Searching a Slope or Mountain

In searching steep slopes by corridor search, the most effective and safest way to proceed is by searching diagonally on the slope so the dogs can walk up and down. Because slopes are rougher going, the handlers walk about sixty-five to ninety-eight feet (20 to 30 m) from each other. In searching slopes or mountains, there is always the danger that stones will be loosened by handlers or their dogs walking higher up. For this reason, handlers should not walk directly under each other, and should be staggered across the slope, with the lower handlers walking farther in front. When stones fall, the handlers and dogs below are not harmed. But because the handlers are not walking beside each other, they have to maintain good visual and calling contact.

Slopes are not always searched on a diagonal, because the steepness of the slope and the wind direction may make another method more useful. With mountain winds, such as winds that blow from the top to the valley, the search line can sometimes search better against the wind, so from the valley to the top. If the handlers and dogs can be transported to the top (by ATVs or hel-icopter) when there is a valley wind, which blows from the valley to the top, the hill or mountain can then be searched from the top of the slope toward the valley.

Figure 8.4 Slope search. On steep slopes, the search corridors are narrower (65 to 98 feet/20 to 30 m) to make the difficult terrain more manageable for the dogs, and the handlers are staggered to reduce the chance of dislodged debris falling on down slope teams.

Some search and rescue dog groups train their dogs also to alert to standing or walking people, but in our countries there are always a lot of people searching together with us in the same or the adjacent areas. To avoid alerting to these searchers, our dogs only alert to people who are sitting, lying, or hanging (in training, sitting in trees).

When the missing person is elderly, we discovered that they are usually quite close to their homes. Sometimes they are in the attic of the house or in the cellar. In seniors’ housing they sometimes sleep in the wrong room. Alzheimer’s patients may go to a place from their childhood. Elderly people who fail to come home from a walk have often fallen down along roads or paths or slipped down from a roadside into the bushes. If the missing person was out picking mushrooms, you have to search deep into the woods, not along roadsides. This is also true for people who want to commit suicide. In this case you have to comb through bushes and thick woods.

An alert always has to be chosen to suit the behavior of the dog and to fit the dog’s character. For a reliable alert, it is important that the dog have a well-developed drive to find people. The dog can develop a search drive for people with the help of the hunting drive complex. Common alerts during wilderness searches include the following:

With a barking alert, the dog stays with the victim and barks repeatedly or continuously, so that the handler hears the direction and can come to the dog and victim. This barking alert is suitable for dogs that bark easily on their own.

The International Testing Standards for Rescue Dog Tests (IPO-R) states the following about barking: “Whilst barking the dog clearly hones in on the victim or the location of his/her scent and barks continuously until the handler appears and the alert is over. The dog may not touch the victim. When hiding places are enclosed but accessible to the dog, it should indicate the precise location of the scent source through direction-showing behaviour.”1

Figure 8.5 The barking alert is suitable for dogs that bark easily by themselves.

During a search with a bringsel, the dog has a small, soft, typically leather stick hanging from its collar. This stick is called a “bringsel.” When the dog reaches the victim, it picks up the bringsel by itself and carries it to the handler, who takes the bringsel and removes it from the collar. On the question “Where?” or “Show me,” the dog leads the handler to the victim.

About bringsels, the International Testing Standards for Rescue Dog Tests (IPO-R) states the following: “A special collar, on which a ‘bringsel’ is fixed, is fitted on the dog if it is doing bringsel work. The collar has to have a releasing mechanism that protects the dog from injuries. When it has found the person the dog takes the bringsel to the handler. There is no need for it to sit during the handover of the bringsel. Once the bringsel has been removed, and at the order of the handler, the dog takes the handler directly and independently to the victim. While doing so, the handler must be in constant contact with his dog. The dog may be taken on a leash of any length for this purpose.”2

In a wilderness search, a barking dog can be perceived as threatening to a missing person, especially for children or people with mental handicaps, and cause a state of shock. Because a hypothermic person who goes into shock can die, we prefer to use a dog with a bringsel alert over a barking alert for wilderness searches. Many victims aren’t even aware the dog was there the first time, before it went back to its handler. When the dog comes back to the victim, it will be with the handler, who can reassure and immediately help the victim. The bringsel alert is particularly useful with dogs that like to retrieve.

Figure 8.6 Bringsels, which come in different designs and measurements, are attached to the dog’s collar.

We often get the question of how the dog can manage to get through dense shrubs and brush with the bringsel and collar without getting caught on branches or other obstructions. Practice has shown, however, that dogs find their own solutions. We have, of course, seen a dog get hung up with its collar on a twig. If this happens, it is important that the dog stay quiet and not panic. The first few times the handler may have to teach the dog how to get loose, but later on the dog will free itself.

