tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post1147619687781029250..comments2024-03-28T00:23:01.632-04:00Comments on Lem's Levity: Tracking dog finds missing children in fifteen minutesTrooper Yorkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978703998566102194noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-84100864403834880412019-03-26T19:49:46.092-04:002019-03-26T19:49:46.092-04:00Good story and training info.
This article assu...Good story and training info. <br /><br /><i>This article assumes police dogs are the only qualified animals to do this. Not so. There will be trained dogs in the immediate area, certified or not. And they should be called in first before the whole neighborhood starts looking around. Search groups should contact their local dog tracking groups immediately, not as last resort.</i><br /><br />By the time reality sinks in enough for an adult to realize a child is truly lost or missing, as opposed holding on to the belief that the child is somewhere nearby, could easily be located or will soon return home; calling the police is the next step.MamaMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00300520132972757396noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-36512931881938496012019-03-26T17:43:19.999-04:002019-03-26T17:43:19.999-04:00The dog starts out training in grass crush scent, ...The dog starts out training in grass crush scent, by the way. You don't age the tracks at first.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-4134823959469625092019-03-26T15:00:56.477-04:002019-03-26T15:00:56.477-04:00The dog instinctivly knows how to find what he wan...The dog instinctivly knows how to find what he wants using his nose. You're just training him to find what you want instead and stick to that trail even if it's crossed by more interesting scents.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-84290805532062372042019-03-26T11:42:06.186-04:002019-03-26T11:42:06.186-04:00Ricpic, they do both. But you've trained them...Ricpic, they do both. But you've trained them to have success by putting their nose down. <br /><br />After we trained my German Shepherd, we never did do any actual tracking. Thereafter we kept his skill up by playing find the toy game in the back yard.<br /><br />And there was no way for anyone else to know he had that skill. He wasn't registered anywhere for that. He never passed any certification, nor was he ever tested by any organization. No proper trials. No ribbon. <br /><br />We'd make a track with a few turns without crossing over. The toy left at about the half way so we didn't have to track back the same path. <br /><br />I'd leave the dog in the house as I hid the toy and the little bastard would cheat and run to another window to watch me. So I had to enlist another family member to hold him.<br /><br />I feel a bit bad about challenging the dog so hard by putting the toy on the fence post or on top of the shed roof or inside a window well, inside the crook of a cottonwood tree branch, all places too difficult for him to get it. <br /><br />Although, he did jump at the post until he got his ball, and he did learn to jump to the top of the shed shaped like a barn, and he did learn he could claw his way up a cottonwood tree. But he jumped into the window well and couldn't jump out because it was deep and there wasn't enough room inside for him to squat first and he couldn't pull himself out. Then I thought to myself what an asshole I am for purposefully making it so hard. I drove that dog crazy because he would NOT give up. That dog was total game on all the time. Chip Ahoyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12597726289890879627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-81448074219883612372019-03-26T09:34:32.664-04:002019-03-26T09:34:32.664-04:00So once these air sniffing dogs have been trained ...So once these air sniffing dogs have been trained to sniff the ground is that imprinted in them permanently? Or do they go back to being air sniffers....and have to be "reminded?"ricpichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01321511130788764861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-15418776585656188492019-03-26T07:46:45.025-04:002019-03-26T07:46:45.025-04:00A friend's dog loved to fetch sticks. With hi...A friend's dog loved to fetch sticks. With his nose to the ground he could find it in the tallest grass. Sometimes, if he didn't see where it was going, it was necessary for him to do wide sweeps of an area before he located it which he always did. I once bet the owner $10 that he wouldn't be able to bring in a large branch after it was thrown from the end of a dock. He dived in, swam to it and pushed that thing to the shore in his mouth. Watching that was the best $10 I ever lost.Dad Boneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15600586111867956669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-62620042478480662992019-03-26T07:30:31.083-04:002019-03-26T07:30:31.083-04:00I thought the dog could have done it in five minut...<i>I thought the dog could have done it in five minutes had there not been a hundred people messing up the scene before they brought in the dog.</i><br /><br />Too many people doing Elvis' impersonation of Carl Perkins.edutcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15033144261502435196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-717986195212622043.post-78914109084349154862019-03-26T07:03:52.362-04:002019-03-26T07:03:52.362-04:00Koehler bases it on the forced fetch, so no game i...Koehler bases it on the forced fetch, so no game is necessary except for praise for doing it right. (The Koehler Method of Training Tracking Dogs or some such).<br /><br />Unfortunately he apparently didn't actually do the exercises he recommends because the setup time (lay a track and wait a half hour) makes it hopelessly long to do. But having started, you can figure it out. That's enough for the dog to get the idea.<br /><br />My Doberman wanted to use her eyes, which I remedied by cutting the toe out of a sock and folding it over and putting it on her as a blindfold.<br /><br />The eventual game evolved, taking no setup time, walk out into a alfalfa field, with turns and so forth, and drop a sock somewhere in the loop back to the dog; then send her ("find it!") free running into the field to find the sock. She ran it at high speed and always found the sock, which she carried around for the rest of the day.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.com