This page is a record of the training and searches of Raphael.
This was a warm day, even though we started out early. Raphael blew past the cat several times before finding her. Once he found her, he was happy and gave a good signal. This video is just a portion of the search, not the end. Raph had a good time, which was the important thing.
20220724, Harborview Park in Everett. Of course Raph found his kitty, as expected. The thing he did that was a big improvement was that he went with me, searching, into the adjacent neighborhood, without freaking out and trying to get back to Brenda. The video shows the second time he found his cat. The first time, he smelled her from about 80 feet away, and dragged me right to her. He worked at least 35 minutes. On an actual search, he will need to work 3 hours or more. Today was progress. I believe he could pass the certification test, but I’m not in a hurry for him to work cases. Temperature was about 60 degrees.
20220717 Everett, 61 degrees, cloudy. As you can see in the video, he caught the scent from at least 20 feet away. His signal is rather subtle, but it is a cat that he has found dozens of times so you would expect him to be less than Thusi Astec than if it was a new cat. Obviously I said enthusiastic, not “than Thusi Astec.” Who is Thusi Astec? Does this person go by their middle name and have a first initial of N? Of the billions of times that people used voice to text to say ”enthusiastic,” how many times did they correct it to say, “What I really meant was than Thusi Astec”? Will I eventually find a stray dog that needs to go to a foster home and will I give that dog the name of N. Thusi Astec? Is voice to text really dumb or is it really smart and it’s playing a joke on me? Do people really save time with voice to text after they go back and correct everything? How many wars have started because voice to text put in the wrong words?
20220703 Woodinville. He found the kitty with no problem. We did have a little trouble getting him to keep working an area and not wanting to go back to Brenda. He did OK.
20220619 Redmond. The cat was on strike so we only trained the dog finders. Raph was the target.
20220612 Olympic View Park in Edmonds. Raph found the kitty too fast the first time. I was trying to work him in an area away from the cat, but he caught the scent from 60 feet away and dragged me over. I worked him around the area while his cat was hidden again. He found her with no trouble, of course.
20220605 Narbeck Park, Everett. About 60 degrees with some light rain showers. Raph did a good job of checking where we directed him, and of course he found the cat and gave a good signal. Afterward, he played with a stick. It would be great if he learned to play fetch so that he could have that as a reward, since he is not very treat motivated.
20220515 Lynndale Park in Lynnwood. Raph found the kitty with no problems. He was also the target dog, which he really likes.
20220508 Lewis Creek Park in Bellevue, everything went fine as far as I can recall.
20220424, Forest Park, successful training, no notes.
20220410, Wilburton Elementary. Apparently, I didn’t take any notes on this training day. I assume everything went fine. Judging by the pictures, we all had fun, which is the important thing.
20220403, apparently training took place. I assume all went well and we had fun, but I can’t find any notes from that day. We trained in Bothell.
20220327 Heatherwood Middle School.
If this had been an actual search, I wouldn’t have expected Raph to detect the cat inside the courtyard. We would have needed to go into the courtyard and check, and of course he would have found any cat in there. The trouble I was having with Raph was to direct him to the courtyard. Actually, I wouldn’t say there was an problem at all with this training search. Once we got around to checking the courtyard, he found the kitty right away. I think he was a little distracted with wanting to go be with Brenda. You can see at the end of the video that he definitely gave a signal that he found the cat.
20220327
We trained in Mill Creek at Heatherwood Middle School. Training day is always the most fun day of the week. This week, Ollie the puppy came to play with us, so we really had a blast. Raphi played with the puppy a long time. We also did some training, which went okay, not great. The main thing was that we had fun.
Side note: I took over 800 pictures that day, mostly of Ollie. My iPhone overheated and shut itself off because I took so many pictures of Ollie.
20220313
Yost Park Edmonds.
He was the target dog to start with. He was found by Haas and Layla and Tino. He really likes being the target dog. Of course he walked the loop trail, about a mile, before hiding, so he had lots of exercise and activity.
Then he found the cat. I think it was Jinx this time. Jinx was hidden just northeast of where the cars were parked, about 80 feet, in the bushes. Raphael is very squirmy, so it is a struggle to get his harness on. Once he was attached to the harness, we started to search in the opposite direction. Several times he turned back toward Brenda and he was trying to run back to her. I was able to get him back to working.
