Somewhere, Over the Rainbow

Ever wonder how a dog can track a person? You are looking at the answer.

Introducing the human skin cell. Your body has billions of them. Every minute, your body sheds 30000-40000 dead skin cells. Having trouble imagining that?

Let's say you are Bill Gates. Each dollar you have in the bank is equivalent to one skin cell of one person. With me so far?

Now, let's say that you buy something that costs between $30,000 and $40,000 EACH AND EVERY MINUTE. This represents the amount of skin cells you shed each minute. One minute you buy a 2009 Infiniti G37. The next minute you buy a 2009 Ford F-350. The minute after that you buy a 2009 Mini Cooper. You get the idea. (By the way, you are eventually going to run out of money.)

Back to skin cells. You body sheds them at a mind-boggling rate and never runs out. Dogs that have been trained to follow a "scent" are really following these dead skin cells. That's how dogs can follow someones "trail" and find...say...a little boy who has wandered off in a park, unaware of the potential dangers around him.

That's important to know for several reasons. The most important one (at least, to me) is this: skin cells don't last forever once they are shed. There is a small window of opportunity for a dog to pick up someones trail. On a hot and dry day (like a Brentwood summer), it is less than an hour.

Today, we practiced tracking for the second straight day. We did it in a large, abandoned park. Dylan and I (daddy) hid and Yoko found us. Actually, Yoko found the trainer that was with us. Eventually Yoko will learn to follow Dylan's trail, not the trainer's.

It was amazing to witness this first-hand. Yesterday I was with Yoko when she sniffed out the trainer and Dylan. Today I was there to reward her when she found us. It's difficult to explain how I felt during those moments. I'll try.

Imagine you had a child with little sense of danger. Imagine you had a child that could wonder off at any second. Imagine that you had to take all kinds of preventative measures (like door latches) to keep the child safe.

Now, imagine a day like today.

Today is what we have been waiting for. Today is the reason we went through 13 months of fundraisers. Today is the reason we chose to spend two weeks in the mid-west during winter. Today is the reason we took time away from family, friends, work and school. Today was the day that Yoko followed the rainbow trail and found her new pot of gold (well, red) spiked hair at the end.

Today was a very good day.