What the Dog Knows (39 page)

A fourth person, Lisa Mayhew, is part of that early and continuing circle of influence and friendship. She introduced me to Mike and to other working-dog people across the state. She helped train me and Solo, and especially helped me understand and navigate the complex intersecting worlds of forensics, dogs, and law enforcement.

Other North Carolina K9 trainers and handlers tolerated me and sometimes welcomed me, helped me train Solo, and let me learn by watching them. Whether or not they are directly named in the book, they taught me a great deal. Both the Durham Police K9 unit and the Durham Sheriff K9 unit have allowed me to come to their weekly and monthly trainings for years. I want to especially acknowledge now-retired Durham Sheriff K9 Sergeant Rick Keller and current Durham Sheriff K9 Sergeant Steve Talley. I was fortunate to train and work with
Durham Sheriff Deputy Tim Fields when he had a cross-trained cadaver dog, and currently with Durham Sheriff Deputy Brad Kirby. On the Durham Police K9 unit, I want to especially thank Danny Gooch, Cindi Wood, Moses Irving, Terry Tanner, and Kristy Roberts; many of them are retired or have moved to new positions in law enforcement, but they all taught me a great deal. Alamance County Sheriff K9 Officer Kathy Edmonds has been wonderful over the years. Both the Reidsville and Gibsonville police departments have welcomed me at their trainings, and I am grateful for the continued ability to learn from them. Ken Young, Darlene Griffin, and other members of the Triad Bloodhound Team nurtured my early passion for this work.

Next come those K9 trainers and handlers whom I learned from at conferences and seminars and who taught me more about handling Solo at the same time I was researching and writing.

First and foremost are Andy Rebmann and Marcia Koenig. I canceled one planned trip to Seattle, with Marcia explaining apologetically that Andy had snapped and dislocated some parts, including an Achilles tendon and a shoulder, and they were having a bit of trouble stabilizing him, so it might be better to schedule a later interview. Andy pulled through, and it was worth the wait. Their generosity, humor, deep and broad knowledge, and passion for the work inspire me almost as much as Andy's creative profanity does. And it was Marcia who suggested I contact Kathy Holbert of West Virginia, who became not only a critical part of this book but of our lives. She is a wise and wonderful person and trainer, and I've already learned so much from her and from the next generation she gave me and David: Coda, our funny black trout of a German shepherd puppy.

Re-creating the early days of dog research was not an easy task, and it was at times poignant, as a number of the central figures in this early work are deceased or in declining health. My sincere thanks go to Jim and Sally Suffolk, Nick Montanarelli, Roger Titus, Deborah Palman, Ed David, Jim Polanis, and Joanna Johnston for their help, their good records, and their fine memories.

I had the good fortune to train and observe at various seminars and trainings across the country researching this book. Broward Sheriff patrol K9 trainer Steve Sprouse welcomed me into his training seminars in both Florida and North Carolina. His wife, Sandy, welcomed me into their home and served a mean lasagna. Like Mike Baker, Steve has a plethora of handling skills and dog and people knowledge that leaves me awestruck and appreciative. Thanking Steve for his significant contribution to this book feels inadequate.

At cadaver-dog seminars in Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina, I was able to observe and train with Lisa Higgins, one of the best teachers and mentors I've ever had. And a special thanks to Lisa's granddaughter Haylee, who helped keep things warm and funny and real at dog trainings, and who reminded us handlers what the work is really about. Roy and Suzie Ferguson of Tennessee welcomed me into their home and to their trainings, and introduced me to their mentor, Art Wolff, and his brother, Ed Wolff, also an experienced K9 handler. Their combination of openness, professionalism, and joy in the work is a model I aspire to. Mary Cablk and her husband, John Sagebiel, hosted me and David for a wonderful long weekend in Reno, where I watched Lisa Lit train with Chris Salisbury and others, and talked with both Chris and Cindee Valentin. I am so grateful for the thought, care, and attention that Mary and John gave to us—as well as the wonderful food, thought-provoking conversation, and continuing help.

At the same seminar where I joined Andy and Marcia, I was able to spend time with Kevin George, one of the most talented and imaginative trainers I've ever met. Besides knowing magic, his story-telling abilities made me laugh until tears ran down my face. Nancy was downright jealous when she heard I attended one of his seminars and got to be his assistant.

Roger Titus, in addition to helping with the history section, shared his deep knowledge of bloodhounds and all trailing and tracking dogs with me on a beautiful fall day in the Triad of North Carolina. If you run bloodhounds, I think that humor, patience, and tolerance must
run in your genes. Roger had no reason to be patient with me, but he was. His continued generosity means a great deal to me.

