Dogs are not only great household pets; they are also excellent partners for security patrols as well as search and rescue operations. Their keen olfactory sense make them ideal agents for hunting prey, sniffing out the illegal substances, locating cadavers, finding missing persons and a lot more.
Dogs intended for search and rescue operations undergo special trainings that cater to their specific purpose. Search and Rescue Dog Training aims to enhance the different major fields of dog behavior that are important in building its physical endurance and honing its mental capability so that it can be able to perform search and rescue procedures effectively. In a search and rescue dog training, dogs are trained for obedience, agility as well as proper searching, retrieving and tracing functions.
Search and rescue dog training usually begins with obedience training. This serves as the underlying foundation for the whole training. With the guidance of trainers, dogs are expected to carry out different exercise combinations that teach obedience like jogging at heel, staying still, sitting and many more. Dogs that satisfactorily pass the first phase of the training will then proceed to the next exercise, which is the agility phase.
Conditioning the dog’s physical ability, preparing it for strenuous tasks that usually come in actual search and rescue operations is the main objective of the agility exercise. It consists of different types of jumping exercises that is administered by the trainer.
In a search and rescue training, dogs are also taught tracking exercise. Tracking exercises make use of dog’s keen sense of smell, training dogs to follows different types of smells ranging from human to vegetative odor. This is especially important in helping police officers locate missing people, search for evidences and sniff out illegal substances. Dogs have about 125 to 200 million olfactory cells, which is why they have a highly remarkable smell sensitivity. Dogs can even identify odor for even as little as one part in a trillion. Compared to humans wherein they lean more towards thinking, dogs are more inclined with their sense of smell.
A tracking exercise will usually require a non-restrictive harness and a line that is about twenty to twenty-five feet long, preferably made of leather. Dogs who successfully pass the tracking exercise will then move to retrieving.
The retrieving exercise trains dogs how to recover objects. In this exercise, different materials are presented to the dog wherein it is taught to become familiar with each material’s smell. The dog trainer usually applies the fetch command, wherein the dog picks up the item, returns to the trainer while holding it for a little while. The trainer will then give another command to signal the dog to give it back to him.
The final exercise is the searching, particularly for missing persons. Dogs are trained this exercise by sniffing the footprints of a person. If however, there are no footprints, the dog shall be made to become familiar with the scent of the missing person or any of his belongings.
Dogs that successfully complete the requirements for all five exercises shall be all set to take on search and rescue operations with the police force.
Dogs intended for search and rescue operations undergo special trainings that cater to their specific purpose. Search and Rescue Dog Training aims to enhance the different major fields of dog behavior that are important in building its physical endurance and honing its mental capability so that it can be able to perform search and rescue procedures effectively. In a search and rescue dog training, dogs are trained for obedience, agility as well as proper searching, retrieving and tracing functions.
Search and rescue dog training usually begins with obedience training. This serves as the underlying foundation for the whole training. With the guidance of trainers, dogs are expected to carry out different exercise combinations that teach obedience like jogging at heel, staying still, sitting and many more. Dogs that satisfactorily pass the first phase of the training will then proceed to the next exercise, which is the agility phase.
Conditioning the dog’s physical ability, preparing it for strenuous tasks that usually come in actual search and rescue operations is the main objective of the agility exercise. It consists of different types of jumping exercises that is administered by the trainer.
In a search and rescue training, dogs are also taught tracking exercise. Tracking exercises make use of dog’s keen sense of smell, training dogs to follows different types of smells ranging from human to vegetative odor. This is especially important in helping police officers locate missing people, search for evidences and sniff out illegal substances. Dogs have about 125 to 200 million olfactory cells, which is why they have a highly remarkable smell sensitivity. Dogs can even identify odor for even as little as one part in a trillion. Compared to humans wherein they lean more towards thinking, dogs are more inclined with their sense of smell.
A tracking exercise will usually require a non-restrictive harness and a line that is about twenty to twenty-five feet long, preferably made of leather. Dogs who successfully pass the tracking exercise will then move to retrieving.
The retrieving exercise trains dogs how to recover objects. In this exercise, different materials are presented to the dog wherein it is taught to become familiar with each material’s smell. The dog trainer usually applies the fetch command, wherein the dog picks up the item, returns to the trainer while holding it for a little while. The trainer will then give another command to signal the dog to give it back to him.
The final exercise is the searching, particularly for missing persons. Dogs are trained this exercise by sniffing the footprints of a person. If however, there are no footprints, the dog shall be made to become familiar with the scent of the missing person or any of his belongings.
Dogs that successfully complete the requirements for all five exercises shall be all set to take on search and rescue operations with the police force.
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