Post by oksaradt on Mar 23, 2008 13:28:22 GMT -5
Murphy has now progressed to 8-inch deep buried remains. This means I get to start using post hole diggers for the holes. It also means I have to create blank holes as well as holes with distractions. It also means I have to pay more attention to temperature as I'll explain later.
Eleven 8-inch deep buried remains holes were dug along a 100-ft tape with 9-foot spacing from the centers. Each hole had 4 oz of distilled water poured into it. 20 blank holes were dug at the same time by driving the post hole diggers down 3 inches into the soil, lifting the sod out, rotating it and placing it back down. This is done so you don't train your dog on freshly turned earth. Two holes in the same area were also dug 8 inches deep. One of these hole had fresh deer bones tossed into as these bones had been found while I was hiding for an area search dog the day before. These bones had some tissue still on them and came from the vertebral column. The other distraction hole had a freshly killed bird that one of my other ADTs, Rusty, caught for me. All the blank and distraction holes had water poured around their seams.
Each of the 11 source holes had six teeth (pulp free) dropped down into them. The north, middle, and south hole each also had a small human bone dropped into it, two carpals and a tarsal. I took photos of each hole in order in case I needed it for reference later. These holes were created on March 16 with the intent of waiting at least six if not seven days to work them. I put the same number of teeth in each hole, so that I know how many to recover when I'm done with the training holes.
The teeth had also been in a solution of distilled water for a week in preparation for this. This solution was divied up into the 11 holes as well to aid in scent diffusion. Soil type is labeled as "Sandy Loam" which in Oklahoma means usually clay with sand and minimal compost material. A clean shovel was used to refill the holes with the top sod piece replaced to minimize appearance variation. The blank holes were a mix of this and sometimes the sod was turned over to make them more visually obvious to see if I had visual issues with either dog.
When working buried, the handler needs to start becoming aware of temperature differences. Yesterday I decided to see what conditions I had to deal with. The air temperature was 63F. The soil temperature was 65.1 at one inch depth. The soil temperature at six inches was 62.5'F. One would assume it was a bit colder at the source depth, but my thermometer only went six inches down. The sky was overcast when I started Murphy on this. I stopped him when the sun came out as the air temp would rise making the problems even more difficult. Basically, what I had was a thermal scent barrier between my sources and the soil/air interface.
Murphy has been on long-lead off and on to teach him the "back" command. I put it out near the area in case he decided to test his limits, but he stayed in the general area nicely. Murphy took 4 minutes 49 seconds to make the first find. Murphy found a second buried and then the sun came out, so I took him off to a surface skeletal problem. He found that and then I had to go on a death call, so training stopped.
This morning, the conditions were much better for scent work. Soil temperature at six inches was 55.2'F. Soil Temperature at one inch was 48.7'F. Air Temperature was 40.1'F near the soil and 38'F at four feet up. This means the air flow should expand from my sources up into the air where the dog can detect it.
The holes were placed on a minor slope. Both dogs worked them this morning and both dogs picked up the scent of the burieds 2-4 feet downslope from the burieds and then worked up to the source hole. Murphy got his 11 finds in 14 minutes and 21 seconds including in that time going off to find cat feces to munch on. This isn't a big deal with a six month old puppy as they are going to entertain themselves when they can. Dax got her 11 finds in 8 minutes 44 seconds.
Time it took me to set up this training problem....oh.....around 2 hours. The price of obtaining accuracy and confidence with the dog.
Cheers,
Jim
Eleven 8-inch deep buried remains holes were dug along a 100-ft tape with 9-foot spacing from the centers. Each hole had 4 oz of distilled water poured into it. 20 blank holes were dug at the same time by driving the post hole diggers down 3 inches into the soil, lifting the sod out, rotating it and placing it back down. This is done so you don't train your dog on freshly turned earth. Two holes in the same area were also dug 8 inches deep. One of these hole had fresh deer bones tossed into as these bones had been found while I was hiding for an area search dog the day before. These bones had some tissue still on them and came from the vertebral column. The other distraction hole had a freshly killed bird that one of my other ADTs, Rusty, caught for me. All the blank and distraction holes had water poured around their seams.
Each of the 11 source holes had six teeth (pulp free) dropped down into them. The north, middle, and south hole each also had a small human bone dropped into it, two carpals and a tarsal. I took photos of each hole in order in case I needed it for reference later. These holes were created on March 16 with the intent of waiting at least six if not seven days to work them. I put the same number of teeth in each hole, so that I know how many to recover when I'm done with the training holes.
The teeth had also been in a solution of distilled water for a week in preparation for this. This solution was divied up into the 11 holes as well to aid in scent diffusion. Soil type is labeled as "Sandy Loam" which in Oklahoma means usually clay with sand and minimal compost material. A clean shovel was used to refill the holes with the top sod piece replaced to minimize appearance variation. The blank holes were a mix of this and sometimes the sod was turned over to make them more visually obvious to see if I had visual issues with either dog.
When working buried, the handler needs to start becoming aware of temperature differences. Yesterday I decided to see what conditions I had to deal with. The air temperature was 63F. The soil temperature was 65.1 at one inch depth. The soil temperature at six inches was 62.5'F. One would assume it was a bit colder at the source depth, but my thermometer only went six inches down. The sky was overcast when I started Murphy on this. I stopped him when the sun came out as the air temp would rise making the problems even more difficult. Basically, what I had was a thermal scent barrier between my sources and the soil/air interface.
Murphy has been on long-lead off and on to teach him the "back" command. I put it out near the area in case he decided to test his limits, but he stayed in the general area nicely. Murphy took 4 minutes 49 seconds to make the first find. Murphy found a second buried and then the sun came out, so I took him off to a surface skeletal problem. He found that and then I had to go on a death call, so training stopped.
This morning, the conditions were much better for scent work. Soil temperature at six inches was 55.2'F. Soil Temperature at one inch was 48.7'F. Air Temperature was 40.1'F near the soil and 38'F at four feet up. This means the air flow should expand from my sources up into the air where the dog can detect it.
The holes were placed on a minor slope. Both dogs worked them this morning and both dogs picked up the scent of the burieds 2-4 feet downslope from the burieds and then worked up to the source hole. Murphy got his 11 finds in 14 minutes and 21 seconds including in that time going off to find cat feces to munch on. This isn't a big deal with a six month old puppy as they are going to entertain themselves when they can. Dax got her 11 finds in 8 minutes 44 seconds.
Time it took me to set up this training problem....oh.....around 2 hours. The price of obtaining accuracy and confidence with the dog.
Cheers,
Jim