Paul Martin, who helped found and still helps run the Western Carolina Cadaver Dog workshops, is another one of those trainer/handlers who went above and beyond in his work with me. His sly humor, low-key approach, and willingness to share his knowledge and his developing research have been crucial to this project.

Brad Dennis and Deborah Palman helped in the evolution of my thinking about searches, and I'm grateful for the time with them. With their decades of experience and knowledge of both wild and domestic human and animal behavior, we are fortunate they are part of the search world. Matt Zarrella was enormously generous with his time on the telephone sharing his dog work and insights. Suzi Goodhope was the equivalent of a (just slightly) older sister at seminars, making me feel as comfortable and warm as though I were wearing one of her knitted caps with the skull and crossbones on them. And Charm Gentry was the equivalent of a matchmaker, laughing at me and with me, and letting Kathy Holbert know I wanted a puppy from her kennel more than anything.

I also want to acknowledge a long list of handlers and trainers I was able to witness work and to interview both formally and informally. I am so appreciative of what I learned from all of them. Even if their names are not explicitly used in the book, they expanded my knowledge base immensely: Michael Ben Alexander, Orval Banks, Kathi Brown, Shelly Burton, Ann Christensen, Maria Claxton, Terry Crooks, Paul Dostie, Melissa Ellis, Melissa Frye, Karen Gillespie, Gwen Hancock, Deana Hudgins, Nikki Ivey, Renae Johnson, Sean Kelly, Lisa Lepsch, Dave Lopez, Roxye Marshall, Joe Mayers, Paula McCollum, Helen Moreno, Marshia Morton, Benjamen Ortiz, Craig Patton, Brooke Proctor, Pete Sepot, Becky Shropshire, Meaghan Thacker, and Sue C. Wolff.

Several organizations and seminars and police departments across North Carolina and the country allowed me full access to observe
trainings, take photographs, and sometimes participate with Solo. I am so grateful to the National Search Dog Alliance and Jan Meyer; DogMeet 2011 in Washington and Bruce Ramey; the Network of Canine Detection Services, especially Ronda Maine, Barbara and Danny Holley, and T. H. Walker; Western Carolina University Cadaver Dog Workshops, especially Bobby Hensley; the Tennessee Special Response Team-A; the Greensboro Police Department K9 unit; Brigit and John Hall of Alert K9; and Southern Pines Police K9 unit.

This book also depended greatly on many scientists, medical examiners, epidemiologists, veterinarians, dog behaviorists, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, amateur historians, military personnel, and environmental scientists who were unstinting in their willingness to e-mail, talk, and fact check. Each person on this list has my deep gratitude and thanks: dog-training book author Carol Lea Benjamin, former
American Scientist
editor Chris Brodie, archaeologist Haleh Brooks, Wendi Dick, Pat Franklin, Ken Furton, epidemiologist David Goldsmith, Deak Helton, Western Carolina University forensic anthropologist Cheryl A. Johnston, Lisa Lit, May MacCallum, Patricia McConnell, Kha McDonald, Charlie Mesloh, Larry Myers, Raincoast Conservation Foundation's senior scientist Paul C. Paquet, southeast ecologist Milo Pyne, Ephraim Rotter, John Sagebiel, Greg Sanson, Solo and Megan's veterinarian Robin Scott, veterinarian Tami Shearer, Michael Sledge, Marci Sorg, neurologist and bear brain expert George Stevenson, Mississippi archaeologist John M. Sullivan, botanist Wade Wall, University of Washington's Center for Conservation biology director Sam Wasser, Barbara Weakley-Jones, Western Carolina University forensic anthropologist John Williams, and friend and epidemiologist Steve Wing. A special thanks to Arpad Vass for his time and generosity.

I don't know where to put Nancy's daughter Lindsay and Nancy's grandson Sean in the mix. They cross so many categories, helping train me and Solo from the time Lindsay was a teenager and through Sean's birth to the present. Sean is simply a fine, fun kid to have around: smart, tough, funny, and tolerant of people and dogs.

The academic community has a few proponents of dog books. Thanks to Cary Nelson and Paul Treichler—partners, Samoyed lovers, and my academic mentors—for being amused, impressed, and incredibly supportive when they learned I planned to both write a dog book and be the editor of a national magazine for the American Association of University Professors while Cary was still president. Although in that moment when Cary asked me why I seemed to be having trouble writing a straightforward book about a dog, I didn't have an answer. It was a very Cary moment. He was right, so I shut up and kept writing. Thanks to Elaine Orr for her quiet, fine advice along the way. Tony Harrison, my department head, has fully adjusted to the strange reality of my project and has been enormously supportive in ways large and small. I am so appreciative of being in a department that houses a variety of disciplines.

