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  1. #1
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    Bend, Oregon
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    Search and Rescue

    I've been volunteering as a 'hider' with our local SAR k9 unit. This means I get to play the victim that the dogs will be searching for during their training exercises. We start the day with simple exercises that basically involve calling and rewarding the dogs, then move on to more complicated scent work. Some of the time is boring, sitting around waiting for a dog to find you, but it's absolutely fascinating to watch them work. Each dog approaches the problems differently depending on personality and breed. Today I got to work with a border collie, a lab, a brittany spaniel, a german shepherd, and a belgian malinois.

    One of the reasons I've been doing this is because we are thinking of introducing Barley to SAR. He shows amazing focus when we've tried basic scent work with him and his drive is crazy. He's definitely a dog that needs a job, and after watching other dogs and seeing what it takes, I think this would be a good fit for him. Does anyone here have experience training their lab for SAR? I may want to pick your brain.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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  2. #2
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    Jul 2017
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    Boston
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    Oh I’m interested in what you learn. I did a beginner nose class with Diggity and like your pup, he shows great promise. I do birch tin hides all over my house and he loves it. I’m looking for the next level class and want to do tracking in the spring. SAR sounds fascinating!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    WE did have SAR dog here and I think he was from Oregon too. Joe. I believe Joe recently passed away, of old age. What was that lady's name? She gave us such interesting threads.
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  4. #4
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    Carolina in my mind..
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    I can send you her name, Thor's Mom. She's on FB and maybe you can contact her through there. Look for a PM. I think she's in Oregon or WA, too. I'd put her name on here but since she hasn't been around for a long time, I don't know how she'd feel about that.

  5. #5
    Senior Dog
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    May 2014
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    Williamsburg, Virginia
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    Yes, Joe's owner would be a great resource!

    We had a friend who did SAR with German Shepherds. She thought Kimber would be a good SAR dog but you have to be willing to put your dog at risk. There's lots of training and safety measures, but you're out in the wild and things happen.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
    Birthday 9-13-18, Gotcha Day 11-11-18
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    Miss Kimber, CGC, 6/15/2005-1/27/2018 forever in our hearts



 



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