About 40 or 50 feet away, he caught the scent of Jinx, and and he just plowed through branches and brush to get to her. This indicated a couple of things to me. First, he just doesn’t care about crashing through brush, or dragging his handler through brush. Also, he must have been in the scent plume because he tracked straight to her from at least 40 feet away, not trying to take the easy way at all. He was under the power of his nose at that point. He was really interested in finding her in her crate. He looked at me and looked at her and nosed her crate a little and wagged his tail. He got treats, but he didn’t care much about that.
I didn’t work him a long time, maybe fifteen minutes. He does have separation anxiety from Brenda. That will be an issue we will have to work on. This is only the six training session. He is doing very well. I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be a great cat-detection dog.
20220306
20220306
In this three minute video, you can see that Raphael was having a bit more trouble this time. It might be because the cat was behind a wall and the scent was pooling rather than spreading. You could definitely tell when he did pick up the scent.
He was also the target dog today, and he had a lot of fun with that.
20220227 training at Howarth Park in Everett, 48 degrees and raining. The dogs had some playtime before training to burn off a little excess energy, and also to reinforce that training day is the most fun day of the week. When Raphael did put on his vest and we asked him to find the kitty, he picked up the scent from probably 80 feet away and tracked to the location on the other side of the fence. Then he understood to go all the way around the fence to the other side and he dragged me through the brush to get to his cat. this training session seemed to be the first time that he understood that it was a game where he is supposed to find the Lost Cat. In previous training sessions, it seemed like he was happy to go wherever and he thought it was fun when we accidentally bumped into a cat. this was our fourth training session, and it seemed like things were really starting to click for him.
20220227.
February 20th, 2022. We trained at a school in West Seattle. Our target cat was Ziggy, but we got a bonus target cat. An orange cat lived near the school, and would hang out with people and dogs. We had Raphi find the orange kitty as practice, and also to praise him for being gentle around the cat. The orange cat did give him a warning. We kept Raphi away mostly for Raphi’s safety, as the cat looked like he was ready to give him hell. Raph also found Ziggy very handily. If I recall correctly, he picked up the scent from about 20 feet away, and tracked right to the hidden cat. Afterward, he played with Tino.
Two of Raphael’s brothers are available for adoption.
https://fb.watch/ewjYDHmpUI/
When selecting a dog to train to become a search dog, you want a dog with a lot of energy.
20220213
We trained at McCollum Park in Mill Creek. It was a cool, clear day. He didn’t work very long but the video shows that he clearly caught the scent of his cat, and followed the scent cone right to the location. His body language was very readable. His head just snapped to the left when he caught the scent. He got praise and treats. Temperatures were 34 to 56 that day. He searched at 2 PM, when the temperature was 54. I believe he was also the target dog that day, but I’m not positive. He really likes being the target dog.
February 6th, 2022.
Raphael had his first try as a cat detection dog today. I just walked him around the park until we got close to Boots. When he discovered his kitty, it was very interesting for him, like, what are you doing here? Then I moved the cat to a new location, and he was very anxious to find her again. When he did, we praised him and rewarded him. We moved Boots to a third location, and he tracked her down right away. He was very happy to play the game. He wasn’t that interested in treats. He just wanted to find the kitty. It was a very good day for him, playing with his dog friends and finding his kitty in the park.
We trained at Harborview Park in Everett. The morning started out foggy and then cleared away to blue sky.
Temperature 44-48, humidity 94-78. Zero wind.
With Raphael, I have a chance to fully document his training and search career. I ought to get a GoPro so I can have video of everything. It’s a chance for him to learn, and for everyone to learn from how he learns.
This is a page for tracking the training and career of Raphael the Cat Finder. He has been training for almost 6 months. We aren’t in a hurry for him to start his career of finding lost cats. I want to share this journal of his training sessions and actual searches so that students of my training course can see examples of records they might keep.
You can read more about Raphael’s remarkable story in these links.
https://jamesbranson.substack.com/p/the-turtles?r=ufxzg&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
https://jamesbranson.substack.com/p/valentino-and-raphael-at-useless?r=ufxzg&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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This was a warm day, even though we started out early. Raphael blew past the cat several times before finding her. Once he found her, he was happy and gave a good signal. This video is just a portion of the search, not the end. Raph had a good time, which was the important thing.
