K9 SAR - Air Scent - Trailing - Page 1

Hello C,

The style of working depends less upon the breed, more  on the individual dog.  Most dogs that are confident, and properly trained,  work independently from their handler (which is exactly what you want with an AS dog). Rangeing has to do with nreve and drive matters.  There are velcro dogs in any breed.
I handle GSDs - mine wear bells so that I know where they are.....if they encounter scent they are g.o.n.e to work through this.  I know of many novice SAR folks whose first dogs were more pet type dogs.  They had to do a ton more walking and more motivational work, but they watched, worked hard and learned, getting one of those driven dogs the next time around.
I know several border collies, australian shepherds and goldens that are wide rangeing dogs.

hope this helps,

Alex

When I was SAR I had two air scent rottweilers. I was in the breed at the time and since I was down south the issue was watching them carefully for overheating. They loved it and did well but I would not consider them optimal for the job.
I had one rottweiler that was awesome at water work. He could find anything submerged from the boat and also since dealing with water that helped with the overheating issue.
I had a bloodhound the last two years of it for trailing mostly because the area I was in have no dogs that could search urban very well and no trailiers versus air scent.

Hi Alex,
Good to hear from you. You answered many questions for me last year when I first began my SAR involvement (Thank You). Can't believe it's been that long already. 

Velcro dog......(he, he) that's what I call them. We only have one of those on the team. When his handler relized that his dog was never going to range out very far he switched the dogs training to (Boat) Water Cadaver. The dog is doing fantastic at his new job.

Our dogs all wear bells during training and on missions. As the subject, sitting out in the field, hearing the bell during training always makes me smile and think... yay... good dog . 

Do you use directablilty techniques?

Cheri

I can't profess much experience with SARdogs, but I'm comfortable sending my dog out between 50 and 75 yards airscenting, and he easily takes direction from arm signals and verbal feedback.  An ecollar with pager function would probably help to increase the distance,  but increased distance would not help my ability to read his signals.  I have had him driving cattle to nearly a quarter mile out, by which point my voice hardly carries, until I use a cow-elk-call to bring him back.  For accuracy and practicality, I can't imagine wanting him further out than 50 yards, really.

Hi Daryl,
Good to hear from you.
I was thinking 50 yards is a good distance as well.
You are right much farther and it becomes difficult (even with exaggerated arm signals) for the dog to read you and even harder for you to read them clearly.

I have heard of some herding handlers (Border Collies) using a whistle a directional tool instead of voice and arm/body signals.

That kind of working distance is neat to watch, but the dog is basically being sent out to "fetch" the livestock by going around wide and bringing them back to the herdsman in a tightknit group.  IMO, the less interference from the handler, the better the dog can concentrate on it's job.  There comes a point in the training where the dog establishes an understanding of what's required, and just needs to be allowed to persue that, without us micromanaging their every move.  Some dogs are naughty though, and intentionally allow a little slip-up along the way for added fun.

Hello Cheryl - and I now remember you as well. Good to reconnect.
I agree with Dayl Ehret's last post about training a dog properly so that the handler becomes a background portion of the picture.
Dogs surely can have a little fun (they ARE after all dogs) - thinking about a male I have who has been known to amuse himself running a deer during night training.......i do proof them with e-collar but - well - they will satisfy themselves if opportunity begs them.  I like using a GPS collar on him for night work.....I can see on my handheld screen where he is when he departs out of bell sound.

You asked about teaching/using directionals - yes we do teach this - actually dogs seem to 'get it' without a particular training focus - useful to send your dog into thick sh** or over to check out in more detail a wooded ourcropping. I don't do much with this but have used it.
I also compete in schutzhund where you teach a send away...and USAR teams need to do a lot of hand signal work, but for the most part I do this occassionally. 
I try to set up the environment to teach the dog - ie if dog needs to range further - set out subjects and do call outs, use flankers where dog ping pongs betweek both flankers,  etc. So I try to minimize my influence past the "go find" command. 

Alex Whitelock
www.VSARK9.org

I have an air scenting GR, that I do SAR with. He goes between air scenting & tracking. Since I've worked him to be quite an independent thinker, so I typically allow him to range as far as he wants (but, he's smart enough to  not get out of ear or eye shot of me...which I call "checking in with me").  Most of our missions have been in thick, treed brush, so there is little opportunity to move out further than more than 20 yards.

In my experience ranging depends alot (of course) on the dog, but also on the terrain, and the mission. Cadaver work is typically slower, closer to handler, and much more controlled.

Alex,
My team leader just started using a GPS collar on her Lab. What a cool tool.

We are having great fun with it at training (she is still trying to familiarize herself with all of the functions).

Last weekend her dog  "Taz",... treed... the subject :)

We have not had the opportunity to use it on a night mission yet but I can see where it would be of great help in keeping track of him.

Cheri