Monticello is a dark red Golden Retriever who recently retired from search work as an Air Scent dog. He came to the Michigan Search and Rescue team as a puppy in 2007, along with his handler Brandy. Everyone loved Monticello, better known as Monty.

As the SAR dogs get older and slower there comes the hard decision to retire them. It is a hard call for the handlers. These dogs have learned to work hard for that special reward and it becomes a part of who they are. As a handler we see when their bodies are not able to walk the long miles, or jump the logs,  or endure the heat or cold temperatures even when their noses can still make that find.

Monty's soap is scented with a wonderful fragrance oil called Twilight in the Woods (a Bath and Body Works dupe). 

Below is from the heart of Monty's handler, Brandy:
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I have been truly blessed to have had Monty as my partner. When I first started my SAR journey I knew I wanted a Golden Retriever, I had a picture in my head of what I wanted, your typical Golden, the yellow-gold color with the long fur and bushy tail. I knew his name would be Monty, after the dog in the Iris Johansen book “The Search”. So, off we went to test his litter. Monty was the only one who tested well out of his litter of 11. He was darker than I had wanted, but I played fetch with him for a few minutes and decided, yup this was my Monty. So, thankful I went against my preconceived notion of what I wanted. He turned into such a handsome red boy. He has been an amazing friend and partner. I never knew such a bond could exist that has formed between me and my Monticello! He has taught me so much along the way. I am so grateful that I had a team that was patient and supportive, that helped nurture our partnership and taught us how to partner with each other. Some on the team have referred to him as Mr. Reliable, he was good at his job and he loved it and was happy doing it. Unfortunately, age has caught up with my boy and it is time for him to become a “bon-bon” dog, or couch potato and to keep his family company while receiving lots of pets, snuggles and love.

Rio is a certified Air Scent/Wilderness dog with Michigan Search and Rescue. He a black Labrador and recently celebrated his 9th birthday. Rio comes from hunting lab lines.

In his younger days he was known for clearing his sector in a matter of minutes... hence his nickname, Rocket Rio. Rio's handler, Tim, has been in SAR for many years, certified other dogs and mentored many members of the team.  Rio is a big boy who loves to swim and has no problem fetching toys that other dogs tend to loose in the water or just don't have the guts to swim out to retrieve them. 

Rocket Rio is scented with a blend of fragrances and essential oils. Sandalwood, orange and patchouli make for a rich, masculine scent that reminds me of those long days in the dark woods searching for a missing person. 

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The new Soap Challenge from Amy of Great Cakes Soapworks this month involved using squirt bottles. The hot and humid Michigan days have played havoc with my soap all summer including this challenge but we prevailed. 

This month we had a guest speaker, Tatsiana Serko of Creative Soap by Steso. The basic idea for this soap is to create circles of soap inside an outline of a contrasting color. This one is done in a slab mold. A smaller slab mold would have helped me out a bit to have less space to fill up. In all I had three tries at this challenge. I found my results interesting if not as clearly defined as the sample soaps in the tutorial. 

My slab mold will hold 50 ounces of soap. I cut my recipe down to 40 ounces. I pulled the items I needed together and took a photo of them in the mold (not including the oils/lye). This is from my first batch and included the two squirt bottles, two colorants, and essential oils to scent the soap. 

Once the oils and lye were mixed I divided the soap into a 1:4 ratio. The smaller number being the outline color and the larger number for the inside of the circles. 

The soap portioned out for the first batch, an orange mica and activated charcoal for the outlines. ​

From the second batch you can see I tried for a brighter color contrast with strawberry pink and deep purple mica. The first step is to lay down the outline circles then using the contrasting color place a larger dollop of colored soap in the center. I figure out on this batch I should have used larger circles. Must be my timing of 1-2-3-4 is different than Amy's! Those who do dog training with me will understand my problem with timing. 

Above is the first batch in the mold. Hmmm, my lines are not consistent, nor are my circles. This one looks like a cobblestone road to me. AH!  I will name this Cobblestone Lane. It is scented with a blend of Tangerine, Litsia, Blood Orange and Clary Sage. Yum!

Batch number two: the pink came out deeper than I expected but acceptable. Do I dare mention that underneath the top layer of soap is a big oops... the squirt bottle slipped right out of my hand and shot right into the mold like a rocket. What to do? Pull out the offending bottle and just keep working the soap. The left side may look very different than the right side when it is cut into bars. It is scented with a 50/50 blend of Lavender and Orange. What to name it? Why Eden's Lane will work! Lavender is one of my favorite scents to work with. (afterword: only a couple bars had a different look when they were cut)

  Last batch: Had to change my slow moving recipe when I realized I was out of lard so I substituted palm oil and it thickened up a bit quicker. As it turns out I was really ok with that. I had more control over the where the soap landed in the mold though the thicker soap needed more pressure on the bottle to squeeze it out. So better circles with nicer outlines. I had a moment of shock with this one.  I used a Lemon Cupcake mica and as soon as it hit the oils it turned the most ghastly color of orange!  I am sure other soapers have had that moment of "NO, that is not the color I wanted!". I took a photo of the orange color while it was in the soap bowl... only I didn't realize I had no card in the camera! After a bit of time passed I could see the color would be what I had hoped for  This one is scented with a blend of Eucalyptus and Peppermint and will be named Morningside Lane. Do you see the theme going for naming these soaps?

Now to wait another day or two to cut the bars, pick which one will by my entry for this challenge and upload the photo....

And the soap is cut. I did bevel the edges and plane the tops, These are now on the curing racks.

Which of these three would you have chosen?

​I ended up with the last batch, Morningside Lane. I love the bright look and the uplifting blend of peppermint and eucalyptus. This soap will be prefect for those mornings when you need a quick wake-up call in the shower to get your day going!

Thank you again to Amy for your wonderful soap challenges! 

Brody is a 2 1/2 year old Doberman in training for Air Scent/Wilderness work with Michigan Search and Rescue and for Live Find Disaster work with the Michigan Task Force 1.

Brody came from a doberman rescue group and showed promise as a working dog and his handler Lisa made a quick out of state drive to get him. He is a big boy at about 100 pounds with natural ears. He is loving and affectionate with people, other dogs and even little bitty kittens. Brody likes a bit of full body contact play with his handler after a find along with his crunch sounding tug toys. 

Brody Boy is scented with Green Irish Tweed, a masculine, sporty scent. There are currently 6 - 5.5 oz bars and 4 - 5 oz bars available.