SAR DOG By : Dana Kirsch , SCCSO SAR

Jan. 2007

Deciding to pursue Search and RescueSearch and rescue takes more than the drive to help people, more than the heroism to knowingly enter dangerous situations, more than the courage to face your own fears. It takes selflessly giving your time to the mundane tasks of practice, training, and cleaning the equipment. Training a search and rescue dog is a job without an end. It takes devotion to an animal that may one day save a life of someone great or small.It takes a person who values life.

Picking the dog

The search and rescue canine team is a resource. Both halves are intimately dependant on the other. They must have a strong bond and be able to communicate. Both halves must be devoted to the task of preserving human life. There are two types of dogs suitable for search and rescue work: protector dogs, which include all shepherds, cattle dogs, and other flock animals, and hunting dogs, which include game dogs, retrievers, hounds, and pointers.You must choose the dog that you can live with. You must build out of this a partner that you can work with.

Protector dogs:

Have been bred to believe that there are monsters in the world. This kind of dog believes that some monsters will readily kill them or their flock.

You must choose the dog that you can live with. You must build out of this a partner that you can work with.

Can be trained to alert on humans-as-monsters.Are extremely accurate, scent-sensitive, and honest.Suffer from a lifetime of anxiety and stress from monsters.Will shut down in situations of compounding fear.Need stress management.

Hunting dogs:

Look for food, and prey. These kinds of dogs are bred to retrieve, point, flush, track, or otherwise find an animal.

Can be trained to seek out humans as a form of a gamePrioritize everything into varying levels of having fun.Will pass by a human subject if something more fun is available.Will shut down if no longer having fun.Need to always be having fun.

Team building:

Trust is the foundation of the relationship. The first bonding experiences must result in a development of mutual trust between the partners. Trust must be fostered throughout the lifetime of the relationship. The first thing the search dog needs is experiences. Especially Protector dogs, must be taken to human places, malls, construction sites, and woodland sites, barns, farms, the zoo. The protector dog needs to practice walking on escalators, slippery floors, go into dark tunnels etc.

Training , disciplines:

There are many jobs a dog can do. There is a limit to how many different disciplines one single dog can do and do well.Area search dogs catch the scent of the subject on the wind, and can cover a large amount of ground. Trailing dogs match the odor from a carefully collected scent article known to have been used by the subject, to the trail of odor left behind as the subject passed by. Cadaver dogs are called in to locate human remains, bones, or blood. Avalanche dogs have been utilized with great success. Water dogs can sit in a small boat and will indicate on a body submerged up to below the surface under good conditions. Disaster dogs are trained to work autonomously in areas of confined space, unstable debris and in and among hazardous materials. Police Patrol dogs are highly experienced, and can be utilized in Search and Rescue operations if the handler thinks it is appropriate. Bomb dogs and Drug dogs specialize on only their one discipline so as to eliminate confusion when the dog alerts.

Improving:

A canine is one tool in the search for a lost or missing person. The highly developed skills of the search and rescue professional must be in place before adding the distraction and responsibility of a canine.Infinite patience.

The first level of proficiency is Safety. This usually includes a checkout by an instructor to insure that you will not injure yourself or others. This is the beginning of your search career.

Level two: Effectiveness, is achieved with the basic mastery of the activities required. This is the functional level of the SAR team member.To develop beyond this level, one must have an internal drive to excel. No one by the individual can motivate further development or achievement.

Level three: EfficiencyPeople operating at this level are trying to improve the system. They are operating with the minimum of resources, and streamlining maneuvers to save time and money.There is a danger that this level becomes an end unto itself.

Level Four: Precision and ImprovementThis level of skill comes with a desire to constantly seek greater perfection, not as an obsession but as a personal motivation. This level often accompanies maturity, and includes the greatest level of refinement.One does not have to reach level four before beginning the process over again with a dog. Guard against adding a dog before the individual has entered level three. At this level, the dog becomes the efficiency. The dog is a tool for SAR that surpasses your own ability to see into wooded and dark areas. But the dog is not the only tool, and in some cases it is not the best tool. A SAR Canine handler will be placed in the difficult position of turning down assignments because they are not appropriate for the dog, or the dog is not the right tool for the assignment. The Canine handler will be the Dog expert on scene and will be the only person capable of making that judgment call. A canine handler who is not responsible, honest, and reliable in the field undermines the advantage that using a dog offers.

Know yourself. Know your equipment . Know your team . Know your environment . Manage your risk. Working a SAR Canine is a life-long commitment.