Kota is sharpening his skills to find mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, and wolf scents. This work helps to establish the range for each of these species.

With the New Year came a new job for Carrie who is now a professor at a local college while also maintaining some of her previous wildlife responsibilities on the reservation. As a result of the new job, Kota is in his crate a bit more, but that doesn’t mean he has stopped working at developing his skills. He is continuing his training in finding mountain lion scent here in North Dakota and we have added a few more species to the list: Bobcat, coyote, and wolves. To the average person it looks like we are just taking a walk down the trail with an occasional “good boy” and enthusiastic jumping and tail wagging when that is heard. Actually, people look at us like we are crazy when we are training, but hey, who doesn’t want to find poop buried in the snow. On this particular day, we found both coyote and bobcat scat and urine marks. Boy was Kota excited to find those! From Kota’s finds, we now know the western edge of this bobcat’s range.

Kota finding bobcat scat

Kota got new shoes!

Kota needs shoes during the winter because he has sensitive feet. When the temperature is below zero or there is snow on the ground, his feet get very red and he doesn’t want to walk. Shoes for dogs come in all shapes and sizes, and these are the classic mitten shaped ones. On the first night, he wouldn’t let me tighten them correctly, but he did well for a trial run. He is between sizes, so no matter what, they will be a bit big. When I first put his shoes on he wouldn’t move and acted like he was glued to the ground. I coaxed him to move with treats, then with the basketball. Recently we have been out in the snow and he learned that his feet don’t bother him anymore with the boots on. He is not to the point of asking for the boots yet when we go out like he does with the coat, but we are getting there.

Kota learned the importance of stillness recently when two bison strolled by the car he was sitting in with Carrie. Sometime it is important to be invisible when we do our work!

A few days later, when Carrie and Kota were in the bison pasture mending fences, Kota showed he had learned his lesson well. Kota’s job was to watch for bison and let Carrie know if one got close. Carrie saw the bison first – it was less than 200 feet away. Kota saw the bison and quietly stood his ground between it and Carrie. Carrie snapped this photo, said lets go, and Kota turned to follow her to the truck. Good boy Kota!

It is getting cooler here in North Dakota and summer items are being put away until next year. Going through summer gear brought back memories of Katie. I was going through pictures and it looks like Kota is following in Katie’s footprints.