Atlas K-9 Leak Detection

05/04/2026

Always trust the nose.

04/15/2026

I saw this trick by another detection dog and decided to try it on Atlas. I put surgical gloves on and found an old pen down in a night stand drawer. I colored in a circle on my glove let Atlas smell it and I threw it out in the yard for him to find. 🤣 He found it. Did he smell the ink in the pen? Did he smell the gloves on the pen? Did he smell the interior of the house on the pen? 🤷🏼‍♂️Bit he did find it. He blew it off too at first.

02/27/2026

01/31/2026

On this setup I walked across the yard and on the way back I set out the jar of tap water with a hole in top of the jar. I covered it with snow and let Atlas out to find it. If we were to look for a leak it would be good if the owner knew about where the line runs. I’ll walk it out then go back with Atlas. He will follow the path I walked.

01/31/2026

I took a little jar with a hole in the top and filled it with tap water. I pitched the whole jar off the porch and let it snow on it for about 30 minutes. I got Atlas out to find it. I got him in the area it’s too cold to work a grid over my yard.
You can see none of my footprints are in the snow.

12/29/2025

We searched for a water leak today. Today’s weather was cloudy and 50 degrees with a mist. The ground was wet. I could see how the waterline runs from the meter near the road and where the waterline enters the north side of the house, both marked in blue. I’m not sure if the waterline runs on the east of west side of the brick wall. Atlas had 2 strong indications that I marked in red. Notice how the mark in the front of the house is at an area where the grass is different. 🤔 If I were to dig i would dig the north mark first.

*Update-12/31/25. The home owner decided to replace the line because when they unearthed the spot to the north they found rusted galvanize pipe. However today when they started to replace the line they found the leak at the old valve about 6 to 8 feet from where Atlas indicated. Atlas did indicate on the valve box but I’ve seen that before and no leak and after talking with others I determined that odor can escape the valve even though water does not. Bottom line is the customer did not have to replace the whole line. The galvanized portion was short and replaced. 👍🏼

12/01/2025

10/02/2025

10/01/2025

This is what we want to hear. 😁

10/01/2025

Well well! I got some fantastic news. This is truly the best find we’ve had. The owner called to tell me that Atlas was dead on the money. They found a large leak that was going under the garage and a smaller leak at the other place Atlas indicated in the yard. I didn’t expect 2 leaks. This is really exciting for us. 10/1/25

We looked for a leak in a 1900 foot water line. Atlas had good indications at the 2 green marks.
One of those marks is near the waterline but under a metal work table at a garage where cars and small engines have been worked on. I’m suspicious he is picking up hydrocarbons there. However there are trees that have grown next to the garage that could have damaged the line and it’s leaking under the garage.
The second green mark to the west is where he indicated in grass lawn.
The owner installed a shutoff valve halfway in the line marked in blue west of the meter. He determined the line from there back to the meter is not leaking.
We probed the ground with a metal rod but it’s very dry hard.

More to come