Search and Rescue Training - Page 1

Hello, just curious what everyone's thoughts are on getting involved with search and rescue. I have a 14 week old GSD and if he has the potential would like to get involved with him. Would love to hear what people suggest! I'm located in Virginia.

Do you have a lot of time on your hands? SAR is a way of life. Every weekend is team training, every day is training at home. If you're doing live-find, you have to come up with ppl to hide for you all the time. There's gear to buy, workshops to drive to, logbooks to write, certificates to keep active, then the actual searches that run for days. Or the lack of searches, so you hardly get to use the skills you've honed. Your local team will probably have you apprentice for 6 mo or a year before your dog ever gets worked, bc they don't want to waste time on someone who doesn't understand the commitment.
All that being said, I like my team, my dog loves the work, it's a great thing to be part of :-)

Most groups also require you to commit to attending training--you're only allowed to miss one or two training days a year, often. There's several groups in Virginia, so who you would contact depends on where you are located in the state. (I'm near Charlottesville.)

SAR groups are often hard to get in touch with because for every 1000 contacts, *maybe* one person actually will actually have a dog capable of doing the work, actually have a person able to do the training, actually have a person willing to put the time and dedication in (and attend all the required human training classes). So, the groups get burned out on people who want to just come out and say they're doing SAR training and they get frustrated with everyone who contacts them and doesn't follow through.

If you are seriously interested, let me know where you are and I'll try to find out who you should contact.

If you are more interested in doing some fun scent-based training with your dog, check out the sport of Nosework--it's growing strong in Virginia.

Christine

There is also the consideration of costs of training and certifying, which for many SAR's are all borne by the volunteer. The dedicated individuals who donate countless hours of training and hard work, get called out at all hours and in all weather, have my utmost respect.