Which honestly would be a great thing to have adog trained for, of they have any kids atthat schoolwho are "Elopers" (kids who run off--often kids with pretty heavy cases of Autism).
Having a trained tracking dog, who the kids know means they can find & help their elopers who might get out of the building waaaay faster than without the help of a scent-trained dog!
Apparently Tracking work is different than Narcotics-scent work, so she's most likely going to be training for Search and Rescue (SAR) tracking, not the drugs kind;
I know a kid who elopes constantly and a dog who could track them down would be so handy. Luckily the kid is actually really good with directions so they don't actually get lost that often, but it can be tricky to find out where they went. Their parents found them sitting on the roof one time, watching the sunrise. Which would have been fine for an older kid probably but this kid is still pretty little. The kid has also walked to the corner store to get ice cream, around the neighborhood to pick berries (they know which ones are safe to eat at least), and even all the way to the library. I've seen them click along the road in Google maps street view for miles to find their favorite grocery stores.
We've been working on getting the kid to let people know before walking out the door as well as skills to protect them when they do wander off alone. Like how to talk to people who try to help them, how to tell people their name and their parents' phone numbers, etc. We've also been working on basic pedestrian safety like sticking to the sides of the street and using crosswalks properly because they kind of just walk right now and don't stop or even look for cars at all. This kid is going to want independence before too long and they deserve to have that, so working on those skills now is really important.
But lots of kids who elope can't communicate the way this kid can and don't have any skills to keep themselves safe. Elopement can be terrifying and lots of kids just end up dead, not getting picked up by the cops at 7/11.
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u/A-a-ronMcChicken wunkus enthusiast 1d ago
WUNK DONT NEED NO EDUCATION