1. My Dog worked at the World Trade Center
   
   
2. My 10 month old dog is trained to track. Now it is time to train it in Air Scenting. I am having problems with control off leash. What should I do?
   
   
3. My sheriff will not allow us to use our dogs for S&R unless it is certified. Where or how can get this done?
   
   
4. Can my beagle be trained in S&R?
   
   
5. My 9 month old GSD is a great S&R dog, but she is showing signs of aggression towards the other S&R dogs in my group. Any suggestions on how to stop this behavior without quitting S&R work?
   
   
6. I want to get into S&R - there seems to be so many different opinions. What should I do?
   
   
7. I have a few problems with training my SAR dog. How do you balance obedience training and motivational search training?
   

TESTIMONIAL:

Hi, I wanted to update you on Freya vom Leerburg, call name Deja Vu. We purchased her from you in 1996. She is now a really good, working SAR dog. Here is a photo of us working at the World Trade Center Recovery Operation on Staten Island. We were tasked with locating human remains in the rubble that was trucked to the Fresh Kills Landfill. We were successful at our job. Thank you for a great dog and best friend.

Pat Thompson, Pathfinders K9 SAR.

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Question:

Mr Frawley,
I have a 10 month old Bouvier that I am training for SAR. He is currently tracking but I am starting him on the basics of air scent off lead. My problem is that the older he gets the more the prey drive seems to have kicked in. Once he took off after snowmobiles while off lead and now he is starting to show interest in cars (crouching and attempting to lunge while on lead) I have started putting a prong collar on him and walking him by the road and treating him if he doesn't try to chase and correcting him if he does. He was pinched twice by the prong and now sits behind me when a car goes by. Am I on the right track? He seems to be rather "soft" with corrections. Also, should I tell him No or Leave It while correcting? He is starting to run the fence in the back yard when cars go by and works himself into a frenzy and will now jump the fence to chase the cars.

Janet K. NY

Answer:

You are about 200% wrong is just about everything you are doing.

10 months is way, way, way to young for air scenting.

Read my articles on TRACKING THROUGH DRIVE on my web site.

If you want a SAR dog then do it right. Learn about TTD. Train your dog in TTD. When that is done then do air scenting. Your dog is still a puppy – whoever is giving you advice needs training.

Here are some videos to teach you the right way:

Training a Police (S&R) Tracking Dog – Level One This video was filmed in Canada with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). In my opinion they are some of the best tracking dog instructors in the world. S&R trainers in Canada cannot be called out until they have passed a level one certification by the RCMP. This training tape shows how dogs are trained to this level.

Track Laying for a Police Tracking Dog How to lay a good training track is critical in training tracking dogs. This tape goes into a great deal of detail on track laying. There is an art to laying a good training track. This tape shows how the experts do it. If you are new to S&R or police tracking, or if you are constantly having to retrain track layers, this tape can save you a lot of time and energy.

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Training Tracking Dogs for Police or S&R Dogs $65.00+s&h

Question:

I am writing from the north woods of Minnesota where there are less than 5000
residents in a county that is more than 90% public lands. There is not a lot
of activity here for Search & Rescue, but when there is, it is naturally
traumatic. We have found that when dogs could be of use that it is many
hours before a trained and certified professional can arrive. The closest
certified unit is 5 hours away. So for over a year now I have been training
my Chesapeake for SAR work. We started with air scent training with
articles, and human hair samples when people were not available to hide.
Air scenting is a valuable skill but after watching the dog for a number of
months I came to believe that in our environment that trailing/tracking is
more efficient. The wind shifts often in a matter of minutes. The dog
would get mixed signals and being strong headed he would look for a trail
and go in that way if it was more reliable. So now we are trailing with one
of your good harnesses though he will still work high if the scent is right.
This is a fascinating activity learning each day about scent and the way the
dog works it. He is learning too. I know I have a lot more to learn and am
saving up for your video on tracking. Books and MinnSARDA are my sources
for guidance now.

Here is my frustration that I am hoping you can offer some perspective on:
I need to be certified to satisfy the liability and political needs of our
sheriff. I can join a down state group like MinnSARDA (if they will have
me) and work under their wing, but that means I must answer to them first.
I believe that I should respond directly to my sheriff so that the dog can
be utilized quickly if a child is lost or a hunter is out in the dark. I
want to be certified but in a reputable way. Do you know of ways to get
tested and certified? Also do you know of any trailing/tracking seminars?

Thank you for your time,
E.R. Pery

Answer:

Your sheriff is not very up to speed on dogs and he is in a "cover you ass mode".
Its stupid to require a dog to be certified - who certifies them? Just
because these people 5 hour's away say they certify dogs - who says they
are qualified to do so. If they are teaching air scenting before tracking
then they are not qualified to certify S&R dogs. That is ass backward in
training. Once a dog learns to run around with his nose in the air looking
for a person they can almost never be trained to track with their nose on
the ground.

