Fort Worth PD K-9 Sergeant Brigit
Outside, Megan led Brigit to the gate and ordered her to find a scent and trail the disturbance. The dog obliged, sniffing around, but the only disturbance she smelled was in the backyard where they’d just been, and along this fence. She stretched up, putting her paws on the boards and looking over at Megan, trying to communicate that there was no trail to the front yard.
Megan wasn’t showing any teeth. Darn. When Megan showed her teeth, she was more likely to give Brigit a liver treat. But it never hurt to ask, right?
Still propped on the fence, Brigit emitted a soft, insistent woof. Translation: Pay me, or I quit.
Megan shined her flashlight over the top of the fence and stood on tiptoe to look over it before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a treat. “Here you go, girl.”
Brigit wolfed the treat down. Yum!
They left the backyard. Megan stepped over to the fence next door and tried to open the gate, but it didn’t move. Back into the car they went.
A few minutes later, Megan let Brigit out of her enclosure at an apartment complex. As they went up a set of outdoor stairs, Brigit’s nose picked up two familiar scents. The first was the aroma of squashed tomato. The second was the faint smell of a human male that she’d scented coming from the brick Megan had bagged.
She put her nose down to seek the sources, moving faster as she hit the landing and scurried over to a pair of shoes lying tucked behind a folded lawn chair leaning against the outer wall. The shoes smelled like both the tomatoes and the man. She sat and looked up at Megan, giving her passive alert. Megan hadn’t asked her to look for a tomato or the man, but Brigit sensed it might be important and could earn her another liver treat. It was worth a try, right?
Megan shined her flashlight on the shoes, whispered, “Good girl!”, and tossed her another goodie.
This was turning out to be a darn good shift!