The first step in training a search dog is to start with an appropriate dog. You will want a puppy if at all possible. Dogs which are rescued from shelters and so on are not necessarily your best candidate, for they may have issues from the past which will make your job much more difficult. The dog you select may be any breed but a breed with a large nose is preferable, for the nose is the most important part of the dog's ability to scent and as a general rule, the larger the nose, the more scenting capacity is available.
The first thing to consider is that the dog must be well socialized. To "socialize" simply means to assure that the puppy has received as much exposure to all kinds of things as is possible. Begin early to get the puppy out into the world. Think of any circumstance you want your dog to be in...from the wilderness to the urban scenarios , to thunderstorms, to large crowds, to flapping flags, to noisy construction sites...and take the puppy into these environments. Begin to teach the puppy especially to love people and to insure that it receives the most joy in its life from its exposure to people. You will want to make sure that the most fun this dog ever gets is the fun it gets from being with people, for in the end the whole focus of this dog should be to find a human being.
Evaluate the puppy before you begin by setting up a few simple tests: is he happy to be with people? Is he brave and courageous? (will he follow you or someone else into strange rooms or strange places?) Will he go into underbrush after a toy? Will he retrieve, or at least chase and follow a moving object or a toy that you have thrown? Is he afraid of anything, such as cats, other dogs, noises?
The search training actually begins when you set up a "puppy runaway". The first few times you set this up you should be the person who runs away. Use a harness because you do not want the puppy to be choked with a collar in this process and he will struggle mightily to give chase. (If he doesn't then perhaps you need to consider a different dog.) Have someone else hold your puppy. Pick a windy day and make sure you know which direction the wind is coming from, for you will run away from your puppy into the wind. You then squat down and give him a "lovey" and a smooch, then turn and run away from your puppy, a distance of anywhere from 30 to 100 feet depending on the size of your puppy. Drop down into tall grass or hide behind a tree or bush. Then have the person release your puppy with the one word or command that you have chosen to use as the command word. A simple command: "Search!" is fine. The puppy should run after you and find you quickly and efficiently. When he does, give him lots and lots of affection, kisses, belly rubs, all of these things are preferable to food, but a food treat will do if this is the only thing that turns your dog on. This "puppy runaway" should be done two or three times a week, no more than twice each time, gradually switching to different people and YOU will handle the puppy. Do not proceed further until you know for certain that the puppy will give chase and has begun to know the meaning of the word "search" . Set it up so that he will not always run directly to the person, that there will be obstructions in the way, or very little wind, or something that will ensure that he is beginning to use his nose rather than just rushing blindly to the place he saw the person disappear. (You can even turn him around so that he can't watch when the person is running away.) When it is clear that he is using his nose and when he understands that the word "search" means to find someone, you are on your way to the next step, the puppy's first real "search" when he has NOT seen someone run away from him.
Socializing a new puppy is probably the most important thing you can do to insure that you will have a successful search dog. It is highly important that your search dog, in the end, will be absolutely fearless, courageous, exploratory, and curious. It is equally important that he will not allow any distraction to interfere with his focus on searching.
When you expose your puppy to all kinds of happenings, you are exposing your dog to stress and this is vital. It is an automatic stressful situation for a dog when structured routines are not followed, when daily schedules are not rigidly followed, when different things are introduced into his environment. In today's modern world, occurrences which can cause stress are much more common than they used to be. A dog in a natural state, like all animals in the larger scheme of nature, is an animal that follows the old axiom of "survival of the fittest". The dog that can respond to stressful situations is more likely to survive trauma if he should ever be injured. There are many breeders who will purposely stress an infant with the daily ritual of turning the puppy upside down for a few seconds, laying the puppy on a cold surface, and pinching slightly between the toes, all of these are procedures which tend to mimic the kinds of stress a puppy will undergo when born in the wild, and have long been known as techniques to desensitize the puppy to stress while early in life.
The search dog will end up in precarious situations. He may some day have to walk across highly unstable surfaces. He may be exposed to huge crowds which include ATV's (all terrain vehicles), horses with riders, helicopters, people in extreme situations who are afraid, anxious, hurt or in despair....all of these things and more. He may be attacked by loose dogs or have to go through areas where livestock will surround him. The search dog should be able to sort all these different things out and face situations calmly and still focus on the job required of him.
Exposure at an early age and continuing exposure to all kinds of situations is vital. Don't miss out on opportunities to introduce your puppy to people of all kinds, from the elderly and infirm to the rambunctious and noisy children. If you don't live in areas where you can get to places where there are people, then make the effort to take your puppy to these areas. County fairs, parking lots at malls, neighborhood softball games, parades, flea markets, any place where there are crowds of people are suitable places for exposure for your puppy.
Exposure to other animals in urban and rural areas is also important. The smell of deer and wild things should be introduced to your puppy and you should take the opportunity at that time to correct the dog against being overly interested in such things. Furthermore exposure to other dogs and domesticated livestock teaches him early that these things are common occurrences and will not hurt him. To that end, while you are "socializing" and getting your puppy out and about, you can train him to ignore certain things. Cats and neighborhood dogs should be left alone. Quick corrections on the leash while walking the dog are necessary to teach him that he must pay attention to your command rather than the distraction. If you ignore such sudden situations as umbrellas opening, elevator doors closing, huge trucks going by....all of these noisy and possibly frightening things will be faced by your dog calmly if you face them calmly.
Above all do not touch your dog and praise your dog if he shows fear. What you are actually doing is reinforcing fearful behavior by petting him and reassuring him. What you should do is be quite matter of fact and calm when your dog shows fearfulness about strange or unusual things and allow the dog to investigate and figure out for himself that it is okay. Knowing that YOU are not afraid or upset translates to the dog that it is okay and he will lose his fear.
Search dogs need to be able to focus on the one thing that they are trained to do, to find living humans or dead human tissue (cadaver). Focus is much improved when the dog will not be distracted by other things. This is why exposure to all manner of things is important in the early training of your search dog. It is necessary that your search dog have a one track mind and that he does not allow other things to become more interesting than the search. Exposure and socializing make it much easier to train him that certain things can be disregarded. A Search dog that will devote his entire mind and body to the purpose of finding his human must be your final goal.
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