Emmy's Training Going Well

Bill and I received an email from Mike at Mid-Michigan Kennels with an update on Emmy's training! Emmy is doing very well or "WONDERFUL" as he put it. Emmy's brother Emu was also "career changed" from PAWS a few weeks ago and was moved to this same facility...so she's got another friend with her. Last week Emmy finished her "odor inprinting"...which I'm assuming means she's learning what explosives smell like. Then as of today she will begin "basic hides"...or finding the explosives in things when they are hidden.

We now know as well WHERE Emmy will be going...drumroll! She will be heading to Manila (in the Phillipines) to work in their airport. She will have her own handler, who will arrive in the U.S. on February 28th. He will work and train with her here for 4 weeks, before taking her back to Manila with him. She will then train with him there for 3-4 additional weeks and they will then certify as a team. She will then work with him on 747's, Airbus 330's and in the airport terminal areas about 6 days a week. These handlers spend a great deal of time on and off duty with their dogs and she will get lots of attention and love! That's all we could have hoped for.

Emmy's settled into her new home!

We heard back from Mike at Mid-Michigan Kennels, Inc. yesterday, and Emmy is doing great. He said she has settled in nicely and sounds like he really likes her (he used "sweet girl" and "really nice dog" a bunch of times). Emmy will be training for explosives detection for an airline company. Her job will be to sniff out materials used to make explosives and sit so her handler knows it's there, they leave, and the bomb detection group then enters to handle the situation.

Mike said she's adapted well to being there. She's in training with 5 other labs right now. They get recess three times a day and she loves to play around in their yard.

He didn't mention how long her training will be...but he left us his email so we can follow up with him and get more updates as she progresses.

Emmy is Career Changed

We received a call from PAWS this morning and Emmy has been career changed! As you saw in her January 15th update, the trainers at PAWS were working hard on her toy fixation...which they decided they weren't making progress on. Today, Emmy will be relocating to Mid-Michigan Kennels, Inc in Eaton Rapids, MI. There, she will work with Mike and his crew to train to be a detection dog. Mid-Michigan Kennel dogs have gone to work at places such as airports and even for Disney recently. Emmy will have an entrance exam today when she arrives and then will be training with them. We don't know much else right now, but will keep you updated as we hear things. The plus side to all of this is that we'll likely be able to visit Emmy if we want! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers as we wait to see where Emmy will go!

First Update on Emmy

Tonight I checked the PAWS site and they have the January 15th updates posted for the dogs in training. Below is Emmy's "report card" from her trainer:

"Emmy is working on learning to pay attention and also doing a lot of toy exchange (she brings me a toy and I give her one in exchange) to encourage her to interact with me when she is playing with her toys. She loves physical praise and petting and I use this to calm her if she gets excited. Her control greetings are very nice."

Can't say that we're surprised by any of the feedback. That sounds like our Emmy!