1 of 2

Write now Article Tools

Dogs need a job to do. Most breeds, especially the herding, working, and hunting breeds like collies, shepherds, retrievers, and spaniels, were bred with a purpose in mind. If they don't have the ability to work, they become frustrated and may become destructive or lazy. By training a dog to search for lost people, we are satisfying that urge to work, keeping the dog active and fit, and redirecting their motivation to something that will benefit society.

There are a number of ways that search and rescue dogs are trained but first we must establish two things. First, most dogs are only search dogs, not search and rescue dogs. To search is to seek that which is not present, such as a missing or lost person. Rescue is to recover or evacuate that person from the situation they are in. Next, search dogs fall into three categories: air-scenting, trailing, and tracking.

Air scenting dogs usually work off leash, unless the area is hazardous or they are of a breed that cannot go off leash, and they work to find a person in a general area. Air scent dogs may be discriminatory in that they work to find a specific person even when other people are present, or they can be non-discriminatory, where they are trained to find anyone in that area.

Trailing dogs are discriminatory and are trained to follow the general path that a person walked. They may vary from the trail if the scent blew and they smell a strong scent nearby.
Trailing dogs are also discriminatory and are supposed to follow where a person went footstep to footstep. They are not supposed to leave the footsteps for anything.

All search dogs' training, regardless of category, is started with something called "puppy run-aways". the puppy or dog is held by an assistant while the handler rubs the dog's face and gets them excited. The handler then runs a short distance and calls the dogs to them. Once the dog gets the idea that they are supposed to run up to the person for praise, the handler begins to duck behind something like a bush or tree. We use the handler to hide first because this is someone the puppy knows and wants to be with. When the dog is working well, a switch is made and the assistant does the running and hiding.

Now the decision must be made about which category of searching you want the dog to do; air scenting, trailing, or tracking.
For air scenting, at first, always have the assistant run into the wind and work the dog towards them. Eventually you will have the person come in from the side to do the hide.

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about How search-and-rescue dogs are trained?
We want to hear your view. Write now!