Question for the SAR people.......... - Page 1

Is this an eight week old puppy?

If it is, then likely you can overcome a lack of imprinting. 

Certainly the more puppy enrichment the pup has had, the better.  Having trained SAR dogs for thirteen years with good success, I am a strong believer that the drive to find the missing person must be conditioned more than trained.  To put another way, the puppy should be raised such that finding a person becomes the adult dog's default behavior.  Just as pups allowed to chase cats become cat chasers as adults, so dogs whose reward comes from finding a person, become "programmed" if you will to find the missing.  This foundation is undeniably important.

Where one could argue that "the earlier" this is begun "the better", that it is begun on the day of birth (actually day three)  as I do with my pups, is not altogether necessary.  However, if the pup is older and nothing has been done with it, that might be a concern.  A well rounded pup with toy drive should do well.   In a normal puppy rearing situation where the pups are taken out and interacted with, the pup is already learning tracking and scent association.

The biggest mistakes with SAR dog training that we see, fall under the category of doing too much--taking the pup on walks where no one is found is an example.  I want my SAR dog to ALWAYS be thinking that there is someone out there hiding, waiting to be found.  When he rides with me in the car, he must be looking out the window thinking, "Where are they?  Who will I find today?"  I do not want him thinking, "Oh good, a hiking we will go."  In  a real search, trained behaviors blow away quickly, but the conditioned response remains.

In my opinion extreme hunt drive is critical in the SAR puppy. All the toy or ball drive in the world won't help if he's not willing to search for the ball or toy untill he finds it.

V......I hesitated to respond to your question since I do not consider myself an expert and am just a first time SAR dog handler.
However, I train with an expert and I can repeat her views as were told to me.......Your friend is right........She (our lead trainer) believes that the ideal SAR candidate should posses a very high degree of confidence, food and toy drive. Also, she believes the dog either has is it....or.....it doesn't.
Here are a couple of video's I took of my puppy Cisco doing puppy runaways over different types of surfaces and land grades.......He did not have any sensory conditioning done at the breeders.

The video's are all about a minute or so long. Sorry....will probably have to do this in two posts.
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQyg5yqG6z4



See next post for video 2 and 3.

Here is video 2 and 3........As you can see the different types of surfaces and terrain do not affect him in the least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-X6ywPThBs



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su6thvj4djI

Thanks for watching.......

Cheri

I have trained and certified several SAR dogs (air scent, cadaver and trailing) and assist as training director for our team. 
You mentioned puppy being donated.....to you? to someone else? wasn't clear but...here's what I have learned:
1. first you need raw material that is wired for the task - meaning - what IS the task? air scent? or trailing? if the latter you want to see a strong natural ground scent oriented dog.
You need a strong reward system meaning toy/ball best but if this is someone's first dog...a powerful food drive can get them through til they learn more and begin to search for their 2nd dog.
sound temperament - VERY clear head - ie no suspicion-reactivity, sound physical structure etc.
strong hunt drive/work ethic  - hold puppy - throw toy into tall grass - tease puppy up - release puppy - how hard des it work at locating the toy and...does it seek an interaction with you by retreiving it to you.

2. young minds are great leaning slates but....it is also true that it requires some maturity to teach some things.  Spcialization done properly, happy all positive obedience (esp recalls etc) is what will help the puppy - lots of work building toy drive and tyour relationship with the puppy.

3. Folks can move ahead too fast with a young dog...I do schutzhund and you see this there as well...you can kill an eager puppy by overdoing things.  Lae Enforcement wait til dog is 18 months old - they need to see what type of fight drive is there which won't be in place with a puppy - then they can put lots of training in cause the dog is old enough to take this load.  You can start with fun runaways with a really young puppy, imprint it on cadaver etc but in the end...provided the early foundation od relationship/hunt drive building/socialization/ etc is done, you won't really see the benefits of a regorous trainign schedule pay off til dog is over 1 yr or more.

4. I disagree with the person who seeks for their dog to always be 'on' - I do NOT.  You need to have an on switch - "go find" cue...vest on dog/harness line on dog...then take equipment off, put dog up - dog must be able to chill out and relax.....they are not to feel every human is to be found. I truly believe this is an error.  A proper starting ritual tells the dog it is on duty and when it is off duty and can be a dog. Dog should be calm and relaxed when not working.
If you take your dog for a walk...it is purely going for a walk.  If you are beginning a trail...then you take dog out of car, take it to pee, take out harness/line, walk to start, scent dog, cue dog etc.  When you are done, unharness dog, and have subject play fetch all the way back to the car. Dog is done.....job done.

Alex Whitelock
VSARK9