In the recall alert, the dog uses its body position or certain other behaviors to show its handler that it has found a person. For example, the dog might come back and sit in front of or nudge its handler. Some dogs try to entice their handlers by walking to the victim’s location and then back to the handler. They are usually very excited, and by walking to and fro between the victim and the handler, they try to lead their handler to the victim.

The International Testing Standards for Rescue Dog Tests (IPO-R) says the following about recall: “During recall the dog takes the quickest route back and forth between handler and victim, thereby leading the handler to the victim or the place of alert. In addition, the dog must clearly show the handler the sort of behaviour that can clearly be interpreted as alert behaviour. [In testing,] the dog handler notifies the judge of this type of behaviour before the scent work begins.”3

Dogs that bark easily on their own can be trained to bark automatically at an indicated place. Other dogs can often be motivated to bark when the helper shows the dog its sock toy for a moment and then hides it again (see Chapter 2).

During training, the dog should only get its sock toy from the victim. In the beginning the dog gets the sock toy after only one or two barks; then the number of barks has to increase before it gets the sock toy from the victim. Later the dog gets the sock toy only when the handler has also arrived at the victim.

Teaching a dog to bark using pressure tactics should never be attempted because the dog will fail during a real mission.

For many search and rescue dog handlers, the bringsel alert is an unknown method of indicating a victim. What follows is the complete training for the bringsel alert, split up into steps.

In the first training exercises (see Chapter 2), the dog has already been directed to the victim, who has the sock toy, which the dog can pick up immediately upon finding the victim.

Before taking this step in a wilderness environment, the dog should have already learned to retrieve with all sorts of objects on the training field where you do obedience exercises. We never train dogs to retrieve in the training area for the wilderness search (a wooded area) to avoid pressuring the dog or creating any unpleasant connections with the wilderness search. As long as your dog knows how to retrieve, you can continue with step 2 described below.

Based on training in step 1, we can continue by giving the helper two toys. Both should be toys the dog likes, but the second one is the sock toy the dog used for the first exercises. This is how we will clearly connect the correct performance of the bringsel alert. The second toy, the dog’s favorite, has to be hidden well, or else the dog will take it and then refuse to take the first toy.

The first object will be given on a flat hand or held between the thumb and fingers of the stretched arm but never laid down beside or on the helper. From now on, before the beginning of each bringsel exercise, a leather collar on which the bringsel later can be fastened is placed around the dog’s neck as part of the search ritual.

Now, as in the early part of training, the dog goes a short distance (33 ft. or 10 m) to a sitting or lying helper, where it picks up the first object and brings it straight to the handler. Encourage this by calling the dog to bring the first toy. As soon as you are holding the first object, the helper calls the dog back and shows it the second toy—the sock toy—which is, for the dog, the best one.

Follow the dog when it goes back to the helper and clearly show pleasure that the dog is picking up the sock toy. However, don’t touch or disturb the dog with its playing now. After the dog is done playing on its own, you and the dog can then play together again and share the prey as usual.

With our search and rescue dog teams we have several dogs that work with a bringsel. We started using the bringsel when we discovered that many dogs bark only under pressure. Because we took the position that the search and rescue dog has to do its work happily and enthusiastically to achieve good results, we looked for another alert method. That’s how we (re)discovered the bringsel, which proved to be a sure alert method. Unfortunately, there was not much literature about working with the bringsel, so we experimented a lot before we knew how to work with it. Eros, our German Shepherd male, taught us a lot and was often used to figure out how to work correctly with the bringsel. He became an excellent operational area search dog and was fluent in working with the bringsel, just like many of our dogs that came after him. Our team of three bringsel dogs became 1999 world champions in area search in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

If step 2 goes well, you can increase the distance to the victim, but keep the situation and the action the same: the same surroundings, the dog picks up the first object, brings it to you, and then goes back to the helper, where the dog immediately and without pulling gets the sock toy. Then begins the dog’s independent playing and finally the prey sharing. To avoid confusing the dog, take a break as soon as the dog is successful. It is better to repeat this after five or ten minutes than it is to immediately begin another exercise.

Continue to work with two toys. If everything is going well, you can now change the circumstances of the work, except for the distance, even hiding the helper behind bushes. However, always send the dog to the right or to the left and not straight ahead. As soon as the dog knows the pattern of this bringsel alert, your help should decrease. At your command, the dog will run to the helper sitting or lying to the left or the right, take the first toy, and bring it directly, without dropping it, to you. The dog will then turn around automatically and run to the helper again to pick up the sock toy. Run to the helper with the dog the second time and praise the dog exuberantly.

