Zephyr
Gluten Detection Service Dog
TDCH CCF-CH CH 'PR' Kenai's Defying Gravity CA CAA CGC BCAT DCAT FCAT FITG PSD TKP ORT NW1 L1C ICN TC3 UL-I TL-I
About Zephyr
Zephyr, a standard Alaskan Klee Kai, joined the family in December 2013, and was originally intended to be a performance sports dog, in addition to being a companion for both Christina and Luna. Zephyr is smart, loves clicker training, and being a lapdog when he's not learning new tasks and tricks.
Christina worked with Zephyr on gluten detection after starting with Luna, to have a back-up gluten detection dog. He learned to find gluten just as quickly as Luna did, so his foundation in NoseWork, which he started at 10-weeks old, proved immensely beneficial.
Although the same breed, Zephyr and Luna have a very different style of working and learning. Zephyr is more expressive in his body language, in particular with olfaction, where he uses his tongue to draw in more odor, presumably to push those odor molecules into the vomeronasal organ through the incisive papilla (a little bump on the roof of the dog's mouth).
@gluten.sniffing.klee.kai on Instagram!
PERFORMANCE TITLES
Odor Recognition Tests - ORT (NACSW)
Nose Work 1 - NW1 (NACSW)
Level 1 Containers Element - L1C (NACSW)
Coursing Ability - CA (AKC)
Coursing Ability Advanced - CAA (AKC)
Novice Stunt Dog with Honors - NSD (DMWYD)
Open Stunt Dog with Honors - OSD (DMWYD)
Proven Stunt Dog with Honors - PSD (DMWYD)
Level 1 International Canine Ninja ICN (I.C.E.)
Fast Coursing Ability Test - BCAT (AKC)
Fast Coursing Ability Test - DCAT (AKC)
Fast Coursing Ability Test - FCAT (AKC)
Urban Locating I - UL-I (NASDA)
Trailing & Locating I - TL-I (NASDA)
ADDITIONAL TITLES
Canine Good Citizen - CGC (AKC)
Trick Dog Novice - TKN (AKC)
Trick Dog Intermediate - TKI (AKC)
Trick Dog Advanced - TKA (AKC)
Trick Dog Performer - TKP (AKC)
Fit Dog Bronze - FITB (AKC)
Fit Dog Silver - FITS (AKC)
Fit Dog Gold - FITG (AKC)
Novice Trick Dog - NTD (DMWYD)
Intermediate Trick Dog - ITD (DMWYD)
Advanced Trick Dog - ATD (DMWYD)
Expert Trick Dog - ETD (DMWYD)
Champion Trick Dog - TDCH (DMWYD)
Canine Conditioning Fitness Level 1 - CCF1 (DMWYD)
Canine Conditioning Fitness Level 2 - CCF2 (DMWYD)
Canine Conditioning Fitness Level 3 - CCF3 (DMWYD)
Canine Conditioning Fitness Level 4 - CCF4 (DMWYD)
Canine Conditioning Fitness Champion - CCF-CH (DMWYD)
Triple Crown Level 1 (DMWYD)
Triple Crown Level 2 (DMWYD)
Triple Crown Level 3 (DMWYD)
In the video, Zephyr is checking two jars, one with gluten, one with gluten-free food items. Like Luna, his indication for gluten is a paw raise, and gluten-free is eye-contact. The video is in slow motion to demonstrate how he uses his tongue to presumably pull in more odor, as his tongue does not touch the food, and he is not trying to eat the food. Some dogs seem to lick the air around food more than others.
Zephyr checks packaged snacks for a visiting friend. This was his first time working for a different handler.