Doggy detective finds missing Fort Worth police canine

DMN ^ | 1-2-09 | DAN X. McGRAW

[Dysart]

For anyone keeping score at home, here’s the tally: Fort Worth police helicopter: 0, Godiva the search dog: 1.

Fort Worth police officers lost one of their own on New Years Day when Loki, a search and rescue canine, chewed through the fence of his handler’s backyard and escaped into the streets of Fort Worth.

After searching for hours with a helicopter and police cruisers, Fort Worth police called in Godiva, a chocolate Labrador, from Dog Gone Detectives — a firm that specializes in finding lost pets.

Within 15 minutes, Godiva had hunted down Loki about a half mile away from the backyard where he escaped.

“Usually, it isn’t that easy,” said Kat Manning, the co-owner of Dog Gone Detectives. “We got on the trail. Then all of the sudden, I looked up and there he was. He was just hanging out.”

[ottbmare]

I think that it just helps create a mental image for the reader. Not really an issue. Same thing with the breeds of dogs I’m fond of. It’s just a point of interest.

[Diver Dave]

My dogs would find the first person with food. End of story.

My pups (Goldie and G Shep-mix) would run around, sniff, find the scent of a cat and search for "Boots".

Of course, if they happened across a human in their search, they would run to them, swearing the human came out to see them, and would have a new friend.

The pic looks like Godiva has found a boy friend.

[blueplum]

the brown isn’t a different breed, but is a different genotype within the breed. (recessive/undesirable)

http://www.ashlandlabradors.net/Labradorcolor.html

browns should not be bred with yellows.
browns are expected to have distinctive dark eye color and should not be bred if they have light eyes
browns splashed with black should not be bred
browns’ coats can sun-fade (a dog that has to be kept inside out of the sun cannot be an asset to the hunter)

http://www.labbies.com/genetics.htm

when one breeds two black Labs, one may get only black puppies, but upon breeding another two black individuals one may get yellow and chocolate puppies as well as black. This indicates that though the dogs from two such crosses may appear to be the same color, or phenotype, they don’t have the same genetic makeup, or genotype

there is one combination that should be avoided when breeding, that is the yellow dog carrying two recessive chocolate genes (eebb). This combination will produce a yellow Lab with chocolate pigmentation of the nose and eye-rims

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

I love doggies too!!!

More and more they show themselves to be so superior to most humans in the moral and ethical departments!
Great story!

I wonder what the doggie said? “ Dude! What the heck are you doing HERE???”

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

I love doggies too!!!

More and more they show themselves to be so superior to most humans in the moral and ethical departments!
Great story!

I wonder what the doggie said? “ Dude! What the heck are you doing HERE???”

[csvset]

He was just hanging out.

Looking for a girlfriend?

[Dog Gone]

Free advertising for my company!

[the OlLine Rebel]

Kind of funny to say when here 1 dog destroyed things and wanted to run away. (Which, BTW, many dogs do; “loyalty” is relative.)

And Hund is not Gott spelled backwards.

[LucyJo]

Love the story and the picture...thanks for the ping!

Loki looks a little bit teased that he was found by “a girl”, and she looks mighty pleased. ~chuckle~

[Peace4EarthNow]

<< Dog is God spelled backwards. They are treasures sent by God to be part of our lives.

Agree. The more people I meet, the more I treasure and love my dog. >>

That's a BIG Amen to that!

[AnAmericanMother]

The colors in Labs go in and out of fashion. You hear rumors about how this color or that color is "better". Most hunters say, "the Black dog is best after all," but that's really because that's the overall dominant gene and so the gene pool is larger for quality purposes. It is true that the vast majority of the National Retriever Field Trial Champions have been Black Labs, but the 2008 champion was a yellow.

Yellow Labs have always been favored by the show (conformation) breeders. The color first appeared in 1899, so it's not like it's anything new. It's basically a Black Lab with the gene for coat color turned off. The chocolate color is a separate recessive gene for the basic coat and skin color.

My young Black Lab is "tri-factored" - she carries the yellow and the chocolate genes, disguised by the dominant Black gene. So depending on who she is bred to, she will throw 50% black and 50% yellow (if bred to a yellow Lab), 50% black and 50% chocolate (if bred to a choc), or all black if bred to a black dog with no recessive factor. If you breed her to a yellow- or choc- factored dog, things get more complicated, but basically you'd get 25% pure black, 25% black with the yellow factor (or chocolate), and 25% yellow or chocolate. And if she were bred to another tri-factor dog, you'd get 9/16 Black, 1/4 Yellow, and 3/16 Choc. But I wouldn't do that because of the Danger of Dudleys.

The show breeders did not breed Chocolates for a long time, because of the danger of accidentally introducing a "Dudley" (a Chocolate lab with the gene for yellow coat color - has a pink nose and eye rims) into their yellow lines. They are breeding them now, but because the overwhelming majority of chocolates were field dogs and not show dogs, they got a reputation for being hyper and crazy. Now that show breeders are getting chocs, their dogs are as mellow and placid as most of the show dogs.

[Dysart]

Thanks for illuminating. You certainly DO sound like a Lab expert. As I've thought more about this issue, I think my earlier source actually amounted to that I'd recently seen an episode of Dogs 101 on Animal Planet that featured some Lab history!

I think the stray I took in some months ago might have some Lab blood in him, along with some type of Hound, maybe Golden....

What do you see?

[the OlLine Rebel]

Actually it’s more than that. Not only do you hardly ever see “Poodle” modified with “black” or “white”, etc, but look up merchandise for dog fanatics.

You can have “Poodle”, “Collie”, “Shetland Sheepdog”, “Cocker Spaniel”, “Dachshund” - but you can also have “Black Labrador”, “Chocolate Labrador” or “Yellow Labrador”! This is beyond description; they are treated as if they are different breeds!

[the OlLine Rebel]

Let me add to that - not just different breeds, but as if they’re different varieties! They’re just colors! You can hardly even find “Rough Collie” vs. “Smooth Collie”, and those are legitimate varieties in the breed!

[berdie]

Thanks for posting this. The link detailing the different colors was especially informative.

One of my current crew is a stray black lab that has one slightly white back toe. I just assumed that meant he had some other breed lightly mixed into his heritage that was trying to express itself thru his toe.

Not that it matters to me whether he is pure bred or not. I don't show or breed. He's still the same lovable goof.

I've only had one purchased, “papered” dog in my life. A Cocker. Don't get me wrong, I loved her..but she wasn't particularly brilliant (as some of my mutts have been) and could be quite cranky.

[potlatch]

Well, by now you know that it was Loki who was lost. The Godiva name seemed to just jump out at me!

[potlatch]

[Those trained police dogs can cost up to $10,000 a piece.]

I know, I knew they were expensive and read up on it today;
Total price for fully trained dog (from puppy)......$3200-3600

http://www.dopedog.com/puppy_program.html

I found that helicopters cost about $200. and hour to fly. Believe I was thinking of the cost of a jet flying for 4 hours when I posted.

[freekitty]

Some of them cost more than that. I know a bird/gun dog that cost 6800 dollars due to her breeding lines.

[freekitty]

American Mother is a lab expert. She has come gorgeous ones.

[potlatch]

[Some of them cost more than that.]

Yes, I believe you, lol. When I did a search there weren’t hardly any that gave an actual cost.

Whew, can’t imagine paying almost $7,000. for a bird dog. How many birds would it take to make up for that?

Lol, I thought my Yorkie was expensive!