Our first time searching on the rubble pile!  I've kept Juno off the rubble since she got spayed almost 2 weeks ago.  We did our usual 3 repeats.  Juno and I at the bottom of the pile; Pam at the top in a big plastic culvert we have buried in the concrete.  The front is big and easy for the dogs to see as soon as they crest the top of the pile.  Juno thought she'd rather go hunting for whatever good things she'd been smelling.  I had to gater her up, bring her back nd start her in the rubble instead of in the grass.  We did what we call a snap up, where the victim calls the dog and as she is coming in, the lid snaps up and the victim is concealed.  Since the first round didn't go really well, we repeated the same thing.  That went better, so we moved to a closed lid call-out.  Pam called, but the lid was almost completely closed.  Excellent round.  She decided she was ready to work.  It takes this girl a while to switch from playing her games to playing mine.

Juno is proving that she can LEARN this game.  We still have to see if she WANTS to participate.

Juno did her first bark barrel today.  a bark barrel is two 55 gallon barrels with the lids cut off.  One has both ends cut off.  then, they are put together to make one long barrel.  Just enough room for a person to fit in!  We make lids to go in front of them.  Pam gets in the barrel for my dogs; I get in the barrel for hers.  The purpose of the bark barrel is the same as the box:  to teach the dog to bark at a person they can smell but can't see.

Since it was Juno's first time at the barrel, we needed to make sure she understood the game.  We decided on a "snap up".  Pam is in the barrel; I bring Juno in front of the barrel and about 25 feet or so away and Pam calls to Juno.  I release Juno and tell her to "Search".  When she is part way in, Pam snaps the lid up and disappears.  Juno did her run, Springer 'Spring' and then barked - just like she should!  Good Dog, Juno!!  We repeated exactly the same thing, then brought her around and had the lid up on the third rotation.  No problem!!  Each time she gets to Pam and barks, Pam opens the door and rewards her with food, making her bark for her food, reward and bark.  Eventually, we would like her to work for a toy, so her frisbee is in there too and the game ends with a frisbee toss.  The goal is to make her very happy and want to play the search game and get her rewards.

We did have some interference.  My 11 year old Newfoundland heard us playing the game and came out of the car to search for aunt Pam.  She ambled up to the barrel, knocked Juno out of the way and barked for her food.  Good old dog, Flo Jo!!  I wish I had another dog with her pure joy of finding people.  The Springers work for me.  Flo Jo worked because she loved finding people.

Baseball Diamonds:  Remember the baseball diamond that I direct the dog from base to base on?  WEll, we have a demonstration on Saturday and thought we'd practice an old trick with Rascal, male male Spriner, and one of Pam's dogs.  I send Rascal to third base.  Pam sends her dog to first base.  I send Rascal to pitchers.  Pam sends her dog to pitchers!  Yikes!!  Two dogs on pitchers!.  We used to do it with one "base".  Now we use two, so that one doesn't push the other off!  When they are both on pitchers, Pam sends her dog back to second and I hold Rascal on pitchers.  Then, I send Rascal to first or third.  Then, they both get called home.  Or, that is how it is supposed to work.  Today, Pam was using a new dog and had to encourage her to come onto pitchers with Rascal.  Then she sent her dog to second.  Her dog looked at her and Rascal went to second!  We just laughed, because then Rascal just decided we were too slow and he'd finish the pattern on his own!  Oh well.  Might as well have some fun!!     Who knows what will happen at the demo....

Just a brief training session today with my training partner, Pam. Juno first watched Pam run into the bark box and close the door. I released her, told her to search and she went out enthusiastically. I pulled her back, after her reward from Pam and sent her again. Unfortunately, I moved and that distracted her. She is more ADD than I am! Once her attention strayed, we couldn't get her back on track. I finally pulled her back and restarted her. good job the second time around.

We then worked Pam's #2 dog, TC. She seems to be having some issues moving around on the wooden pallets. So, we did several problems with her. I hid under the pallets and made her walk over them to find me. It takes a lot of encouragement from the victim to make the dog comfortable enough to come up and get the reward.

Rascal got a shot just because he was feeling left out. He cheated and followed my track instead of searching the air for scent. I guessed that he would and laid a track all over the pile after helping Pam into her hiding hole. But, when that didn't work, he did it right and found her with no problem.

Juno got a second run. This was her first "cold start" at the box. She needs to learn that when she sees this box or a barrel with a lid, that she should run up to it, sniff for the victim and if he's there, bark. She ran in with no problem! Good girl. I'll repeat today's exercised again next training to reinforce what she learned today. If all goes well, the following training session she will run the bark box cold her very first run out of the car.

I'm often asked how I train a search dog.  I'm starting Juno, my  18 month old English Springer Spaniel to work as a live find FEMA disaster dog.  There are less than 200 FEMA certified dogs in the system, so it is not a job that most dogs can accomplish.

Juno is not a perfect candidate.  In fact, I've started her about 3 or 4 other times and washed her each time.  She has a lot of problems, including extreme submissiveness and an over the top hunt drive.  So, she will find a victim and then go off to find another - hunting is the thing she likes to do.  She is supposed to stay and interact with the victim until I get there.  The victim is supposed to be the best reward in the world.  But, no one can create a game that is as good as Juno's...

This time, when I got back from my Dad's, I saw another spark from her.  OK, I'm trying it one last time.  Her obedience is good, we are working on a long down and an emergency stop.  She has wonderful agility and only needs control.  Her directionals - going where I tell her to go - are week, but progressing, and we've done nothing with her bark alert.  She has good agility on the rubble.  That shouldn't be an issue.

So, the bark alert is the goal for today's training.  She was spayed just 4 days ago, so we are a bit hesitant about working her too hard.    We are beginning her bark work at a "bark box".  The victim gets in, the door closes and the dog has to bark. For a young dog, we have the victim tease the dog with their toy, run to the box and get in, and then we let the dog go.  Juno did a great job of going up to the victim and barking.  Next run, the door starts off open and it gets closed part way as teh dog approaches the box.  for the final of our set of 3 runs,  the door is closed as the dog is walking away and the dog turns and runs to the box and then barks at the person they can't see.  Juno did a wonderful job.  We put a long line on her that the victim held.  Then, if she decided to go chase a butterfly, the victim could bring her back.

We repeated that series of 3 runs using a stranger as the victim.  She did a great job!  I decided to put her up for the day.  She had been successful.  But, at the end of the day, my husband came up and wanted to see her.  so, I did everything wrong.  I aked her to do something totally different, I didn't have the leash on her, etc, etc!  She did pass the front of the barrel and go to the back to bark, but she recovered well and barked at the victim nicely with the door closed and the victim hidden.

We will introduce her to the bark barrel at Pam's this week.  The progressions will be the same, with a different piece of equipment and in a different location.

Sat. Aug 2, 2008

Imagine a baseball field with 1st, 2nd 3rd bases and pitchers plate and home.  Each base is 25 yards from the others and from home plate.  We teach the dog to go to all the bases from home.    To get to 2nd, they start at pitchers and are sent back.  On a full course, this means the dog is moving 50 yards away and taking commands.  Our dogs have to be able to search a building or piece of rubble when we can't get to it, so they have to go where we tell them and follow our directions.  I thought Juno understood the basic commands of 'Go Out', 'Over' and 'Back', but I've decided she is just confused.  So, we'll back up a few steps and make it positive and happy for her.  It is easy to get mad and yell and lose your temper, but dogs dont' work well in that, so suck it up and stay happy!