Atlanta Lab Rescue Detection Dogs : Dozer and Viper : A Success Story
Atlanta Lab Rescue is proud to share two success stories with you today! Both Dozer and Viper have been featured as detection dogs. First is Dozer, who is now a part of the Sacramento County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office in California. Dozer works on a dog team that has intercepted thousands of mislabeled or otherwise illegal packages. To read more about Dozer please visit California Department of Food and Agriculture article welcoming him to the team!
I didn’t think I wanted any of our dogs to be detection dogs. I wanted them all to be in a home and a part of the family and then we were invited to the training center in Newnan and saw the process and I was sold. The dogs actually get more people time with the handler than in most families and some dogs need a job. It’s great to have this option for the dogs that are so high strung that they’ll be hard to place.
-Becky Cross, Atlanta Lab Rescue Founder
Wildlife Inspector Amir Lawal and Viper demonstrate how they’ll be checking packages for illegal wildlife on the front lines of Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement. Photo by Tom MacKenzie/USFWS.
Up next is Viper, check out this video from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Newsroom, sniffing out illegal Wildlife Shipments VIDEO:
The four graduating dogs and their Service Wildlife Inspector-Handlers completed the 13-week training course at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Detector Dog Training Center in Newnan, Georgia, half an hour southwest of Atlanta. The center normally trains detector dogs to sniff out fruits and plants to interdict potential insects or diseases that could hurt U.S. agriculture.
A special thanks from the Atlanta Lab Rescue crew for allowing us to share these success stories!
I would spend 2-3 hours on the weekends walking dogs. The room that contained the “big dogs” had a chalkboard on the wall with all of the cage numbers on it and when you walked a dog you put an X by that cage number. This assured that all of the dogs got walked at least once a week. As you can imagine, there were the smaller, easier dogs and those that were not, and by the time I showed up on Sunday, you could bet that the dogs without the X’s fell into the latter category. In addition to the 100 pound rotties and pit bulls, there was always the crazy “Georgia black dog” (a lab mix…aren’t they all?) in kennel #1 that would leap 6 feet in the air when you passed her cage as if to say “pick me.” Somehow she knew that black dogs had to try harder. After several visits, I decided her shameless self-promotion should be rewarded and I took her home and added her to my “pack.”
The cough she had when I adopted her, never subsided, and after many visits to vets and specialists, an EKG finally diagnosed congenital heart failure and she was given 6 months to live. That was 9 years ago, and with a good vet and some experimental meds, she was able to live a somewhat normal life.
In addition, she injured her knee and elbow, which caused her to walk with a limp, but she was always the most animated dog in my house. Twirling and spinning with excitement when I walked through the door and often running into the furniture, when she anticipated a treat, you would never know she had ANY disabilities. She loved to eat and would sell her soul for marrow bones, which she would go and hide in the flower bed to eat. In the last couple of years, she had gotten less tolerant of my young fosters and in turn had taken on her “sister” Lily a time or two to prove her muster. Consequently, she was missing part of one ear and she had two large scars on her face, but her sparkly black eyes and spots of white dappling gave her an adorable puppy-like quality.
The “6 feet in the air” larger than life force of nature is gone. Despite the hand that life had dealt her, Gracie’s spirit and determination were a constant source of inspiration and a reminder of what it is to try hard and persevere. With love and deep appreciation for what the black dog taught me, we say goodbye….
