LOU CASTLE - TRAINING DIFFERENCES

Differences in the Training for Search Dogs

There are basic differences between training sport dogs, or example, for the biting sports or AKC Obedience or Agility dogs, and dogs that are doing search work such as PSD's (Police Service Dogs) or SAR (Search and Rescue Dogs).

Balance

Search dogs need to be in balance. That means that there's a balance in their abilities and their commands. If you work the recall too much, the dog may stop ranging. If you work the sit next-to-the-handler too much the dog may run to the handler to sit even though the sit command may have been given with him at a distance. The recall is often the biggest problem since it's one reason that many people come to the Ecollar, a poor recall. Because they're afraid of losing their dog, they work only the recall or work it for too long. This throws the dog out of balance and he may stop ranging. Some dogs may not even want to leave their handler's side.

This is obviously a problem for most types of search dogs. And it's usually one that's been created by the handler who's put his dog out of balance by working on the recall too much, or even not working other movements with the Ecollar at all.

Fortunately it's easily overcome. If your dog stops ranging or isn't ranging as far as he used to, it's a sign that he's out of balance. (It could also be a sign that your level of stim is just a little too high.) But if you've been following these articles, this will be apparent.

If this has happened to you simply stop working on the recall for a while and work on the sit, down and/or place. Work on those other commands until the dog is back in balance.

Focus

Few trainers outside the world of those search dogs are aware of those differences. It's not that they can't be trained using these techniques, it's that by using methods of high compulsion (which low level stim is NOT) you can shift the dog's focus from his work to the handler. This will mean that he's less of a pure hunting animal.In extreme cases the handler can even become a distraction to the work.

For the simple search problems that are encountered in gun dog work or AKC trials, it matters little where the dog's focus is. Those are relatively simple scent problems. But SAR workers and police K-9 handlers encounter much more difficult search problems. In addition the consequence of a sport competitor missing a find means the loss of a few points. If a SAR worker misses a find someone may die. If a police officer misses a find a felon may go home instead of to jail.

The work with SAR dogs and PSD's must be done so that the dog is able to achieve drive satisfaction as he performs the obedience. This is done by incorporating the obedience into the search work. The obedience must have a purpose beyond the "because I say so" that is acceptable with sport dogs and pets. If it doesn't it can shift the dog's focus to the handler instead of the work. Ideally the SAR dog and the PSD (hereinafter referred to as the search dog) work as the purest hunting animal that his drives permit him to be. But we need the dog to have some focus on us so that we can recall him away from danger, give him a stationary command, such as the sit or down to prevent him from going into danger or to rest him; and to redirect him. This requires some focus on the handler. If the work is done properly most of the dog's focus will stay on the search. But if it's not done properly too much of the dog's focus will shift to the handler and the dog won't be the best hunting animal that he can be.

It's not that he won't make the finds it's that he will distracted from them. When I first started using Ecollars I used higher levels of stim than I do now. I noticed that my dog had to get much closer to the source of the scent than before I started using the Ecollar. Before he would make finds 25' to 35' away from the hiding decoy. But now he had to approach to within 10' to make the same find. It wasn't that the Ecollar was doing damage to his nose. It wasn't burning the scent cells. It wasn't scrambling his brain. (Refer to the section on myths.) It was shifting his focus from the work to me. This resulted in the dog having to get into a higher level of concentration of the rafts before it registered to him that he was in a scent cone. (Refer to Scent and the Scenting Dog, Bill Syrotuck.)

By way of analogy . . . You're sitting alone in a quiet room. Your eyes are closed. If I were to call your name quietly, you'd probably hear me and respond. But now you're engrossed in the favorite part of your favorite book. If I were to call your name at the same level as before, you'd probably not hear me. The stimulus, the calling of your name, would be the same, but because your focus was on something else, you didn't notice me calling you. I'd have to raise my voice before you'd hear me calling you. This "Raising of my voice is the shift of focus that I'm referring to. This shift of focus to the handler will occur with any high level use of compulsion such as high levels of correction from a conventional correction collar, high levels of stim from an Ecollar, or, for some dogs, a raised voice.

And so I went looking for a fix. I found it in low level stim use combined with working the dog so that he achieves drive satisfaction.

Many people who train pets or sport dogs where the concern is what the dog is doing and how he looks, rather than what he's thinking or where his attention is focused just don't understand this. For those dogs, pets for example, we don't care what he's thinking when he's called or where his attention is, but it's essential that a search dog maintain his focus on the search, even when he's performing an obedience movement. He may be recalled right through a scent cone and we want him to tell us if that happens. We don't want blind "DO IT BECAUSE I SAID TO DO IT" obedience. That could result in a miss. If the dog is headed for danger a second command will keep him safe. But the search will still be foremost in his mind.

Working the dog so that he achieves drive satisfaction involves incorporating the search into the obedience commands. This is part of the Guidance System developed by Donn Yarnall. In the Guidance System the dog is taught that there's a higher purpose to the obedience than because the handler said so. That higher purpose is the find at the end of the hunt. Instead of the master-slave relationship that usually exists in obedience there's more of a partnership. The dog knows some things better, the scent work and the handler knows other things better, where he wants the dog to search. All obedience is directed towards the search and the find.

A dog taught conventional "because I said so" obedience learns that for each command there's a safe spot (Or safe behavior if you please) that makes the stim stop. A dog taught with the guidance system and drive satisfaction sees as the end goal, the search and the find.

If you watch a video of a dog trained with conventional obedience (it's easier to see on tape because you can watch it over and over again) you'll see the dog settle into the behavior. The commanded behavior is the end. A dog trained with the guidance system knows that the obedience is just part of the bigger scheme of things. He's waiting to be directed into more obedience, or a bite, or a search. He's not in a safe spot that is the end all and be all of the obedience command and his body language will show you that.

Search dogs exist for only one purpose, finding the source of the scent that they've been trained to find. Everything we do with them is directed to that end. A pet is given a down to demonstrate that the handler has control over him or perhaps because the handler wants to keep the dog safe from some danger, such as an approaching car. A search dog is given a down for those reasons as well and also so that he can rest or so that the handler can check someplace the dog can't get to or some other search-related thing his handler has to do. It's not the end; it's only a step along the way. You want the dog thinking "search" the entire time.

Sometimes it happens that the scent being looked for will flow over the dog when he's being rested, on a down. If he's been taught that the down is a safe spot and the end of the movement, he may not notice it. If he's still thinking "search," he'll alert and let his handler know that he's got scent, even though he's in a down.

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