[Liz Monty]

I thought this might be a fun thread to take the pressure off all of us who have our theories and stories about how we do things. My most embarrassing moment was this.
I was doing rounds with my dog, we where in the back of a government compound filled with transports parked for clearance and overnight stays. The whole night was quiet, except a cut in the back fence leading out to some bushy area quite dense. We checked that site often and reported it, but nothing eventful came of it.
In the morning just before my shift was over this drunk guy that spent the night in the building, obviously drinking came walking to the gate. My dog and I stopped him and I asked him what he was doing and to show me his papers. The drunk guy opened his zipper and peed on the pavement, lol.
:lol: :lol:
I turned away and was just overwhelmed by his stupidness and all of a sudden I was on the ground. My dog had no intention of turning his back to this guy, so when I turned away and the leash stopped me, I fell over like an idiot. What a team we made that morning, a dog that wanted to sniff pee and a handler who trips over her own dog.

 

[Tim Martens]

i was pretty embarassed yesterday in a trial....

 

[susan tuck]

Hi Liz, I'm curious: are you a LEO or is your experience with sport dogs? What sports are you active in? How many working dogs have you had & have you titled any of your dogs? It is always nice to know the background of someone providing advise, & couldn't find it on the introduction thread (forgive me if you already shared - I have ancient eyes!)
Thanks,
Sue

 

[Liz Monty]

Hi Susan, my bio only says : writer and ex-search dog trainer. I'm not active in the things I used to do with dogs now. I am not a Law Enforcement Officer. A quick bio: most recently trained under the O.P.P. Emergency Response Team, in Ontario and certified as a civilian search and rescue volunteer. Not active in that now. Before, I trained dogs for friendly searches, initially for rescue, and then out of interest trained one for cadaver. Sold the dogs as trained in air scent, tracking and building search and then they went on to be further trained by the buyers - Government Agencies. Before that I tried my hand at an obedience training school for about 5 years and realized I was only teaching at my level, which was not good enough at that time. Before that I worked as a dog handler liscenced to patrol the LCBO, Liquour Control Board of Ontario, Toronto Compound Site. Before that I worked in ThunderBay Ontario as a Animal Control Officer, before that I was a Game Warden in Ontario at the Lion Safari (an actual game warden, with a diploma in Zoological Park Warden/Attendant) and I was part of a team that controlled the African Elephants they had back then, the Lions, Tigers, Hyheenas, Giraffes, Rhinos, Cheetahs, etc. At night shifts we protected the perimeter from coyotees. We carried firearms when in the park boundries.
After that I worked in Kenya for three months in a government training program for Warden's. Now I'm just a worn out older person with a bad back and too much time on my hands. :lol: :lol:

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Being a Game Warden must be an amazing experience.

I know pretty much zero about that. Would that involve you in animal maintenance/care, or mainly in the animal-public interface?

 

[susan tuck]

Yes, can you tell us more abut being a game warden? I bet you have had some incredible experiences. Also, what are your plans with yuor pup? What are her lines?

 

[Maren Bell Jones]

That's really cool, Liz! Yes, I'd like to hear more as well. I am contemplating doing zoo veterinary medicine instead of just small animal or mixed practice as my masters in biology (in just 6 months hopefully!) will be a lot of help. I shadowed with the head vet of the Omaha Zoo and it was really cool! Will probably just depend on how much I can put up with crazy pet owners.

 

[Liz Monty]

The only sense in it being different from small animal veterinary is that with the large animals - whether it be horses/zoological, the procedures of restraint/capture are different, as is the environemnt you would be working in. Some may require work in the field (the actual field, lol) Large animals are not very transportable. The one thing I saw most often Hot Spot Sores in confined large cat compounds or zoos. I was present a few times for the same Tiger to be vetted and nothing he did could get rid of the giant hot spot.
Even in a Safari Reserve Environment the Cats are herded into their runs/shelters at night to avoid them escaping the reserve. This is where they get the most hot spots developing.
It's very exciting if you love nature and wildlife. It's no more dangerous than small animal vetting or attending, because more dogs and cats will bite/scratch you than game park animals will. lol The ratio of being close to a large game animal or a small domestic animal is about 1/70. So your odds of injury should be lower.

Thanks for everyone's interest, but I was hoping to get a thread about embarrassing mistakes we make that we laugh about after.

