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| Author | Topic: Search & Rescue, Bark & Hold |
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Butch Cappel (Moderator) |
posted 4/25/06 12:19 AM
This is a simple little way to have some fun with your dog and teach the foundation of some possibly valuable things for your dog to do. After watching Thomas Ravn do a seminar at the World Championships on the Danish Air Force way of teaching a Bark & Hold I was reminded of an old technique we used to use to start trailing dogs. It is probably still in use today with a lot of prison dog trainers. What I have done here is combine the two methods in a little hybrid technique that should allow you to start each exercise and then carry it out to whatever stage of development you like. This will not use seventeen different drives, you don't need 440 volts of electricity or six different 120 foot long lines this is just a simple fun game that can work into something that might be useful, so just have fun with your dog. You will need one person to help you, a field with some objects you can hide behind, and what ever tug or treat you dog likes a lot. Standing about twenty yards from an object you can hide behind (tree, wall, blind, etc.) get the dog excited with the tug or treat you have. Have the helper holding the dog, pump the dog up and encourage. When you have the dog as excited as you think it will get, you should run to and behind your hiding place. As soon as you are out of sight the helper releases the dog to run to you and around the object to where you are hiding When your dog rounds the corner to find you give him/her a happy “good boy” and tell him to “sit”. Repeat this several times until the concept is clear to your dog. Now swap positions so you are now handling and the helper is running. Again repeat until the dog is sure that when he hears your “seek” or “find” or whatever command, he goes to the man that is hiding, sits and gets his reward. Now set the second hiding place near the first and make sure the wind is blowing from place # two, to place # one. Get your dog all excited as the helper runs to the first hiding place as your dog has seen before. As the helper gets out of sight step between your dog and the hiding place, or turn your dog around facing away from the hiding place. Keep the dog excited but block his view of the hiding place. As soon as the dogs' vision is blocked from hiding place #1 the helper should run to hiding place #2. When hidden behind #2 you send the dog to #1, just like you have been doing. Run with the dog and as you round the now vacant hiding place repeat your search command. If the dog is excited enough he should now go to his strongest sense to find his tug/treat, his nose! Repeat as needed, build from here. When the dog know the “pattern” start putting the person in different hiding places. Send them into the woods for short distances (always checking your wind) with your search command, until they know there is always something worth looking for when you tell them there is. Now I did say bark and hold as well as S&R didn't I? Sooooo. At some point your dog started going around the hiding place and automatically sliding into a “sit” to get the reward a little faster. This is when you know he has the idea. From this point on you should have the helper withhold the reward until the dog gets frustrated and demands (barks) the reward from the helper. You can build as much bark into the dog as you like at this point. You should now have a dog that will understand what a search command will mean and is safe when he finds whoever you are looking for. The dog will also understand the concept of the SchH revere, or Bark and Hold if sent into a blind. Before you start this remember I said this was a fun thing for you and your dog to do. I make no claims that this method will have FEMA wanting to send you globe hopping for disaster victims. But it is a fun thing to do with some positive applications for your dog. And if you work on it hard enough you might have a dog like Arken, the 2005 Finals winner from Denmark. When Jens Eliasen drops his key ring in a forty acre field he simply has Arken search until he finds them for him. Listen Well, Bite Hard!! Butch Cappel Founder K9 PRO SPORTS The Original http://www.k-9kountry.nu |
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