[meteorite-list] Could Dogs be trained to recover meteorites?

[wahlperry at aol.com]

Hi List,

I wonder what triggered Hopper to pick up and move the freshly fallen 
Ash Creek meteorite. Was it the sound of the meteorites falling to the 
ground or was it the strange smell that the meteorite produced? Could a 
dog be trained to aid in recovering meteorites from a fresh fall? What 
the heck, anything is possible. I decided to give it a try with my own 
dog. My dog is a 16 month old German Shepherd that is worked on the 
average of 45 minutes a day in some aspects of his training. The 
majority of his training is obedience and some scent tracking etc. Once 
Brix has the scent of the object you can hide it or throw it and he 
usually finds the object within minutes.

The true test would be to arrive on a fresh fall and put his nose to 
the test (like that's going to happen). The next best thing to use 
would be meteorites from a fresh fall. The only problem would be the 
scent from everyone that has held the meteorites. I know what you are 
thinking, take a couple of Ash Creek meteorites and wash them off with 
a little detergent and water and place them in the yard. I decided to 
just wipe the meteorites off and place them in the yard. This sounded 
like  the next best thing to a fresh strewn field. The only problem was 
that the neighbors cat decided to run across the strewn field at the 
time of the test.
Brix (having all of his training in obedience) decided to chase the cat 
. Once I finally caught Brix  and he was over the excitement of chasing 
the cat I could retry this theory. The second test went ok, Brix was 
able to find the meteorites with little difficulty.

You have to wonder if Brix was still picking up my scent on the 
meteorites or my scent walking through the yard. I will keep you posted 
on the results.

P.S. Anyone looking to purchase some slightly used meteorites? Just 
kidding!

Sonny


www.nevadameteorites.com