Starting our search and rescue adventure

No, he will only be trained for live subject, air scent. They have done dual training in the past but it's not practiced much anymore. Too many questions came in to play regarding confusion on whether or not the dogs were accurately discriminating and possibly missing something.

 

Well done! Edsel sounds to be doing brilliantly.

 

Good job Edsel

 

Wow, he sounds fabulous

 

just amazing what our dogs can do! Well done Edsel you sound like a pro already!

 

Fantastic work from both of you. Sounds amazing x

 

Another day of training in the books. Edsel did great once again. He completed 2 small area searches and found the subjects in both in under 10 minutes. He was a little late in his "bark alert" on the second search. Likely because he was so far ahead of me when he located the subject he didn't feel the need to bark yet. They said this is not unusual at this stage. He is apparently planning to specialize in "speed searching" since he flies through the brush and woods at breakneck speeds.
As suspected, they feel he is progressing rapidly at this point and will plan to increase the area size at next training. I've been directed to get myself prepared to take the SAR Tech test by next February. I must pass this step before we can be considered to test as a K9 team. I have to pass a written exam and practical test including navigation, rope work, man tracking and clue search among other things.
As our leader and exam administrator told me today "if you don't screw him (Edsel) up" she feels we'll be ahead of schedule for certification. As I've always feared, I Have to work hard to not hold him back!
He really has just always loved "finding" things. From a tiny pup his favorite game has been searching for objects over and over again and he just seemed to have a natural ability to do so. And a huge amount of determination to keep looking until he found it. I guess we're really just teaching him to apply that to people rather than rocks!
I'm immensely proud of him and only hope I can keep up! It was also miserably hot and humid today and both of us have been of no use since getting back home.

 

Wow that is just brilliant. I'm really enjoying reading your posts and thrilled you are both doing so well.

 

Marvellous, such brilliant work!


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Fabulous! I'm sure you'll do wonderfully, too

 

I would love to see you attach a body cam to the pup so we can get an eyes view of what he goes through.

Amazing work thus far!

 

It would likely be more entertaining to have one attached to me as I frantically try to keep up with him and not fall flat on my face.

 

Got in tonight about 11:45 pm from Friday night training. Sitting here after a much needed shower and a bagel, starving and grabbed first thing I found. It's been a long day starting at 6 am for work then it's about 1.5 hour drive each way to training location for me. It's continued to be quite hot and miserably humid and the mosquitoes have been more bitey than a 5 month old Lab pup!
Busy night at training and I think that my low energy level coupled with difficult conditions of minimal wind and late hour had some effect on Edsel tonight. He struggled just a bit on his first 2 searches and I believe in part due to me not getting him located down wind of the subject where he could pick up some scent. But he worked thru the difficulty and completed the search. He actually did better and seemed more focused on his last set which was done under pitch black dark conditions. Lots of new things for him tonight to learn and work through and he continues to be excited and ready to work.
I did notice that several of the K9s seemed to struggle tonight so I feel that conditions were ripe for that outcome. But unlike many human co-workers I've had over the years, the pups continue to go about their job with the same enthusiasm and positive attitude no matter the barriers!
I received my new compass this week and plan to spend time this next week focused on orienteering and getting a couple practice sessions in with Edsel here at home. And looking forward to a visit from my sis as well! I see sweets and wine in my future.
I'm off to catch some sleep! Sweet dreams!

 

Sounds absolutely exhausting, handlers have to be 100% dedicated. Question - how do you search in pitch black? A head torch?

 

You deserve sweets and wine, perfect combination. Well done it sounds like such an exhausting evening.

 

Well done to you both.

 

Had a great morning at training. Due to many on the team having other obligations, vacations etc there were only 3 of us there today. Two of the seasoned veterans and me and Edsel. It was a great time to allow the 3 dogs a little freedom and play time. Belle is another black lab, around 8 yrs and a cadaver dog. Silly as a goose still and she and Edsel get along well. Rusty is a shepherd mix and just about the same age as Edsel and just recently passed his certification. He continues to work on his obedience and socialization skills as he is also prone to being reactive with other dogs.
Edsel did just a short runaway search outdoors since we were limited to just the 3 of us. He did well in locating and barking. He also got his first experience with building searches. We have access to an old fire station that now is our meeting site and stores vehicles belonging to the owner. There's a big bus, some old cars, grain truck and other assorted items. Lots of fuel and oil and musty smells in there to sort through. On Edsel's first search I had him work off lead and while he did locate the subject, he had more difficulty focusing and did lots of barking and bouncing about and it was difficult to determine his signals. On the second search I worked him on lead. Primarily used just hand signals to help him focus on checking under and around things and he was much less erratic and only barked when he had located the subject. Gave very definite alert signs when he had located the scent. Was fascinating to be able to have him in a small, contained area where I could really observe him work and watch his body language and behavior.
We then spent time working Edsel and Rusty through some obedience drills. Edsel again does so much better with his behavior around the team members. I think it's just being around "dog" people and a sense he has about that. No crazy jumping or pulling. Did perfect with sitting while other dogs pass him, calmly greeting others. I think we will be able to incorporate some of the Control Unleashed lessons within the team as well to help with those dog to dog meetings and interactions.
It's hot, humid and miserably sticky outdoors again so we are now just lounging and cooling down after returning home.

 

It sounds like another great training experience. ALso nice to have less of a crowd so the dogs had a chance to play and socialize.

 

You two are doing fantastic by the sounds of it. I love reading about how your lessons are going.

 

Me too, it's great.