20220724, Harborview Park in Everett. Of course Raph found his kitty, as expected. The thing he did that was a big improvement was that he went with me, searching, into the adjacent neighborhood, without freaking out and trying to get back to Brenda. The video shows the second time he found his cat. The first time, he smelled her from about 80 feet away, and dragged me right to her. He worked at least 35 minutes. On an actual search, he will need to work 3 hours or more. Today was progress. I believe he could pass the certification test, but I’m not in a hurry for him to work cases. Temperature was about 60 degrees.
20220717 Everett, 61 degrees, cloudy. As you can see in the video, he caught the scent from at least 20 feet away. His signal is rather subtle, but it is a cat that he has found dozens of times so you would expect him to be less than Thusi Astec than if it was a new cat. Obviously I said enthusiastic, not “than Thusi Astec.” Who is Thusi Astec? Does this person go by their middle name and have a first initial of N? Of the billions of times that people used voice to text to say ”enthusiastic,” how many times did they correct it to say, “What I really meant was than Thusi Astec”? Will I eventually find a stray dog that needs to go to a foster home and will I give that dog the name of N. Thusi Astec? Is voice to text really dumb or is it really smart and it’s playing a joke on me? Do people really save time with voice to text after they go back and correct everything? How many wars have started because voice to text put in the wrong words?
20220703 Woodinville. He found the kitty with no problem. We did have a little trouble getting him to keep working an area and not wanting to go back to Brenda. He did OK.
20220605 Narbeck Park, Everett. About 60 degrees with some light rain showers. Raph did a good job of checking where we directed him, and of course he found the cat and gave a good signal. Afterward, he played with a stick. It would be great if he learned to play fetch so that he could have that as a reward, since he is not very treat motivated.
20220327 Heatherwood Middle School. If this had been an actual search, I wouldn’t have expected Raph to detect the cat inside the courtyard. We would have needed to go into the courtyard and check, and of course he would have found any cat in there. The trouble I was having with Raph was to direct him to the courtyard. Actually, I wouldn’t say there was an problem at all with this training search. Once we got around to checking the courtyard, he found the kitty right away. I think he was a little distracted with wanting to go be with Brenda. You can see at the end of the video that he definitely gave a signal that he found the cat.
20220306 In this three minute video, you can see that Raphael was having a bit more trouble this time. It might be because the cat was behind a wall and the scent was pooling rather than spreading. You could definitely tell when he did pick up the scent. He was also the target dog today, and he had a lot of fun with that.
20220227 training at Howarth Park in Everett, 48 degrees and raining. The dogs had some playtime before training to burn off a little excess energy, and also to reinforce that training day is the most fun day of the week. When Raphael did put on his vest and we asked him to find the kitty, he picked up the scent from probably 80 feet away and tracked to the location on the other side of the fence. Then he understood to go all the way around the fence to the other side and he dragged me through the brush to get to his cat. this training session seemed to be the first time that he understood that it was a game where he is supposed to find the Lost Cat. In previous training sessions, it seemed like he was happy to go wherever and he thought it was fun when we accidentally bumped into a cat. this was our fourth training session, and it seemed like things were really starting to click for him.
February 20th, 2022. We trained at a school in West Seattle. Our target cat was Ziggy, but we got a bonus target cat. An orange cat lived near the school, and would hang out with people and dogs. We had Raphi find the orange kitty as practice, and also to praise him for being gentle around the cat. The orange cat did give him a warning. We kept Raphi away mostly for Raphi’s safety, as the cat looked like he was ready to give him hell. Raph also found Ziggy very handily. If I recall correctly, he picked up the scent from about 20 feet away, and tracked right to the hidden cat. Afterward, he played with Tino.
When selecting a dog to train to become a search dog, you want a dog with a lot of energy.
20220213 We trained at McCollum Park in Mill Creek. It was a cool, clear day. He didn’t work very long but the video shows that he clearly caught the scent of his cat, and followed the scent cone right to the location. His body language was very readable. His head just snapped to the left when he caught the scent. He got praise and treats. Temperatures were 34 to 56 that day. He searched at 2 PM, when the temperature was 54. I believe he was also the target dog that day, but I’m not positive. He really likes being the target dog.
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