When a tracking dog gets track loss we want the nose to go to the ground.
When these S&R groups train air scenting first and their dogs are then asked
to track - if they lose the track their dogs noses go up in the air to air
scent. They don't put their nose on the ground and look for a track.

This is one of the main reasons most American S&R groups would or could
never be certified if they were in Canada (where they know how to find lost
people with dogs). Dogs up there track first before they are trained to air
scent.

Print this out and give it to your sheriff. Print the TTD articles and let
him read them. Keep detailed training logs. If I were your sheriff I would
set up a level 1 track and make you work it before I allowed you to work
your dog:

An unknown track laid by a stranger -
1 hour old
1 1/2 miles long in the country
4 corners
3 or 4 articles left
1 or two road crossings
1 or 2 cross tracks
1 back track.

Keep detailed daily training records to work from.

If your dog can do this then he is ready to be called out to find missing
people.

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Training Police Tracking Dogs $65.00+s&h

QUESTION:

I am currently involved with a non-profit organization that assists w/ search and rescues and other public safety related situations... The director has allowed me to be our S&R canine officer - the problem is... I currently have a female beagle/Dalmatian mix (75lbs, short hair, age: 5 yrs) who is a doll to play with and is very obedient. Do you think my pet would be able to be trained to conduct a search? And is there any way for me to do some trials that would let me know?

Thanks in advance.

- Rob

ANSWER:

No, I do not think your dog can do this. I can only compare it to this: you would not take a truck to a Formula One race.

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Basic Dog Obedience $40.00+s&h

QUESTION:

Hi Mr. Frawley,

I have been reading many of your question/answers on your site (a link from my state SAR site). I wonder if you could help me with suggestions for my 9 month old GSD female. She is a GREAT trailing dog with SAR...the problem I am having is that she is showing some dog aggression towards the other SAR dogs. She rushes over to them with hackles raised, and looms over them. When they run and play, she runs after them snapping at their shoulders. When she is confronted by other dominant dogs she immediately submits. Her continuous barking at other SAR dogs while waiting in the car is improving with now very strong corrections, and a strong bark collar (my 5th one!) She is large, fearsome, and frightening to the other SAR dog owners and they are apprehensive about her with their dogs. It is difficult to correct her as all the dogs are loose in the field when these problems occur. She is always friendly to people...it is just dogs she tries to dominate. We are just finishing our 12th week of dog obedience classes (where she is always on her best behavior).

I would greatly appreciate ANY suggestions. I am just sick at the thought of having to give up the SAR work as she loves the work and I do too.

Thanks,

Barb B.

ANSWER:

I am not a big fan of how most S&R groups operate. (i.e. teaching air scent work before tracking is a huge mistake.)

Allowing dogs to run in a pack is also a huge mistake.

In your case you need to keep your dog on lead- with a prong collar. Walk through the field and when the dog even looks at another dog correct her with a level 7 or 8 correction. The problem is the people in your group are clueless on this and will not understand. I can tell you that if you do not get a grip (and quickly) they will be asking you to leave because your dog is too aggressive.

You may have to work this dog with an electric collar. I am working on an article that will teach people how to train with a collar. There is NO good book on this. A big part of this will be how to deal with animal aggression.

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Remote Collar Training for the Pet Owner $40.00+s&h

QUESTION:

I am a civilian trying to learn how to train my dog for search & rescue work. I have already spent quite a bit of money on instructors, videos, & classes. I have an 11 mo. old GSD who learns very quickly. The problem I'm having are so many opinions on how to teach tracking, air scent; AKC, SCHUTZHUND, etc. Who's right??? After reading some of your articles it seems to me you make the most sense. Fortunately, my dog hasn't had enough training with any particular method of search training as I have taken my time trying to find someone that "fits the bill" to teach us. We've been working on obedience for several months while I also researched S&R. My dog has an incredible prey & play drive & will do anything I ask of him. Right now his reward is with a toy, not food. I've treaded cautiously with him as he & I are both "green" and I want to mold him, so to speak, the best way I can without having to go back & retrain a different method. Do you recommend the TTD videos for a civilian search dog? The other question is "what about rubble piles where the dog isn't at a dead run?" Can you recommend what training/tracking method to use? I'm so frustrated. Can you help?

Thanking you in advance for your attention in this matter.

Sincerely,
Margie & Echo

ANSWER:

You should read the Q&A sections on my web site about S&R and on tracking.

