In this episode of K9’s Talking Scents, Cameron Ford welcomes back Tim Houweling to share lessons learned from his recent Texas flood deployment — a 21-day operation that tested handlers, dogs, and entire teams across 120 miles of devastation.

Tim walks us through:
 🐕‍🦺 The realities of long deployments in extreme heat and humidity
 💡 Lessons on conditioning, acclimatization, and handler fitness
 ⚖️ The debate over rewarding dogs during real deployments
 📋 Why blanks and negative searches matter just as much as finds
 🌊 The unique challenges of water, mud, and wide-area flood searches

This episode dives deep into how handlers adapt, how dogs contextualize environments, and what it really means to trust your K9 when lives are on the line.

🔗 Learn More and Support:

👉 HD Search Dog Fund (Upcoming Disaster Dog Training)

👉 The S.I.R.E.N. Project (First Responder Mental Health)

💼 Sponsors:

👉 DogBase.co

🚨 Become a Member:

👉 Join Ford K9 Memberships

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro & Why Tim Returns
 01:20 – Texas Flood Deployment Overview
 03:30 – First Responders & Task Force Activation
 05:45 – Mission Ready Packages & Team Makeup
 08:15 – Challenges of 21-Day Deployments
 12:00 – Heat, Acclimatization & K9 Conditioning
 17:20 – Trusting Your Dog in Real Searches
 21:45 – The Debate: Rewarding in Real Deployments
 28:00 – Reading Dogs Under Stress & Context Cues
 34:00 – Why Blanks & Negative Searches Matter
 40:30 – Real-World vs Training Environments
 45:00 – Handler Fitness & Long-Term Readiness
 50:00 – Takeaways & Lessons for K9 Handlers
 55:00 – Closing Thoughts & Resources