringle—was found as a stray and brought to a central valley animal shelter, and from there was transferred to San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Services. Luckily for Rowan, the staff at the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter have a knack for identifying working dogs—in fact, they previously helped us recruit another career change dog, Roarke, who now works in law enforcement! So, when the shelter staff noticed Rowan’s nice temperament and ball obsession, they sensed he may have working dog potential and contacted SDF’s Canine Recruitment team.
Rowan arrived at SDF’s campus, and right away, we fell in love with this little guy and his big personality! His silly antics never failed to make us laugh, and his cuddly nature just made him even more loveable. In training, he proved to be smart as a whip, and mastered the bark alert in no time. However, trainers soon noticed that he preferred to retrieve the toy as a reward, rather than tug with his trainers. Though this may seem like a small detail, it’s important that our disaster search candidates love to play tug, as this is one of the ways they’re rewarded when they successfully find the hidden “victim” during training.
Our trainers worked with Rowan to try to develop his love for the tug toy, but with limited results. Despite his lack of affinity for tugging, it was clear that Rowan loved to work, so our team got to work finding him a job where his talents would shine. Before long, Rowan had landed a conservation detection trial with our career change partners at k9inSCENTive, LLC!
During his extended trial period with k9inSCENTive, LLC, Rowan traveled all around the state with his trainer, learning the ins and outs of biological detection work. His trainer reported that Rowan had great focus out in the field, and he took to his new training very well. And of course, this social boy couldn’t help but make friends everywhere he went, including canine buddies Bolt, Vector, and Billie!
Within a few months, Rowan completed his conservation training and was officially adopted as a career change dog through our Canine Placement Program! He has since been partnered with his new handler and is learning to detect avian and bat fatalities for wind farm work starting this spring. It seems that Rowan has found his calling, and we couldn’t be happier for this talented, hardworking, loveable boy. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for this conservation hero!
Click here to learn more about our Canine Placement Program!