Incorporate the bringsel only when, on the obedience-training field, the dog has learned to bring items back to you, including the bringsel. The dog must be able to bring it correctly: directly, without dropping it. Then, using a short distance and familiar circumstances (surroundings and helper), you can introduce the bringsel into the wilderness training. Instead of the first toy, the helper will now give the bringsel with the hand stretched out flat. The helper may have to move it to get the dog’s attention. The dog has to take this bringsel directly to you and then return quickly to the helper with you to pick up the sock toy. And then, as usual, the dog plays independently and shares the prey.

Change the distance, surroundings, or helper until the dog performs this task correctly under all circumstances, but always with the helper in sight. The bringsel will still be given by the helper on an outstretched hand or held between the thumb and finger, as will the sock toy.

Now attach the bringsel to the collar of the dog and start again with a short distance (33 ft. or 10 m). The dog will be sent with the command “Left” or “Right” to the empty, outstretched hand of the helper. The helper can help the dog pick up the bringsel by placing the flat hand under the bringsel and lifting it high. Later on, a light touch to the bringsel will be enough to motivate the dog to pick it up. The helper also has the sock toy, which the helper will offer to the dog on a flat hand when it comes to the helper for the second time. The exercise, as always, closes with the dog playing and prey sharing.

Figure 8.7 When the bringsel is first connected to the collar, the dog will need help from the trainer to pick it up.

Keep the distance and circumstances the same until the dog independently picks up the bringsel on its collar when it reaches the lying or sitting helper, carries the bringsel to the handler, goes back to the helper, and gets its sock toy to play with.

Now attach the bringsel to the collar and walk a bit with the dog through the search area. If the dog picks up the bringsel as it walks, immediately correct it with “No.” If possible, send a helper to lie down on the ground nearby shortly afterwards. Send the dog to the helper, where it can pick up the bringsel, followed, of course, by your enthusiastic praise. The ritual ends again with the dog getting the sock toy from the helper, independent play, and then sharing the prey with you.

If everything goes well, then we can change either the distance or the circumstances. Never try to change both at the same time. Build up everything step by step. The helper should still be within the sight of the dog. Make sure you reward your dog well for correct behavior. The most important thing is consistency. If something in a step goes wrong, go back to some of the previous steps until it is clear again for the dog.

Next you can train again with the helper out of sight of the dog but still to your left or right. Keep the distance short. The helper will offer the bringsel and the sock toy each in turn on the outstretched hand or held between the thumb and fingers.

In the next step, keep the same distance, but now affix the bringsel to the dog’s collar while the helper moves out of sight with the sock toy. If everything is going well, slowly increase the distance from the starting point to the helper’s hiding place. The dog now has to pick up the bringsel on its own and bring it back to you. Remove the bringsel from the collar and the dog returns on its own to the helper.

The dog may sometimes go back to the helper so quickly that the handler can’t keep up. In the beginning, do not call your dog back. The dog will normally stay with the helper, and when you also reach the victim, then the dog can receive its sock toy. If the dog wants to leave the helper before you arrive, the helper can give the sock toy immediately to the dog.

Now start putting a leash that is ten plus feet (3+ m) long on the dog before it goes back the second time to the helper to get the sock toy. First only attach the leash on the dog’s collar (or an identifying harness) and let the leash drag beside the dog. Once the dog gets used to it, you can hold on to the leash when the dog goes back to the helper the second time.

Because of an unlucky jump over a high bunch of kindling, one dog dropped the bringsel during training. Because they have learned that they can only pick up the bringsel at the site of the victim, dogs are often uncertain when they reach the handler without the bringsel in their mouth. On getting the command “Show me,” you often see them become very happy that the handler has understood, and they’re already running back to the victim.

Sometimes dogs that have dropped their bringsel go back to the victim, pick up the bringsel again, and bring it to the handler. Either is fine, as long as the dog knows it should only pick up bringsels near victims; otherwise, there is the danger that they’ll begin to alert on the odor of any person they find, such as other searchers.

Что способствует осуществлению желаний? Стопроцентная, непоколебимая уверенность в своем...

ЧТО И КАК ПИСАЛИ О МОДЕ В ЖУРНАЛАХ НАЧАЛА XX ВЕКА Первый номер журнала «Аполлон» за 1909 г. начинался, по сути, с программного заявления редакции журнала...

Конфликты в семейной жизни. Как это изменить? Редкий брак и взаимоотношения существуют без конфликтов и напряженности. Через это проходят все...

ЧТО ТАКОЕ УВЕРЕННОЕ ПОВЕДЕНИЕ В МЕЖЛИЧНОСТНЫХ ОТНОШЕНИЯХ? Исторически существует три основных модели различий, существующих между...

Не нашли то, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском гугл на сайте: