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Pet Supply Tips :: Search and Rescue Dog Training
Search and Rescue Dog Training:
What is Involved in Search and Rescue Dog Training?
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Search and rescue dog training is a long and arduous task for both the dogs and the human trainers. It is a lifelong process for the handler as well as the dog.
Training of the dog is best started as early as eight to ten weeks of age. Scent training must also begin early in life to be most effective; there is also obedience training, basic agility training and advanced training.
Skills for Handlers
Dog handlers have to learn skills as well when becoming the one to be a part of search and rescue dog training. They must learn survival and self-sufficiency training as well as dog handling skills.
However the most important skill that a trainer needs for search and rescue dog training is understanding how and what the dog is doing at any given time.
The handler must be comfortable working closely with law enforcement agencies and they mustn’t be afraid of rigorous physical exertion.
What do Search and Rescue Dogs Do?
Search and rescue dogs are used to detect human scent and it is not really known what they are smelling for, be it evaporated perspiration, respiratory gases or even bacterial action found on human skin or tissues. Whatever it is, they are great at finding people!
Different Classifications of Search and Rescue Dogs
First, there are air-scenting dogs. Airborne human scent is their primary way to find their subject. Air-scenting dogs do not need to be leashed - they locate scent from any person as opposed to a specific person.
They can cover a large amount of territory, following scent to its source; they then return to their handler and lead the handler to the subject.
There are a lot of other factors that can determine the area an air-scenting search and rescue dog can cover, such as terrain, vegetation, weather.
Typically, they can cover forty to one hundred sixty acres and their scent capabilities can reach a distance of one quarter of a mile or more.
Many dog breeds can successfully complete search and rescue dog training but hunting or sporting breeds are the most common because they have a reputation for being good with human contact.
The next classification of search and rescue dogs is the tracking/trailing dogs. Tracking and trailing dogs, unlike air-scenting dogs, discriminate between scents.
These dogs actually require a non-contaminated article from the subject. They also need an undisturbed search area and they are kept on a leash.
Trailing and tracking dogs’ effectiveness is largely dependent on the terrain, the age of the trail and the number of the contaminated paths that cross the subjects’ path.
Hunting and sporting breeds can be successfully trained but the number one tracking dog is the bloodhound.
Next, are the disaster dogs; they are used to locate victims of mass-casualty events.
Cadaver dogs locate the remains of the dead. These dogs may work on or off the leash. The capabilities of the cadaver dogs are amazing - they can locate entire bodies, skeletal remains, decomposed bodies or body fragments.
Air-scenting and tracking/trailing dogs are used as cadaver dogs through cross training although the scent process for finding live subjects or deceased subjects is clearly different.
There are also avalanche dogs whose work is similar to air scenting, cadaver, or disaster dogs.
From the sheer number of roles these dogs can play, you can see that search and rescue dog training is very sophisticated.
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PetSuppliesTips.com :: Search and Rescue Dog Training