By Mariann Chew
During the beginning of 2012 a year old, yellow labrador retriever was brought into our local animal shelter as a stray. He was soon bailed out of the shelter and reclaimed by his owners. The dog’s owners then proceeded to have their dog neutered, in the hope that after he was neutered he would calm down. To the owner’s dismay the active, young dog did not calm down. His owners decided to relinquish him to the animal shelter. When this Lab was in the excercise yard of the shelter he would concentrate all of his focus on the ball he was playing with. The Lab would rather search and find the ball than do anything else. After witnessing this dog’s intense behavior towards the ball, the volunteers realized he had the potential to become a great Search and Rescue Dog. His behavior showed signs that he would excel in search and rescue due to his very strong prey drive. These signs indicated that he would not give up looking for something until he had found it and this same drive could be used in locating lost, trapped or injured people after catastrophic disasters. For full article, please purchase a copy of The Paper.