Found an SAR training centre !

[Zoe]

I am really excited because I have found an SAR training centre/organization here in Tokyo.This is brilliant news for me. They currently have about 60 dogs trained and working throughout Japan. Before I joined Border Collie Boards I didn't know that "regular" dogs could volunteer to work as SAR dogs, but once I found out about it, I thought that it would be the best thing for Dylan and me to do. I just want to say thanks to you all and especially to INU who first made me aware that it was possible to do. Dylan at 8 months is too young to start here - the dogs must be 15 months or older. And we have to undergo a screening to find out if we are suitable as training candidates. We will do this in the Autumn of this year. I have no idea if we will be accepted, but hope we are ! I haven't visited the facility yet, but plan to do so soon. At that time I want to talk to the trainer and ask for any advice about how me and Dylan can prepare for the screening. But in the meantime, for those of you who do SAR with your dogs, do you have any words of advice/caution, any books to recommend ? Thanks in advance.

[Borderco1]

Get you dog crazy about his ball or what ever toy you plan on using. I enjoyed "So Others May Live, Caroline Hebard and her search and rescue dogs" By Hank Whitemore and Caroline Hebard. Thsi is more of just stories though Also "Search and rescue Dogs training Methods" Put out by the American rescue dog association. This is more tips dealing with searching There is another one, but I don't have it here, it deals more with scent work. I am on a two years break as I live in England for the moment but will be getting back into it once I get back to the states. Good luck to you!!!

[INU]

Awesome!!!

I have to come visit you and your new team when I come home next time

 

Jazzy started at around 8 months old, I'm not sure why they wouldn't start till 15 months. But there are tons of things you can do to prepare for the evaluation. Basic obedience like SOLID recall will help and will look good on evaluation. getting her obsesed with her toy - tug toy is better but I use ball. I wish she likes tug play - easier to play in field, keeps the dog close to the victim, and don't need to look for the lost balls in the dark! And socialize your dog to everything you can think of. That's one thing I focused on before we started. One of our dogs on the team is obsessed with cats and if he smells one on his trail, there is no way to get him back on trail. Jazzy lives with 4 cats and if she sees one on the road, that's nothing exciting to her. Men, women, kids, old people, people with masks etc. I don't know what kind of SAR work you are interested but a lot of dogs do 'bark alert' and that was the first thing I had to train her to do. Because she wasn't a barking dog and everyone (outside of SAR) told me it was crazy to make a blessed dog (quiet dog)into a crazy barking dog, I decided to train her to do 'refind' (Lassie thing) If your dog already barks, you can shape up the behavior. Give bark command and make her bark until you release. That would look good on evaluation too. But I don't know if you really want a barking dog in Tokyo... so crowded.

 

I am excited for you! Keep us updated

[Borderco1]

INU, When I was training my first BC we had the same no barking issue. I wanted to get into disaster training so we had to work on it. It started out with a wisper thing more like a jaw snap then we got a bark. The best training tool I found for that was a friends Sheltie who loved to bark and would do so on command. Being a border collie Mac figured that game out quick!! My new dog Jack's (who I am trying to get as far as I can before I go back in hopes he can be my next search dog) reward is a ball on a rope, really the best of both worlds!! You can play tug and fetch, keeps him interested.

[Lucy Goosey]

Zoe, is this for disaster SAR?

[Zoe]

Lucy Goosey - basically yes. They have a little info. in English at the following: http.//www.kinet.or.jp/kyujoken/english.htm

I'm not very computer savvy, so I hope that worked. If not, they basically train dogs to help in natural disasters, but their dogs have helped look for missing hikers. Japan suffers from a lot of earthquakes and I think that would be their main focus.

Borderco1 - thanks - I'll check out those books. I had a look at Amazon.coms list but there was so much to choose from !

INU - isn't it exciting ! I DO have to work on his recall. It is really a bit strange to me but he is perfect when we go hiking off leash.( we call ,make him sit, hold his collar, treat him and let him go again ). And when he is on his training leash he will come when he is at a distance, but at a short distance he is not so good - I don't think he sees the "necessity" or he doesn't feel the desire or something. In the house/garden he is the same as he is on his training leash. And he DOES get distracted - recently by scent. He has started marking - I'll call him and he'll come but it is often once he has marked. I think I am going to have to retrain him from scratch - but if I make him sit stay or down stay and then call him, he comes with the happiest face at top speed !!Like Jazzy, he is ball crazy, but he also likes tug. I don't know how they train their dogs exactly, but one of their written rules is that you don't play with your dogs on the training site. I guess that would be different to rewarding your dog ...??? As I wrote, I still have to go and meet everyone, so I'll find out then. I'll keep you posted !

[Piper]

My husband does SAR with our BC Piper and also Mountain Rescue. It takes a lot of dedication and very demanding of your time, but also very rewarding. We started Piper at 5 months and they had said at the time that she was almost too old.

 

Anyways, we never had to work on her barking, I think she was born wanting to make sure you heard her and also recall wasn't that hard for her either, nor was it hard to get her interested in her ball or frisbee. I believe she was born to be a SAR dog!

