Canine Tracker Speaks to Club

The Sanford Lions Club learned some fascinating facts about man’s (and woman’s) best friend at its regular meeting Thursday, March 26. Guest speaker was Jim Pitts of Olivia, a professional dog tracker and trainer of dogs used to locate lost animals. He is a tracking judge and vice president of the American Kennel Club.

Accompanying Pitts was his skilled partner, Sabre, an eight-year-old Doberman Pincher whose innate intelligence and powerful sense of smell are beyond anything a human can understand or describe, Pitts said. He said the training process is much more the human learning from the canine rather than vice-versa.

He described several of the duo’s 29 successful search missions, all done without charge, but with great gratitude and appreciation of animal lovers. Most of their queries have been dogs, cats and horses. Their experience shows that animals leave a distinct “leaving scent” when moving away from their home environment and this can be detected by tracking animals. Many lost animals will remain in the general area of their home.

Such was the case of a lost Golden Retriever in the Chapel Hill area several years ago. Pitts, Sabre, and the lost dog’s owners searched a wide area, finding a likely hiding place used by the dog behind a horse barn—but no sighting of the dog. But the fresh owner’s scent in the area led the lost dog home by the next morning, Pitts said. Sabre also tracked a lost horse to a remote rural road where police found trailer tracks. Stolen by horse thieves, the tire tracks helped solve the case and return of the animal.

Pitts took many questions from club members. Asked about the Doberman’s reputation as a vicious dog, he said all breeds of dogs are a product of training and care. Just as with children, dogs will turn out the way they are nurtured and trained. He and his wife specialize in Dobermans and his wife is a three-time national winner for that breed in AKA competition. You can contact Pitts at jimpitts9@aol.com.

President John Walden, Jr. presided and Cliff Pepper opened the dinner meeting with prayer and was program chairman. Bob Edens won the half-and-half raffle which he generously donated to the club. Visitor and prospective member John Poindexter was welcomed. Updates were given on the Lions Golf Tournament May 30 at Quail Ridge Golf Course and the sales of hole sponsors and recruiting golfers. The Lions Flea Market opens Saturday, April 4, at the fairgrounds, and the club will participate in the Relay for Life event supporting cancer research May 15-16 at the Lions Fairgrounds. Support of all these events contributes to many charitable causes.