Two-Way was chosen out of Keno’s second litter because of his high prey drive. He was working that nose all the time, even at only weeks old.  He had a bit of a short ridge, but otherwise was in the standard very nicely.   Of all my dogs, he had the highest coursing drive, and he was one tough dog.  One of his favorite things was to chase the water out of the hose.  One thing I loved about him was he was very non-confrontational with other dogs.  Even when working he would generally ignore unwanted advances.  I have had dogs run right out after him, and he did not even flinch.  He was a fast dog but very agile and could turn on a dime.  He was pretty friendly as Ridgebacks go and liked kids.  Even though he was very level headed in his yard, he acted like he was the king and everyone should stay out.  He was a very safe guard dog at home and in the vehicle.  He was a safe guard dog with natural instincts to know when to do what.  He was a wonderful hard worker and would work until he dropped, just like is mom and sisters.

 

He also became a great farm help dog by being a courier of items back and forth, also like his mom and sisters.  He was comforting to the horses as well.  If they got spooked over something, he was the one I put in the stall with them because they always calmed down with him in the stall.  Hunter would want to play with them, which annoyed them, Kobe wanted to push them around, and Tazz just wanted to be sure not to get stepped on.  Now Keno was pretty good calming them as well, but Two-Way was the best.  We would get snakes in the stalls on occasion and the horses would not come back in until Two-Way was in the stall with them to prove there was no more snake.  It was quite amazing to watch the worry just flow right out of the horses as they would move a few steps closer to Two-Way and just drop their heads and relax.  

 

Tazz, his full sister, listed here last was his play buddy.  They would stalk each other in the yard, and hide behind things until the other passed by.  They were just like two kids playing.  I had a lot of fun keeping two puppies from that litter.  Two-Way was an exceptional dog and always did what I asked of him, just like his mom.     

 

Two-Ways Career Includes:

• AKC Canine Good Citizenship Title “CGC” 2004

• Therapy Dog International Title “TDI” 2002

• Started Coursing

• Advanced agility training

• Advanced obedience skills

• Human Remains Detection certification level

• Two-Way’s police/scent certifications with North American Police Work Dog Association:

  • all tests are police level tests

  • 11-2011 Area Search (with and without scent discrimination)

  • 11-2010 Area Search (with and without scent discrimination)

  • 04-2009.Article Search, Area Search (with or without scent discrimination)

  • 04-2008 Article Search

  • 11-2007 Area Search (with or without scent discrimination)

 

Advanced Scent Training;

• Car Trails.Two-Way was exceptional at his car trails and worked them as easy as a foot trail.He worked many validated car trails in his career.

• Aged Trails.Two-Way worked many searches with scent months old but his longest training exercise was an 8-month-old combo car and foot trail over a 2-mile length.With his no nonsense way of working; he acted like it was only a couple days old.No problem at all.

• His building searches were super speed.He was the fastest of all my dogs with his mom being pretty close.He could clear a large school of victims in disaster simulations faster then they could be recorded and radioed to base and recorded.By then he was on to the next room. He would search rooms while I waited at the door to limit human injury and disturbing debris.

Two-Way had water cadaver training, which he was a true natural at, and due to that it triggered his ability to work incredibly well in and around water.He worked two pet search cases where the end result was an alert to the drowning of the pet.
   

Personal Stories:

 

She’s touching me

Tazz and TW were buddies.  They played a lot, stalked each other, and were the classic brother and sister.  They would lie back to back on occasion, but they liked their space when sleeping. We had our chairs, and they had a couch and some dog beds.  We had five big dogs so they needed a couch.  If one accidentally touched the other one, you would hear a grumbly whine and one would look at the offending dog and then at us as if to say, “could you do something about this?”.  We would just laugh because it reminded us of the commercial with the two kids “mom he’s touching me”.........”mom she’s touching me”.  And back and forth they went just like that.  It did not have to be much of a touch either-maybe just a tip of a tail or a light touch of a foot.  We would go move the offending foot and tell them all was okay and back to sleep they went.  They did this their whole lives together.  Sometimes we would be watching TV and we would her some really odd, funny noises coming from one of them.  They made some funny sounding fussy noises when one would touch the other.  These dogs are so smart it almost felt like having real kids.  

 

Blanket play

This breed loves being covered up.  At times they both would purposely get themselves all up in the blankets and have a play moment with each other or by themselves.  They just loved blankets.  When they played together they made the funniest noises, almost like some other language.  They would often have blankets between them so they could not even see each other while they talked and mouthed each other through the blankets. 

 

Two-Way would get rough sometimes, and then Tazz would get mad at him and give him a what’s for.  When she did he would back up and let her bite air, then go back at her when she stopped.  Still makes me laugh just writing this. 

 

Sometimes, one dog was on the dog bed covered up and one uncovered.  The one outside would aggravate the one under the blankets enough that play would begin through the blankets.  We of course, at times, would get them going.  If they were both uncovered, all I had to do was cover one up and the game was on.  It did not take much to get them going with blanket play.  I started them young so they loved it.  They would play with us as well, but you had to watch your hands because they would get you.