 

Good luck!!!!

[Lucy Goosey]

Okay, I just wanted to check. I figured in Japan it would probably be disaster work. A good book for wildnerness SAR is "Ready" by Susan Bulanda. I have not done any disaster training at all (we do wilderness), so I don't know of any good books. Here are a few sites I found; I don't know if they will be of any help to you:

 

http://www.fema.gov/usr/srdogt.shtm

http://www.montanasearchdogs.com/articles/...er_training.htm

http://www.ndsdf.org/pages/story.htm

 

BTW, I didn't train a bark alert on Lucy. I just couldn't get her to bark! Lucy does a jump alert (jumps up on my chest). I probably wouldn't advise that if you're working in rubble piles, though, LOL. Sometimes I even question the wisdom of the jump alert in a wilderness setting, when she comes tearing at me like a speeding bullet and slams into me HARD. I should probably be wearing a mouth guard. Yep, I think you would do better by the bark alert!

[INU]

I had bruises all over my right thighs for a while too. She pulls a bandana that is attached to my belt and she also jumps on me out of excitment! A few times she nipped my skin... you don't feel it until the excersise is over.

[Deanna in OR]

My husband is training our BC tenaya for wilderness SAR. His mentor in his SAR group also has a BC (she's from Germany where she also did SAR).

 

Because his mentor used the alert method of using a "bringsel", my husband has taught this to Tenaya--doesn't require a bark, and in early training, guarantees that the alert is only given after a find. The bringsel is a little nylon thingee that hangs from the dog's collar and is grabbed by the dog in its mouth upon making a find, and taken back to the handler (in early training, the "victim" holds it and gives it to the dog upon finding, so the dog truly can't alert until they really find!)

 

We started playing hide and seek with her toys in the house from a very young age, gradually increasing the difficulty--a great way to get her working with her nose. When she finds the toy, she gets some fetch and tug with it before hiding it again. Now a toy can get hidden all over the house, high and low, inside and under things, and she will find it. We can even tell her which of several toys to go find.

 

Tenaya has one special toy that she only gets to play with (fetch and tug) after completing her find and re-find. You might identify one special toy that you only play with on special occasions that she gets very excited about.

 

We are also training for Obedience and Rally, so Tenaya has gotten quite good at various obedience bahaviors, including a recall, heel, sit, etc (and no, it doesn't keep her from working well at a distance, at all). My husband has observed that some of the other dogs in his training class don't have the same level of obedience training and it's affected how well and quickly they can learn the SAR behaviors (of course, they aren't border collies, either ). But working on basic obedience skills and manners should be a plus for a SAR dog.

 

We're training Agility, too, and because SAR dogs may have to navigate difficult terrain or rubble, it seems like these skills are transferable. Without endangering your young dog, you should be able to do some agility training (teeters, tunnels, dogwalk, A-frame) that would enhance Dylan's preparation for SAR. (Do they do Agility in Japan?)

 

Even if they won't start training until 15 months, there are a lot of things you can do to prepare Dylan!

 

Good luck,

Deanna

[Lucy Goosey]

I think the bringsel alert is actually pretty cool! I've seen it used and it's pretty neat. Here are a couple of interesting sites I found just surfing on the topic of bringsels:

 

http://community-2.webtv.net/Hahn-50thAP-K9/K9History2/

http://www.naavaparran.com/eng/high/b004.htm

[Borderco1]

I know at least with FEMA here is the states the dog must have a bark alert as it is the only one which can be understood when the handler is out of sight and so that the handler can then mark the source. Most disater dogs I know work with out any collars on as a fall on the rumble it could get caught so I couldn't see using a bringse for disaster work. Does anyone know if for diaster other countries use this? I was taugt that on a site you don't want your dog running back to you over the pile as it could get hurt. With wilderness the bringse seems to be a better idea as having a large dog come bark at a peron would be scary to some.

[Zoe]

Thanks everyone - I have a lot of reading to do ! Yes, in Japan we do have agility and I am planning on doing that too with Dylan.At the moment I'm trying to teach him left/right. And I believe the SAR trainers use agility equipment as part of the training too. And Dylan does bark in the house when the doorbell rings or when he feels someone/something strange is outside. I was going to teach him to do that, but it hasn't been necessary. And if I say "woof" in a doggy way he will bark or "woof", so maybe I should train him to bark on command and to bark according to a certain number - one woof, two woofs etc. I do like the idea of bringsel ! But i have a feeling they won't use that. Dylan LOVES to find things - I think he is really good at it ! I hide his dinner in small packets all over the garden ( or in the house )and he finds them easily. And we hide his balls too - he gets so excited and can find them even when I hide them up high - in a bush or in the lower branches of a tree. And when me and my husband take him hiking in the woods he can find my husband no matter how hard he tries to hide himself - and Dylan enjoys it! This is one reason why I think we should do SAR. Once again, thanks for all your good advice. I'll let you know how things go.