This is my first single-authored book. I developed the proposal with the help of Laurel Goldman and the members of my Thursday morning writing group in Chapel Hill: Anna Jean Mayhew, Fabienne Worth, John Manuel, Betty Palmerton, Eve Rizzo, Mia Bray, and Cindy Paris. They were tough and kind and supportive. Reading aloud has never been more terrifying or rewarding. Laurel's exactitude and talents as an editor humble me. And thanks to the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, which gave me four days of peace to finalize the proposal, although I was deeply distracted by the Friesian horse stables next to the old mansion and by the deep bass of the bullfrogs that inhabited the ponds in the garden. Thanks, too, to Jim Roberts and Nick Roberts of Doe Branch, Ink, a sylvan mountain writers' retreat where I worked on the proposal with Peggy Payne, and another wonderful group of wise and thoughtful listeners: Mahan Siler, Susan Schild, and Fabienne Worth. Using a faint mountain Internet connection, Peggy showed me how to find an agent through Publishers Marketplace; that introduction led me, almost immediately, to finding Gillian MacKenzie and her book projects, which I loved. Gillian didn't know me, and I didn't have a single name I could drop in sending her my proposal via e-mail one cold Sunday night in January. Yet, in less
than twenty-four hours, I had the warmest, most comprehensive, and insightful response from her. That level of response hasn't changed; Gillian helped expand and shape the proposal and, because of that, the book, with a sure and talented touch. Then she passed the baton on to Michelle Howry, senior editor at Touchstone, and I am so grateful for her warm, smart editing, her thought and care, and her continuing attention. I have a number of writer and editor friends, so I know how lucky I am to have both Michelle and Gillian lending their enormous talents to this project. My thanks to Michelle's editorial assistant, Brendan Culliton, and to Anna Jean Mayhew, who helped edit at critical points in this never-ending book process. The team at Touchstone, Jessica Roth, Meredith Vilarello, and Linda Sawicki, have been a joy to work with. Many thanks to David Falk.

Thanks go to photographer D. L. Anderson, who contributed hugely to this project with his keen eye and his ability, thank goodness, to avoid anthropomorphizing dogs; to Sherri Clendenin, whose early photos of Solo helped me fall in love with him; to Steve Sprouse for his considerable talents as a patrol dog photographer; and to Nick Montanarelli for his early snapshots of dog research. My thanks also to Lissa Gotwals for her excellent author photographs. Seth Mulliken, Robert Bell, and Brooke Darah Shuman all played central roles in shooting video of Solo training. I thank them all for the memories, as well.

My friends, my and David's friends, and our families became collaborators and played critical roles along the way. Dale Maharidge helped consume a fair amount of wine and food one night in Manhattan, and outlined all the reasons I could do this book and why it would be the beginning of the rest of my life. We have known each other for thirty years, and Dale has not only helped me every single step of the way, he's often anticipated what I need to do next in this complex process. I could not have a more wonderful cheerleader, friend, and coach. Sherryl Kleinman, who has never had a dog but has fantasized about the perfect, low-maintenance dog, helped sketch out the chapters on long drives across North Carolina and back and forth from Washington,
D.C. I'm devastated that the chapter titled “Sherryl Wants a Dog” didn't survive the brutal editing process. Friend and colleague Sharon Setzer teased and cajoled and supported me during the writing of “my pet memoir.” Sarah Stein listened to my stories about training and searches, has the kind of faith I don't, encouraged my soul-searching, and took incredible video of Solo training. She was my spiritual guide for this book journey. Scott Browning laughed at my fear of writing, read with great care, and sent me news articles before they existed online. Ronnie Cohen, whom I've known even longer than I've known Dale, edited and coached with such enormous skill and care that I don't know what I would have done without her. Barb Smalley took our sweet Megan for overnight “playdates” so I could work. Our neighbors Michael Hardt and Kathi Weeks, cat people who nonetheless like our dogs, took care of us with simple bottles of wine and good conversation in the backyard—impromptu gatherings that demanded little and gave much. Kathi introduced me to Kathy Rudy, a dog person, who has become a mentor and supporter, helping me think through the project. Our other neighbors, Bruce and Dorean Sanfelici, let the dogs out and let me let my hair down. Anita Levy isn't a dog person but cared anyway. Kim Turk, Leila May and Don Palmer, Jennifer Washburn, Barry Yeoman and Richard Ziglar, Mike Ferguson, Diane Johnson, Anne Eckman, and David Schulman listened and helped and commiserated every step of the way, from a distance and from close up. And Deborah Hooker listened and cared and helped me articulate emotions that I'm not sure I knew about before I told her. My high school friend and locker partner, Randhi Sue Wilson, introduced me to German shepherds with Tolkien, her shepherd mix who went everywhere and showed me that dogs were meant to be partners. I thank them all for their friendship and help.