So i thought i might give you all an update as to how puzzle is coming along with her SAR training. She is progressing very well at the moment, she is now learning to give us an alert/indication that she has found a 'body', which means that after she has run away and found the 'body' she still see's where they are hiding when doing this she will then race back to us and give her indication which is a bark then lead us back to the 'body' for what we call a re-find, on long run-outs we can get several re-finds in. She is also starting on doing some see-searches which means she see's where the 'body' hides then she is turned away and the 'body' moves to a new place which is facing the wind so their scent is carried and makes it easier for the dog to find them. This works on the dog using their nose instead of their eyes to see where a 'body' is. She has only done one so far but will be doing more at next training session. We have also done a puppy stock test which she proceeded to fail with glory when she wanted to play chase with the sheep, but only in a fun play way, no aggression shown at all. We have been to the shepherd since then to drill into her that sheep are boring and should be ignored and we are much more interesting. She will have another go at the test in a few months time and maybe go for the adult full stock test. We are also starting work on the obedience test that all SAR dogs have to pass which includes a 10 min stay, 5 min with handler out of sight. Recall. Stop in the down on the way to a toy. And some other bits, but these are the main things that we are working on, so getting a rock solid recall, working on the stop going away and coming towards us and lengthening our stays we have not started any out of sight work yet but we are working towards it, we are trying to get a 10min stay to start with then start doing small sections of it out of sight and work from there.
Re: SAR training update Annabelle,you and Puzzle are doing great.....you are going to be great ,successful members of a SAR team one day x
Re: SAR training update Brilliant!! Sounds like heaps of fun too. What a great combination of learning, having fun, developing your teamwork with your dog and doing something useful.
Re: SAR training update I've just come back to check that I'd replied to you Annabelle,you know I love to hear about Puzzle and your Mr Grumpy 's adventuress do that I think the amount and success of your training is incredible x
Re: SAR training update That's very impressive Annabelle How long will Puzzles SAR training take until she is able to go out on jobs? This is very interesting so please keep posting about it, such a worthwhile job for any dog to do. xx
Re: SAR training update Helen - it takes an average of 2 years until they are qualified to do hasty searches then another year to become an area search dog which then means that they are fully qualified but are still called a novice dog until they have a second round of assessments which is every 3 years for each dog so she will become an experienced hasty dog before she becomes an experienced open area dog. From when she is qualified as a hasty dog she can go out on live searches
Re: SAR training update Thanks Annabelle for explaining the training, it's lovely to know that after a lot more training Puzzle will be such a great asset to the SAR team and you have so much to be proud of showing such committment to your dogs. Very well done I admire you so much xx
Re: SAR training update Thought i might gave another update on how she is getting on. We are trying to get in as many training sessions as possible with her at the moment as she is due her season soon and that means she will be out of action for a while. I till have yet to get a video of her working but aim to this weekend just to show you what she is actually doing rather than explaining it. She is still doing gollyes and c-searches. We are working on her re-find and alert at the moment, getting them bombproof basically. As soon as these are bombproof she will start do some mini blind searches. She is having to use her nose more now so she is not always relying on seeing the body which is a good thing. The other thing we are working on is her 'go look' command which is sending her up little paths and places where a person has/may have walked. This gets her brain working when we are on a walk, she is now even starting to do it by herself which is good. The aim is to get her to go 30 meters down the paths as this is the distance set for hasty searches, (30 meters either side of a path). This will make it easier for her when we start doing blind searches as she will instinctively run up little paths and tracks. She is still set to hopefully qualify next october as she is on track and progressing at a steady rate that we are very happy with, no point pushing her too far too soon as it will just ruin the hard work we have put in. And to finish off some photos, most are quite blurry as she is a fast little girl, but next time we are going to take the better camera out with us which has a much better sport mode on it
Re: SAR training update Annabelle, you and Puzzle are doing so well with your training, and doesn't Puzzle look very official in her coat Is the man in the photo your trainer? What an amazing thing to do and the very best of luck with it, I love reading your updates. xx
Re: SAR training update [quote author=charlie link=topic=5499.msg85087#msg85087 date=1401887028] Annabelle, you and Puzzle are doing so well with your training, and doesn't Puzzle look very official in her coat Is the man in the photo your trainer? What an amazing thing to do and the very best of luck with it, I love reading your updates. xx [/quote] The man is my dad, we are both training her with the aim to dual handle her. Main reason being that next year when she should become qualified i will not be old enough to qualify with her ( i have to be 18) so dad will qualifier her to start with, getting her through her area and hasty searches, then when she next comes up to assessment i can qualify with her.
Re: SAR training update Annabelle,she looks really official and professional in her vest.Your Dad looks like he enjoys it too ;D It's such a worthwhile activity to have got involved in,you've all done really great and I'm so pleased that she has taken to training so well x
Re: SAR training update Puzzle looks really smart annabelle and it sounds like she s doing really well it's fantastic. It's such a great thing you and your dad are doing with puzzle. Sorry if you've answered this but do you plan to work her on real life searches when she is qualified ? I love the photo of her looking at the camera as if she's saying 'are you ready ?'