You are correct - there are a lot of people in this country that are clueless on this subject. Most S&R groups fall into that category. They screw up and teach air scenting before tracking or worse they don't train tracking at all - hence they only find a small percentage of what they could find if they had done it properly (train tracking first and then air
scenting). I have written about the reasons on my web site.

Here are the tapes to get:

Training a Police (S&R) Tracking Dog - Level One -
This video was filmed in Canada with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). In my opinion they are some of the best tracking dog instructors in the world. S&R trainers in Canada cannot be called out until they have passed a level one certification by the RCMP. This training tape shows how dogs are trained to this level.

Track Laying for a Police Tracking Dog - How to lay a good training track is critical in training tracking dogs. This tape goes into a great deal of detail on track laying. There is an art to laying a good training track. This tape shows how the experts do it. If you are new to S&R or police tracking, or if you are constantly having to retrain track layers, this tape can save you a lot of time and energy.

Training the Police Tracking Dog - levels two and three - This tape deals with Urban and Suburban tracking. It was done with the RCMP in Canada and is now used to help train new their K9 handlers. I would recommend that you go to my web site and read the training articles I have written on Tracking Through Drive (TTD). You can find them in the list of articles at http://leerburg.com/articles.htm.

When you have finished level one tracking 60 to 80 tracks and your dog can do the work then you can start air scenting. That's rubble work.

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Track Laying for Police Tracking Dogs $30.00+s&h

Question:

I did look for an answer in your website before I began this email.  I have a 7 month old GSD.  He is a male about 65 lbs now.  I am currently training him as an SAR scent dog.  He has some tracking imprinting as a pup and still likes to track today, which I let him do.  Most of the training I have began in basic obedience and "find" which he goes out no further than 25 yards and returns (recall). It took 7 weeks to teach him to speak on command and I used food and toys for motivation.  Now that he barks, on command, I need to fine tune it.  I am having problems with distractions.  Is it his age?   

Recently, he has started having distraction problems and I want to focus and work through him with that. I try to minimize the distraction and add minor distraction in a little at a time.  Other dogs are his biggest distracters, so we have to work away, for now, from other SAR dogs and then I hope to increase the distraction over time with success. His distraction and reaction to other dogs in non aggressive, he just wants to play with them.  He had, what I believe to be, great socialization between 8 and 12 weeks.  He is the friendliest, SAR dog I have ever seen. Non-aggression is important in a SAR dog, but so is focus, so I need help.

Also, I have not done a lot of leash training and am having some battles on leash with him.  I don't want his experience on lead to be all bad with him pulling, which seems to be right MY problem. His nose is to the ground on lead and he goes!!!!!! I believe a lot of it is his age and drive, but I have to draw the line somewhere, not sure where.

I am working with a SAR team, and there are trainers that can spend time with us on distraction issues but not so much his pulling while on lead, and other obedience skills.

At some point I want to have all the basic obedience skills in place, but don't want to interrupt the motivational searching he does. 

How can I best balance these two?  Will a obedience class with other dogs before he has learned more basic skills be a waste.  He is 7 months now, and has a high play and toy drive.  He obeys well in the home and yard and when focused on searching.  Areas away from home, seem to cause more distraction problems for him.  Walking on lead is rough, and I feel like most of the problem is me.

What part of your training guide should I start with?  Your one puppy training guide is from 8 weeks to 8 months. Since he is so close to the end of that age, should I be looking at another DVD?  Any thoughts on the balance of obedience and motivation search training and what DVD's would work for me would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Jacqueline

Answer:

Jacqueline,

You should be focusing on obedience training and drive building right now – not on searching. This is covered in these two DVD’S:

Basic Dog Obedience

Building Drive and Focus

I suggest that you read the training articles I have written on “tracking thru drive” (TTD) – the articles are on my web site.

Your dog is too young for TTD – this should not start until its 12 months old. There are two reasons for this. You need to be very careful about over exercising a young dog (so you don’t cause bad hips) and they don’t have the mental maturity to focus long enough for TTD.

S&R groups in this country almost all screw up the training by teaching area search before tracking. Feel free to tell your friends I said this. I have written about it in my articles. When you teach a dog to air scent before you teach it to track you have created your own problem for tracking. When you track - once dogs have learned to run around with their nose in the air looking for odor it's about impossible to teach them to look for lost tracks on the ground – they always pick up their nose and air scent. This is why the vast majority of S&R dogs in this country cant track for crap.

With a 7 month old dog you can be doing Foot Step Tracking - then switch it over to TTD later.

There is a lot of information on my web site. Read the Q&As and the archives of my web board. If I were you I would be focusing on marker training, (covered in the dvd) and pack structure right now.

Regards,
Ed Frawley