Speakers presented their programs to the participants on Thursday morning of the Conference.  Dr. Paul Waggoner of Auburn University’s Canine Detection Research Institute gave an interesting talk on the research work done by CDRI in several areas of detection training; many aspects of this research and the information gained could be applied to our accelerant detector dogs as well.

Dr. Richard Gillette from Auburn’s Veterinary College, discussed "Optimizing the Scenting Ability of the Dog."  Dr. Gillette is Director of the Sports Medicine Program at Auburn, and he in addition has a Web site devoted to the sports/working dog, www.sportsvet.com .

Thursday afternoon, dog and handler teams did the Odor Recognition and Pinpoint Testing at the library at CDTC.

This year, in addition to the odor recognition and pinpoint testing, we used the practical field testing to determine proficiency of the teams.  The additional testing adds four more phases to the existing three, resulting in a more realistic evaluation of each team’s performance.  Although the testing is more difficult, all agreed that it is necessary to more accurately determine a team’s readiness to work in the field.

These additional four tests were done on Friday and Saturday at the Vehicle Lot and at one of CDTC’s training buildings, the Museum.

In addition to the testing, CADA members did some practical training, including working in a house that  had been burned by an "arsonist" earlier in the week.

At that time, the Anniston Fire Department was on hand as the "arsonist" poured gasoline through two rooms of the house, including trailers to the entrances of the rooms. When this was done, the Fire Department ignited the gasoline, burning the structure.   All of this - the pouring of the accelerant and the burning - were videoed. 

A few days later, on Friday of the Conference, the canine teams worked the house under the observation of Billy Schweizer.  Billy critiqued each team, offering help and guidance as needed.

That afternoon, all participants returned to the classroom at the Training Center to watch the video and to see exactly what had happened before and during the burn.  It was an opportunity we seldom get in the field; we could actually see what did happen before we were on the scene to work our dogs, and to compare what we saw in the dogs' performance with what we now knew had happened initially.

Additional practical training was done on vehicles, which were burned to varying degrees, and also in a building utilizing a grid board for pinpointing training, an obstacle course of sorts to train the dogs to negotiate difficult areas, and training on luggage.  This luggage exercise was more of a focus training exercise for the dogs, requiring a fairly long period of focus on the task while continually taking direction from the handler.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Somehow, among all this training and testing, we did hold our annual membership meeting.  Some important things were accomplished at the meeting; the proposed changes to the CADA by-laws were put in effect, and are now permanently posted on the Web site.

Several members volunteered to chair committees to develop a membership roster to be made available to all members, to develop a brochure for CADA, and to gather "copy" for our newsletter, which in the future will be posted on the Web site in the members only section.

Updates on the work of these committees, and their chairpersons, will be placed on the Web site, so if you would like to volunteer to help, you will have the contact person and information.

Under new business, we discussed the possibility of having the Conference include three full days instead of two and a half.  It has seemed in past years, and certainly this year, that there was hardly enough time to get everything done.

The site of  Conference 2005 was discussed, and the board’s decision will be posted soon.

The new vice-president and board members were installed.  John Frazier is our new vice-president, and board members are Susan DeAntonio and Dale Moone, returning for their second terms, and member Michael McNeil for his first term.

Congratulations to them, and I look forward to working with them in the coming year.

All in all, the Conference provided training and learning, as well as the proficiency testing, for those attending, and I hope this will continue to be our goal. 

Hope to see you in 2005!