 

[Liz Monty]

Connie and Susan,
First Susan's question. I haven't had a GSD for about 5 years and I just couldn't take it anymore. I have this puppy as a pet and I will probably end up training her for either search or Schutz/Protection. That's if I have enough money to join a club, lol.
Connie, the work differs depending on what type of Wardening you are involved in. Majority of Canadian Game Wardens are responsible for both animal control/public poaching concernes and even more so now, search and rescue becaue they are so familiar with their territory. That is seen in the British columbia, Alberta areas mostly. There is involvment with smuggling of narcotics and other things too, but they work in conjunction with the law enforcement.
When I was in Kenya, we went on a government training program. This involved poacher apprehension and animal control.
When you work in a Lion Safari as a warden then you are the first line measure for public safety/control and also the first line measure for animal safety/control. Out of the two jobs, I found the Safari's much harder and more demanding mentally. Also you work so closely with the animals day to day that you really have to keep safe. We had some pretty bad injuries to co-workers. I had two really close calls, and one time, Oh here's another embarrassing moment for this thread, I woke up hungover laying under my favourite Elaphant Sophie's Feet. Long story behind that night.
:lol:

 

[Connie Sutherland]

.....I woke up hungover laying under my favourite Elaphant Sophie's Feet. :lol:

Maybe we can pursue Game Warden discussion in the Lounge (and yes, I did indeed hijack! ).

Meanwhile, THAT line gets your thread pretty much back on track! :lol:

Anyone have an embarrassing dog story?

 

[Andres Martin]

I recently hosted a formal sit-down dinner party at my house. While we were sitting, during dessert, my dog decided to exit his crate - without authorization - crawled between everyones legs and proceeded to severely goose the guest of honor's wife. He's trained to detect explosives, so maybe that was it...

It would have been funny, rather than embarassing, except she didn't appreciate my dog's gesture - at all.

 

[Bob Scott]

I recently hosted a formal sit-down dinner party at my house. While we were sitting, during dessert, my dog decided to exit his crate - without authorization - crawled between everyones legs and proceeded to severely goose the guest of honor's wife. He's trained to detect explosives, so maybe that was it...

It would have been funny, rather than embarassing, except she didn't appreciate my dog's gesture - at all.

Bet she got a big bang outta that!
Sorry Andres! I just couldn't let that one go.

 

[Khoi Pham]

I recently hosted a formal sit-down dinner party at my house. While we were sitting, during dessert, my dog decided to exit his crate - without authorization - crawled between everyones legs and proceeded to severely goose the guest of honor's wife. He's trained to detect explosives, so maybe that was it...

It would have been funny, rather than embarassing, except she didn't appreciate my dog's gesture - at all.

Maybe the dog takes after his father, like father like son. (-:

 

[Andres Martin]

Khoi, you're probably right, now that you mention it. I hadn't understood - 'til today - why my dog's breeder's wife walked around with a groin protector. Thanks for showing me the light.

 

[Andres Martin]

Bet she got a big bang outta that!

Probably more than usual. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[ann schnerre]

hate to break it to you guys, but at times, something's better than nothing. with that said...

the most recent embarassment was downtown, this past summer, just wandering around early (well, to SOME people--7 a.m.), in front of the brand-new public library, brix decides he has to poop, does it. i have no poop bag, nothing, looking around to see if anyone has notices, when--a gal across the street yells "i have bags if you need one to clean that up!!".

so we just trot across the street, thank her for the bag, etc. etc. for *some* reason i'd already scoped out a garbage container, so i, as unobtrusively as possible, picked up manure and re-deposited it. we don't do that much "town" work, and he's trained to "hurry up", so it took me by surprise (and unprepared ).

booger-butt!!! that's just one of his *other* names :lol:

 

[Liz Monty]

I still have some more, but here's one. My old dog Tonka when he was a puppy was sooooo people friendly. My sister in law came over and when Tonka was sitting nice on the top of the three steps and my sister in law was at the bottom making a big fuss over him and petting his head he "PEED". It shot directly into her face and chest. I was on the ground almost "p" myself so hard, I couldn't grab him away. She was so shocked she just stood there letting it come.

 

[Woody Taylor]

hate to break it to you guys, but at times, something's better than nothing. with that said...

:lol:

 

[Ian Forbes]

When Smudge was younger she used to chew on her rag toys and tear off long threads which she then swallowed (she no longer gets these). No real problem??

Until she decides to crap in public and gets left with a clegnut/winnit/tagnut/dingleberry (whatever you want to call it) hanging from her butt - she refused to move on with this 'thing' hanging there and could not shake it off. Therefore (in plain view of all passers-by) I had to pull the offending item out of her butt..........

Never again!

 

[Woody Taylor]

When Smudge was younger she used to chew on her rag toys and tear off long threads which she then swallowed (she no longer gets these). No real problem??

Until she decides to crap in public and gets left with a clegnut/winnit/tagnut/dingleberry (whatever you want to call it) hanging from her butt - she refused to move on with this 'thing' hanging there and could not shake it off. Therefore (in plain view of all passers-by) I had to pull the offending item out of her butt..........

Never again!

Hah. Annie was a hardcore paper towel eater as a pup, I know exactly what you're talking about. The one time I had to do an extraction, luckily, was in private.