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.”

[AnAmericanMother]

I just feel like you can't go wrong with a Lab.

They get up in the morning saying, "What can I do to make you happy today?" If you can put up with the VERY high energy level, they're a great dog. It doesn't bother me because we have two polo fields near our house, and I just take them out there and let them run until their tongues are dragging the ground. We met a young Vizsla today, and he and Ruby just wore each other out. (Shelley watched with hauteur the antics of the youngsters.)

[AnAmericanMother]

Have you noticed any herding behavior? I’m looking at those beautiful tapered feet and thinking Border Collie.

[the OlLine Rebel]

White, or Panda? Because they’re quite different.

I’d guess this is a UKC or some other non-AKC event.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I would add that you must meet the puppy and evaluate HIM himself. Nothing matters more than that.

I don’t like this nonsense of sight-unseen purchases amongst the elite set. Fools, if you ask me. I don’t buy cars without them being on the lot to try out; don’t like “ordering”. Whoa to you when you get a dud.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I’d guess Collie or some such. Finer (but not too much - still some retriever heavier build) legs, white chest and paws. Also could be some of the greyhound-type dogs like Ibizan Hounds, albeit they all are very rare. Of course, Collies aren’t that common anymore, either.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, I took a chance with my black pup. I wanted a black female from a particular breeding, and there were only two in the litter. A very methodical mother dog - she had two black males, two black females, two yellow males, and two yellow females. It would have taken me two days to drive up to Wisconsin and two days to drive back.

So I asked the breeder (who is a personal friend of one of our club members and an all round good lady) to pick the smarter and livelier of the two black girls and send her on by air freight.

She is certainly VERY smart and VERY lively. She stepped out of the crate in the freight office like she owned the place, and walked straight into my heart. And she is a retrieving fool.

[Dysart]

Funny you should say Border Collie as that’s what my Vet guessed on the initial visit. I didn’t think much of her guess at the time but maybe I should rethink it. No herding behavior at all nor hunting nor stalking behavior either. Even my backyard squirrels have even observed this in him— really, stay with me here... when I open the door to let the dog or dogs out, they whip their heads around, stand erect to spy exactly which dog is coming, and if they see it’s just Bob they go about grazing or robbing the feeders with no concern for him at all. He’ll just stand on the porch wagging his tail or sniffing for tidbits in the yard(I don’t want to know) to gobble up, his only sole pursuit in life. Any other dog and they franticly scamper for the safety of the nearest tree. Anyway, he does like to track when out at the parks tho, running wild with his nose to the ground, chasing scents and charging into the woods. That’s why I have been considering some type of Hound.

[devolve]

.

Arf! Arf!

[the OlLine Rebel]

Have fun with this page - SHOCKING, I tell you, to all the elites.

http://www.kerstoneshepherds.net/colors/colors.htm

Page 1 includes Pandas: http://www.kerstoneshepherds.net/colors/patterns.htm

This is new to me (along with several of the other patterns/colors), so I really don’t know the history. I do know white Shepherds are legitimate, no matter what the elitists say. They were amongst the 1st dogs registered as well as parents of the same.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Sorry to say what I did, but I do think it’s very foolish. I know people do it all the time. Including my sister, who ended up with a dopey “ugly” dog complete with flopping greyhound-like ears (trusting her normal breeder to get her 1). He’s sweet and a good guard, but he’s also riddled with allergies. And the “breeder” (if that’s the truth) blasted her for daring to ask for money back for a GS whose ears she couldn’t get up. But of course, things are random. Guess you have to really trust your breeder. I might, but I still might not like what he thinks is good.

[potlatch]

Whoof! For when you just can't help 'hanging around', lolol.

[berdie]

Totally agree. My Lab/mix is at least 8 and he was not a puppy when he wandered up. He is just now calming down.

And aside from having a ferocious bark, he really isn’t much of a guard dog. But I have others than handle that for him.

Congrats on the awards your dogs got!

(My first thought on “unidentified” dog was Collie. The picture with him/her sitting down almost has a Beagle”ish” look.)

[AnAmericanMother]

Maybe he’s just a happy, laid-back dog!

[freekitty]

The white shepherd was being shown at International All Breeds. They are both AKC registered.

[brytlea]

I think people especially like to say chocolate! BTW it drives me crazy when people ask if my golden retrievers are golden labs! ;)

[brytlea]

My dog could have found Loki....if he had been wearing a hamburger!

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, this breeder was breeding Field Champions back in the 60s. She bred 9 National Champions in 12 years (including one threepeat), 11 total. She knows more about field Labs and breeding them than I ever will, and she's as nice and kind as she can be. She really loves the breed. I told her what I wanted, and she sent me exactly that.

Here's an article from Purina about her: Something About Mary

Also, other people in our club have had extensive dealings with her (including one of our leading lights who has won the Super Retriever Series three times with two dogs) and have always been very pleased. Several of them went over pedigrees with me and helped me choose the breeding I picked.

If it weren't for her reputation AND her relationships with people I know and trust, I wouldn't have taken a puppy sight unseen.

[AnAmericanMother]

I LOVE that .gif!

[freekitty]

Yes. The Panda Shepherd is the result of a color mutation. When the breed founder first saw a pup of this color; she thought uh oh someone jumped the fence. LOL She immediately took all of the dogs, including mother and father who are GSDs to be DNA’d. They were and the parentage was proved. This is definately a color mutation; not eye color(although one panda does have blue eyes; not the same as the color mutation). There has been a genetic study done on the Panda Shepherd which has just been completed at UCLA at Davis in CA. The results have not been published yet. All Panda Shepherds have been dna’d to prove they are Panda shepherds; and not the spotted genes you see sometimes. It is not that. They have really good tempers and are a great family dog. I would suggest going to Phenom Shepherds.com where you can find a detailed history of how they came about. The breed founder has raised GSDs for about 30 years before these darlins came along. Our white shepherd is from her kennel too. Fantastic personalities.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's good to know.

My daughter is enchanted with the White Shepherds, I kind of like the traditional black and tan ones, but they're all such handsome, alert-looking dogs.