Muddy, it tears me up to hear about Sandy. So sorry, been there, done that too many times. I think the idea of blood trailing for deer is great. But there is no reason you can't have a dog for limbus ratus (latin for squirrel) that also bloodtrails deer. Tonys mini wiener dog Cujo and his sister daisey were both cracker jack bloodtrail dogs and I have also had a yellow lab that did blinds and was awesome in the dove field or duck blind that never failed, not once, to find a deer we put him on. If Taz got out of sight of flaslight beam while on a deer, one blast on whistle would have him stop, sit and wait for us to catch up. Same one whistle blast that was used to stop him for a cast when retrieving. He also never tried to trail a deer that was not bleeding. All 3 got same training. Bloody deer hide on a rope dragged thru woods, zig zagging, then left with a few bits of deer meat on top as a reward. Dragging a deer out was always tough cause you had to drag deer PLUS a 75 pound lab. He would not let go. Should be fun to do with a Rhody. Please keep us posted. And again, sorry about your girl.