Kudos - Jan 2013

1/29/13 - Ron Abney

I'm writing to tell you about the extraordinary job Amy has done since
she has been working in our Orlando office. Having worked with Amy
when she operated from the Lacey office during my first year as MTSS
PM, I was well aware of her comprehensive and insightful knowledge of
the MTSS contract in particular and of contracting procedures and
regulations in general. Consequently, I was very happy when she
decided to come to Orlando because I believed that having in-office
access to her knowledge, experience and insight would be immensely
beneficial to my entire team. Amy, however, has exceeded my
expectations of the benefits she would provide. As I had anticipated,
she has been a remarkable resource for contract advice and she has
fostered an environment of increased trust, respect and confidence
between my office personnel and the government contracts personnel
they deal with. But she has also been a superb team player who has
gone above and beyond to provide team members with explanations,
background and guidance about contractual processes and resolution of
contract issues. Her unremitting commitment to excellence and her
exacting attention to detail have been positive and motivating
influences for all of my employees. She has been a leader and a
mentor and in both roles, she has been the epitome of professionalism.
It is indeed a pleasure working with someone of her caliber.
Sincerely,
Charles R. Abney

Dash passed his Anise ORT

This past Saturday, Feb 16th, I drove an hour and a half to Lakeland, Florida so Dash could test for the K9 NoseWork 2 Anise Odor Recognition Test.  And he passed!  However, not without some shenanigans.  You see, Dash has been giving some "false alerts" when we practice containers set up in an ORT pattern.  When we are practicing containers that are just strewn about with no pattern, he will periodically false alert, but most of the time he is spot on.  Containers in an ORT pattern have been another story with him consistently false alerting, then if I ease him off the incorrect box and get him hunting again he will indicate the correct box.  Luckily for me, his false alert, although adamant, is pretty easy to differentiate from his correct alert.  His false alert (so far!) has been smacking the box with his feet and looking directly at me (with a big doofy dog grin that says Where is my treat???) and he is incredibly insistent, however, he does not really look at the box at all.  When he correctly alerts he will first hit the box with his nose and push it a little bit, then smack it with his feet and look back and forth from me to the box.  I am so glad that we ran into this during practice sessions so I was able to recognize his false alert during the ORT.  I bet he stuck to that wrong box for 5 to 10 seconds (which seemed like ages at the time) until I asked him to work the line of boxes again.  Then he hit on a box in the next row, which I believe was directly across from the one that he'd false alerted on.  I do not necessarily believe his original alert was a "fringe" alert.  I think he knew full well that he was not on the correct box simply due to the fact that his body language and behavior were completely different from when he gives correct alerts.  When he indicated on the correct box it was a definite push with the nose, then paw whack, then look between me and the box.  I called Alert and was correct.  And I got a "great job reading your dog" from the judge!  All that in 53 seconds.  Now onto NW2 trials!