Memorials:
Kahlie
: 2002-2005
Handler: Janelle Mackie
Areas of Certification: USAR (Basic)
My little girl passed away on 2 November 2005 lying on her mat at home, waiting rather impatiently for me to take her for her morning walk- no pain, no distress and without a great deal of fuss- I could not ask any more of my dog. Kahlie was only three years old and had passed her USAR test 10 days prior.
If Kahlie knew she wasn’t right I will never know - but my god if she did she sure hid it bloody well from her best friend- the night before we were at wilderness training and she worked her little butt off – the going was tough and she was happy for a while letting me “clear a path” but once we got into the open she was off and finished the problem with some good strong barks- little did I know that was the last time I would hear the sounds that every dog handler seems to spend their time waiting for. It was a beautiful night and all the dogs went for a big swim in the river and she jumped and played and did her normal launching off the bank in a desperate attempt to win the retrieve games.
From the day I got Kahlie is was involved in all things USAR and rescue- Kahlie arrived in NZ the day I started my USAR Awareness Trainer course- I went to pick her up and came back to the course to show Ian Craig and Matt. Ian took her into the class and put her down on the floor so he could get a good look at her thinking she would stay close by…she was off around the room grabbing gloves and saying Hello to everyone- such a shy wee thing! She was crate trained that week coming to the course with me- and from an early age she thought the Civil Defence Training school at Sockburn was just an extension of home. She spent many hours there as part of RATS/NZRT1, and “helping” me teach. One memory which always stuck with me is when Kahlie was only a few months old and I was teaching USAR Awareness. She had been with me at the rubble pile in the morning and I left her with Ian while I headed up the pile to look at something. At the top I turned around and called out to Ian as I could not see Kahlie- he pointed behind me and there she was clambering over rubble and wood way bigger than her to follow me- he was just watching her to make sure she was OK. Later that day I left her at Sockburn with Ian while I went out for the afternoon with another trainer and the class- Ian was heading down later and would bring Kahlie with him. He must have read the weather forecast better than me as we got caught in a terrible rain storm and rushed back to Sockburn drenched to find Ian sitting with a cup of tea marking workbooks, with Kahlie curled up at his feet in the end of a Ferno stretcher- “Kahlie and I thought you could handle it so “we” decided” to stay here”- I so wish I had had a camera!
Kahlie perfected something called the “Kahlie –roll” – only as I have never seen another dog do this quite the same. When wet from a swim, or in long grass or frost and snow Kahlie would run along like a mad thing and then just roll onto her back and slide along and then get carry on over – a horizontal 360. Her record was about 2 metres on icy frost and she was nicknamed Lamington as she ended up with every bit of crap stuck in her fur.
Kahlie loved searching and we had some fantastic times together as part of the RATs/NZRT1 search dog team- we met so many people and dogs, and went so many places. We were a team, and part of a team. She taught me so much, and we learnt so much together. She was the team clown and sometimes we just had to laugh at Kahlie.
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