The search for Piper

This is from Karin Tarqwyn, the professional searcher. Today was her final day.

Today was a long one and we were able to cover a lot of ground but also ran into places where we either were not allowed or could not get to. We had to leap frog over properties and around barriers. I was never so glad to have a mail carrier helping me… Chris… you are amazing! Every time we ran into an obstacle she knew how to get to another place where we could scan for scent… I could never have covered the ground we did today without her.
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Although we covered a lot of territory it was also a little disconcerting as Piper’s scent is now at least 2 ½ miles south east of where she went missing from. All in all… Piper herself has most likely covered 8 to 10 miles or more. The K9s are used to following scent trails based on a scent alley… truly more like hunting dogs than foot step for foot step man trailers. This is what we need in this work and today really exemplified why. Much of the area Piper has covered is passable by a small dog but not by a large one. That said…. there were several areas of fencing where not even Piper could get through. I am sure in her travels she has pinballed off the many square wire fences as she journeyed on.

The map shows in detail how we worked through the day. Today’s color is pink. We tracked over 3 miles today but I am sure Piper ran several more as she covered similar ground.

Based on todays search results I have to consider Piper in an elite group… that of the extreme roamers. Those dogs that have no bonded interest to their surroundings so they hit the road and travel great distances. My experience with terriers is that sometimes they do spiral and come back into the area but sometimes they do not and just continue their travels in a haphazard fashion. It is important to note that when a dog is on the roam they live in the moment… they are not human they do not have a plan or an agenda or motivation to get somewhere. The environment and circumstance decide which way she will go next.

Find Toto donated a broadcast today and they called a 3 mile square area to include the city of Galena, the Galena Territories and residences to the south where we tracked today. They are a great company… I work with them a lot in a very specific way. We customize all our work and broadcasts to the specifics of each dog and search area covered.

We have three volunteers who have stepped up to takeover when I leave and MariBeth just arrived from Chicago. I will continue to help guide the search efforts but I have some very tired dogs who are ready to go home… I am pretty tired too. Chis... one of the volunteers has an incredible dog I have been working with the last two days… She has been able to discern Piper's scent accurately… tell us when she has it and can track her as well as tell us when she does not have scent. She has worked along side Cade, Mason and Brodie and she is an exceptional dog. Chris will use Faith to help with the search when she is available.

We should keep the signage up and efforts alive. At some point Piper will slow down… but no… I cannot say when but I will tell you that we have recovered tougher cases than this… The key is to keep the awareness up in the communities.

Keep the faith… Be well.......
Karin, Cade, Mason, Brodie and Paco