“I’m going on an adventure!”

In Peter Jackson’s latest film, that’s what Bilbo shouts as he hastily leaves Hobbiton, paper flapping in hand and backpack barely packed. I know exactly where Bilbo was coming from with his last minute decision to leave home and take off to unknown trails.

When I left Fairbanks in late September, there were 3 possibilities for my short-term future, as I saw it.

1. Job with Snowy Owl Tours in Canmore, AB starting in mid-October
2. Job with Conservation Canines (CK-9s) in Eatonville, WA / NE Alberta starting in mid-October
3. Back to Fairbanks after 3 weeks’ time

Never did I plan on having such an adventure with its unexpected twists and turns!

When I reached the Seattle Greyhound station, I ditched most of my luggage to walk to the LightRail station, where I caught the train from downtown to SeaTac to pick up my rental car and then drive the car back downtown to retrieve my luggage before taking off for my friend Ben’s family’s house in Gig Harbor! Whew.

After a relaxing evening of talking, laundry, and reorganizing my stuff, it was time for bed. I was starting to wonder what the next day’s visit to Conservation Canines in Eatonville might bring. In my emailing with Heath (program coordinator), I had gotten the impression I’d just get a look around and maybe help out with anything. It seemed like he was pretty busy and didn’t have time to talk a lot, but I really just wanted to make my face known anyway.

Since it seemed like the schedule was so tight and there was no way I’d be offered any sort of job, I even purchased a ferry ticket back to Alaska! I’d never traveled up through SE Alaska, and the cost of the ferry to Juneau + flight to Fairbanks wasn’t that much more than just flying to Fairbanks, so why not? Plus, with my cheap ticket, I’d get to camp out on the deck in my sleeping bag during the night! I was quite looking forward to the adventure.

The next morning I packed up my stuff and drove down to Eatonville, which is about 45 minutes SE of Tacoma. The route I took started with strip mall mania, but before I knew it, I found myself in the wooded countryside! As I approached Eatonville and then Pack Forest, I felt my nerves growing. I had no idea what I was really doing there. I hadn’t been offered a job, and I almost felt like a nuisance by making the arrangements to visit.










“What are you doing here?” was almost the first thing Heath asked me as we sat down to chat before Justin, another volunteer/visitor/job hopeful, arrived.

How was I supposed to answer that one? I think my response was something along the lines of wanting to meet the dogs and make my face known for the future. Whatever I said must have sat okay with Heath because he didn’t have me leave immediately.

When Justin arrived, the 3 of us sat and talked about the program, the study in NE Alberta, our interests, our experiences, etc. Hmmm. Then it was puppy time! Heath walked us through the kennel, where we met:
Chester, Sampson, Pepsi, Buddy/Dexter/TBD, Scooby, Captain, Ripley, Waylon, Pips, and Winnie!

They were all super cute! –> Pardon me if my English degrades to puppy language, but I can’t help it. 🙂 <– The dogs were a talkative crew, but that’s because Justin and I were strangers. They quieted down after a few carrots (treats) were passed out! Heath then wanted to watch us play ball – supposedly that was it – with the dogs. I hate being watched, so I felt a little strange, but playing with such energetic dogs was no problem.


Heath and Jenn, an experienced handler for the program, took us to lunch in Eatonville, which is when my familiarity with The Pour House began. Perhaps it was at lunch when I began wondering what was really happening with my visit. Heath was having Justin and I ask as many questions about the research in Alberta as we could think up, and he was also trying to intimidate us by making it sound absolutely rough and miserable.

**To backtrack for a second, Conservation Canines is a non-profit group run by the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington. High energy, ball-crazed dogs are trained to find various wildlife scat, and once they’ve alerted their handler to the scat’s location, they’re rewarded with ball playtime. It’s absolutely awesome, adorable, and great non-invasive research!     –>The field season I had applied for was finding moose, caribou, deer, and wolf scat in the oil sands of NE Alberta during the winter.**

Back at the kennel, Justin and I helped with letting the dogs out on breaks and just had a look around. The next day Heath showed us how basic training with the dogs begins on “the box.” Here’s a horrible picture of how the exercise works…

The dog is led along the row of jars – one of which holds a poop sample – and given a firm “Sit!” as soon as it has sniffed the jar containing poop. Once the dog sits, the handler drops the ball and play begins! For these dogs, it’s all about the ball. This same type of training gets extended to poop samples placed in a large field, then on trails, off trails, and everywhere! The handler has to recognize his or her dog’s change of behavior that indicates the dog has caught the scent, which is usually characterized by excited anticipation for the coming ball.

Heath showed us how to work a dog on the box, and then he had us do it! The same thing happened for a field exercise. He just wanted to see how we’d do without any instruction… yikes! The more time Justin and I spent at Pack Forest, the more we wondered what was really happening with our visit. If I remember correctly, Justin was an applicant who hadn’t been given a firm yes or no, and the more we chatted, the more we wondered if we were being considered for the Alberta team…

When the skies were clear one afternoon, Heath and Jenn encouraged Justin and I to drive over to Mount Rainier NP to take a look. A winding, wooded road took us to the park and up to Rainier shortly before it got too dark to appreciate. Having such nice countryside nearby definitely seemed like a good perk to the CK-9 program’s location!










After a couple nights at Heath’s house, including an introduction to the entertaining show “Arrested Development,” it was time to leave Pack Forest. But what did that mean for the future? With everything Heath, Jenn, Justin, and I had discussed, it seemed like a job offer could be in the cards… even though it had seemed like there was not a chance in the world when we had just been emailing!

Sure enough, when Justin and I were packed up to head our separate ways, Heath said, “So we’re probably going to offer both of you positions.”

What?! My trip was not in vain? Yes. Here we have a real-life instance of persistence paying off. Instead of taking Heath’s initial “no” for an answer and heading dejectedly back to AK, I showed interest and went out of my way to go for my goal. Crazy, eh?

My timing for this journey was great, as the start of training had been delayed until late October. All I had to do was kill a week in Seattle, and then I’d be back in the working world! With dogs around! Of course that meant no ferry trip, but the ferry will be there when it’s time to head north to Alaska again.

And just for the record, I am up in the oil sands right now. By some way or another, this ginger made it!