It is a Team The first question to ask is, “are you in shape or capable of getting into shape to handle rough terrain for 8-12 hours of walking?” Most people focus on their dog and don’t think about the person that goes into the field with them. SAR dogs live with and are owned …
Decontaminate Your Dog
Orex in his baby blue doggles for dusty and brush situations Why decontaminate? Most people will look at this article and the first thought is, “I won’t need to do that.” Sorry, you couldn’t be more wrong. Have you ever thought about what is on the sidewalk or driveway or grass your dog …
Shane and Rosie and Bill and Koda Go Operational
Wilderness Testing On November 19th the testing started. Originally the evaluations were to be in September but getting outside evaluators turned into a serious problem and delayed testing for two months. The original test was to be to Search and Rescue Dogs US (SARDUS) standards, however, when it became clear evaluators were not going to …
Gryphon Racks Up Titles
Susan and No Nonsense Gryphon had a busy year racking up his Begleitenhund title, his IRO Rubble A title, and his NIMS Type 1 USAR certification through IPWDA. First the Begleitenhund Gryphon, handled by a nervous Susan earned his Begleitenhund title on June 17, 2011 at the mid-Ohio Schutzhund Club. Weather conditions were not ideal …
Thank Goodness Dogs Can’t Read
Thank Goodness Dogs Can’t Read I was reading through the comments on one of the SAR groups listing and saw an entry where the writer was adamant that a handler should not lay their own tracks. It made me glad my dogs couldn’t read since I’ve been laying my own tracks for training for over …
German Shepherd Tracking: Splitting Hairs
Splitting Hairs I will never forget going to a board of directors meeting as we discussed a tracking standard. The first thing that happened was the discussion descended into defining tracking, trailing and splitting the hairs finer and finer. Here is how the definitions went: ¨ Tracking is when the dog follows footstep to footstep …
German Shepherd Training – Food or Fun?
Food or Fun If you go to the Leerburg website, see if you can find his article about the difference in how dogs are trained to meet the RCMP standard versus typical training in the US. It is worth reading. Historically I trained my dogs with food, gradually weaning off the amount of liver tidbits …
Maggie Goes Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX)
Maggie Goes Tracking Dog Excellent (TDX) This was the e-mail Joanna sent out when she handled Maggie to her TDX title. It did such a good job capturing the joy a handler feels when their canine accomplishes something they’ve been working toward, I didn’t want to re-write it. Joanna and Maggie, we salute you!) On …
