Reply With QuoteAnnette47 (02-11-2015), beth101509 (02-09-2015), Indigo (02-11-2015), Jollymolly (02-10-2015)
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You know when you work on something over and over and over and over with your dog? At times it can be frustrating, and at times it feels like you have really made fantastic progress, and sometimes it feels as though the dog has NO IDEA what you are requesting of them. When we started competing and performing, we would spend at least 4 nights a week working with the team to get to a level we wanted to be at. At times, we would think, is it really worth it? All of a sudden you watch your dog do something amazing…like something clicks inside their brain. You work with it, reinforce it, test it, proof it, and at that very moment, you realize that you and your dog’s work is 100% worth it. How can it not be? There is no higher reward as a trainer. During the summer, our head trainer was answering a reporter’s questions for a local newspaper article. She wrote something like: “there is no greater reward than watching the team please and inspire people”. As a trainer, the most rewarding thing for me is seeing the excitement and eagerness of the dog wanting to perform.
Our trainer works closely with a lot of police forces in our area. She works on training, writes policies, wrangles for them, and has a specialized dog that gets called in for certain situations. A group of us expressed interest in training as a team to reach the certification level required by our region. There has been a lot of ups and downs on this journey for all of us. It’s a lot of hours. It’s a lot of work. But most of all… it’s just so rewarding and remarkable to watch.
I have learnt that a lot of really successful search dogs are very confident. Confident in themselves to trust their nose to guide them to a body, an article of clothing, or drugs. We have worked on scent discrimination as well as various body searches. Learn how to use the environment to our advantage and how to utilize the winds etc. Our dog has been an absolute natural from the beginning. He wasn’t the fastest dog out of the group (the only lab), but he certainly wasn’t the slowest. We worked on building his confidence as much as possible, and I believe we have reached a point that is pretty damn good. We are almost ready.
Last weekend was our first REAL test. We were on a farm a couple of acres. A body was located somewhere. We weren’t told what we were looking for, where to look, where to go – lots of variables. Would the body be buried? Would the body be in water? We had no idea. We knew that the “body” (who was one of our trainers) would do whatever she could to screw us up. We would each be sent in alone – just me and the dog. I noticed the wind was moving pretty heavily. To the right perimeter of the property, I notice a marshy area with a ditch and a large hill for quite a distance. My thought was that the wind was blowing across the fields and would get caught in this hilly marsh area. I strapped my dogs search vest on him, unclipped his lead, and put him in a sit stay. I got myself ready – thought about the game plane again. It made sense to me. Gave him his command to search for human scent (German command), and we were off.
I started working down the line I thought was best. It was so muddy – good thing I wore my boots, and it was really cold, wet and windy. My boy didn’t seem to care – he was having a blast. He was working ahead of me and I was trailing behind him looking for any indications. A couple of times he stopped in different locations sniffing. I’d ask him to show me and then recommend him to keep looking. After about 2 minutes he took off at full speed down the perimeter on the right and then along a fenced area in the back – after about 30 seconds he ran back to me. I realized exactly what he did – he just swept those two perimeter areas by himself. I watched him run forwards about ten meters and then back to me. He did it two more times and I knew he was sweeping – he ran full tilt to sweep those other areas before returning to me to find this scent.
Finally I could see him find the scent cone. I followed up behind him closely – he was zig-zagging the cone from the left to the right. I saw him get confused – as soon as he would get too far he would dart back to find it again. We ended up with a large pool of mud water which he happily leaped into and climbed out the other side. He still had the scent. We came up to this heavily marshy area with weeds and bulrushes taller than myself. He walked down the edge and then immediately started barking – I told him to “show me” and he started making his way in – sure enough there was the body, partially buried under vegetation. He was nervous to approach any further – but after a few seconds he ran in eager and happy as ever – lots of praise and food rewards and excitement. He had to whole body wiggle going!
We did another search after this one that was a little bit more confusing for the dog – our trainer chose an area with some turbulent airflow that is extremely difficult for the dogs to search in. Our boy did amazing. Couldn’t be happier. Love watching him work. Head down, using his nose and his brain and all of the skills we have taught him. To me, there is nothing more rewarding than that.
Annette47 (02-11-2015), beth101509 (02-09-2015), Indigo (02-11-2015), Jollymolly (02-10-2015)
The video in my head followed your description. What an awesome time. Cold, wet, difficult ground, marshes, water, never stopped your boy from doing what you two have spent so much time learning. Congratulations!
While we do not train for the same things, I know exactly what you mean when I see all the training click and Archie could not be happier.
He loves it! I almost get goosebumps when I see him so focused and 100% brain power and nose power working together. What a rewarding feeling. We have a couple of dobermans in the group, and an austalian shepherd and they were all bundled up with boots and coats and here I am with my lab - no boots, no coat, no nothing and he isn't even bothered by the weather a little bit. He does wear a vest but it's basically just a chest protector - it doesn't offer any warmth. One of the reasons I love this breed so much. Always willing to work no matter what the weather is doing outside. It was maybe 1 or 2 degrees above freezing and he's romping through the water. He's such a great climber too.Originally Posted by POPTOP
Hemi and I do search and rescue too. Your post really brought me back I can't totally picture everything going on and i know exactly what you mean. The very first time you seen the wheels click and he is on the hunt and the search and using his nose to find the person. It's really an amazing thing. I remember sitting there just stunned and was like wow this is my dog doing this and he knows what we are doing. It's a fantastic connection.
I can't wait to get Jake started in seaching, he's already honing his skills on duck scent. We are only throwing it out about 100 feet to keep our scent out of it and its amazing to see him use his nose's dirrection ability. I need to get with a group that knows how to train them properly and train me too. Your story just makes me want to hurry Jake up, He's 13 months is that too young?
It is a great connection. That's exactly how it feels. We have been doing searches in a smaller area about an acre large, but this was a true test of us on our own with just our knowledge to go by. Really was rewarding. We should be ready for cert. in December so fingers crossed everything continues uphill. Anything that gets the dog working and excited is awesome.
I don't think that is too young! At 6 months we had already completed basic obedience, by 13 months we were already competing. The dog can do it - but at that age they don't focus AS MUCH in my opinion. You just need to work with them!! SAR is a great mental work out for the dog as well as great exercise. For us its a fun change from agility, and obedience/rally and our regular team practices.
Our head trainer also has a private protection class that I hope she is going to offer a couple of us. Would love to do some of that work with our boy - not so much bite work, but things like a bark and hold etc.
Great post!
I'm about to start volunteering with our local SAR group and am starting to wonder if it might be something good to also get my 14 month boy Chewie into. He still needs some obedience work, but he's a quick learner, has got a high prey drive, loves to retrieve, has no aggressive tendencies, but is also very easy going and doesn't seem to be scared of much of anything. I guess I'm wondering if he might be too old, especially as he still needs some obedience training with jumping up on people, leash manners, and avoiding wanting to chase and play with every dog or other animal he sees.
Thoughts?
Is he too old? Never. It's never too old to start anything.
What an amazing feeling. Well done to you both.
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