Anders and Brian met them halfway across the wide bowl. “Everything’s set,” Brian said. “Let’s see Shelby do her stuff.”
The dog danced around, clearly sensing something was up. Lily asked her to sit and she did, though she practically vibrated with anticipation. “You know the drill,” Adam said. “The dog has to find two buried volunteers within twenty minutes.” He consulted his watch. “The time is seven ten. She has until seven thirty.”
Lily took a deep breath. This was it. The snowfield they were in was the size of a football field. The two volunteers could be hidden anywhere in this expanse of white. “Shelby?”
The dog fixed her gaze on Lily. “Go find!”
Shelby faced the snow, but didn’t move. Lily’s heart sank. She was about to give the command a second time when the dog took off, racing across the field, snow flying behind her.
Lily ran after the dog, aware of the others behind her. Shelby had her nose to the ground, “casting” back and forth for scent. Unlike search-and-rescue dogs, avalanche dogs weren’t trained to fix on one particular person’s scent. Rather, they detected any human scent and focused in on it. Supposedly, they could smell a person buried even thirty or forty feet deep.
Shelby let out a bark and began digging. Moments later a hand stuck up from the snow and waved. “Time, six minutes,” Adam said.
Lily laughed and rushed to pet Shelby as others pulled Marion from the pit where she had been hiding.
“Good girl!” Marion declared, and hugged Shelby.
“One more to find,” Adam reminded them.
“Shelby, go find!” Lily said.
Shelby took off again. She sniffed around Marion’s hiding place for a few minutes, then moved farther away. Lily made her hands into fists and tried not to think about the time passing as the dog searched, but found nothing.
“Five minutes.” Adam said.
Lily’s stomach was in knots.Come on!she silently encouraged her dog.You can do this.
“Three minutes.”
Lily turned to glare at Adam. His countdown wasn’t helping.
A bark, then a shout from Brian. Shelby was all the way across the field. Lily hurried to the location as the dog dug frantically. Adam jogged up to her side. “Only one minute left,” he said.
Just then, the snow collapsed in front of the dog and Pete poked his head out. “Good girl!” he cried, and patted the dog, who continued to dig at the snow.
“We’ll take it from here,” Brian said, and gently moved the dog aside and began digging out the grinning volunteer.
Lily took a well-worn rope toy from her pack. Shelby barked and leaped at the toy, then tugged hard in her favorite game—her reward for a job well done.
“Congratulations. You passed.” Lily looked up to see Scott standing beside her. “I was a little worried there at the end, but Shelby came through.”
“She was great,” Lily said.
“Good job,” Scott said. “Now let’s get to work.”
He headed for the lift. Adam moved in where Scott had been standing. “I think Scott was more nervous than you were,” he said.
“Why would he be nervous?” she asked.
“Probably because he knew if Shelby failed the certification, he’d have to remove you from the program. He didn’t want to do that.”
She wasn’t sure she believed that. “I suppose it would look bad to lose me when I just joined the team,” she said.
“I don’t know anyone who takes this work more personally,” Adam said. “Frankly, I’d love to have him on my team. But whenever I’ve asked about hiring him, he talks about how much this program means to him. Anyway, congratulations. Shelby did great. You should be proud. How old is she now?”
“Sixteen months.”
“She should be ready for her Level A test by the time she’s eighteen months. That’s the minimum age we can certify her.”
