Post by oksaradt on Jul 28, 2008 11:12:39 GMT -5
This post won't be about the mechanics of SAR, but more about the attitude of the bulk of U.S. SAR dog teams. It's going to seem like I'm wandering, but bear with me. I have a point. And, please don't take what I write about myself as bragging or any other way. I'm simply trying to explain differences in attitude from my perspective. That doesn't make it right or wrong, but my opinion.
From my perspective, SAR dog team training and U.S. Martial Arts have a lot in common. I could be described as a NiDan in the Fugakukai Akidio organization. That means I was deemed a 2nd degree black belt by this organization. About five years ago, da wife asked me to make a choice. We have no kids, so I was able to put my free time into getting a 2nd masters, doing Aikido three times a week, and training in SAR with a team once or twice a week.......*grin* as well as traveling around the world teaching my way out of a job and then starting a new business. Busy hands are happy hands I always say. My point is that I'm not longer actively practicing Aikido because da wife requested I give up one pursuit. So, I gave up Aikido after 11 years.
I studied Aikido with one sensei for the first five years. He was "old school" in that there were "white belts" and there were "black belts". In the old school, 10 years of diligent training might get one to the point where they can be deemed a black belt. After three years with the old school sensei (master teacher), he very begrudgingly handed me a "blue belt" with no explanation. He was a really nice guy that I could talk about anything with, so I asked him, "ummm, no disrespect, but what's this crap?" He almost hung his head and stated, "it's not your fault, it's the other students." Most U.S. martial arts dojos experience a high turn-over rate. People watch a Steven Segal movie, fantasize, and decide they want to be that guy. They throw down some bucks for training, buy the heavy cotton gi, and promise to come regularly. After a few weeks of boring rolls exercises and some "wimpy moves" they lose interest. Some do stick it out. I think at the time I received a blue belt, we had these five "biker types", really nice guys with some sweet bikes, cool tattoos, and faces I never wanted to meet in a dark alley. Aikido is a very technical art developed to allow the japanese farmers to defend themselves against the Samarai in their armor. It is all about timing, precise movements in response to your attacker, and using your attacker's force against them. The sensei would show the class a defense against a style of attack and then we'd practice against each other. I have a high pain tolerence, so unless you did the technique right I'd just stand there looking at you politely. They would say, "ok, you do it!" And they'd suddenly be on the floor with their wrist in my hand. The sensei was afraid of losing these students for what they've perceive as a lack of respect. He figured if I had a special "blue belt" then they could justify their inability to drop me with my expertise.
During this time, I had attended seminars at the Fugakukai dojo as I worked with several of their students where I was employed. I always put on a white belt to attend and practice with them as that is expected. If I go back to my old dojo, I go in wearing a white belt and one of my buddies will quickly run up and bitch me out, telling me to put on a black belt. In this dojo, black belts mean you are expected to teach, not that you can kick ass.
At about five years, my first sensei's wife put her foot down and said he needed to focus on "making babies and making money." He capitulated. We parted good friends and he now has six little ones. He always tried to do whatever he was focused on to the fullest extent.
So, my buddies at work talked me into joining their dojo. I should state that Aikido involves you getting thrown.....a lot. Unlike the striking arts, where it's best to stay on your feet, this art expects the attacker to go flying somewhere. The first sensei didn't have a lot of money, so I learned to do my breakfalls and rolls on wood floors, concrete floors, grass, whatever. The new school had "heaven in a work mat." They started out placing 3/4 inch plywood down, chevy valve springs next, another 3/4 plywood sheet, then two layers of gym mats under a very large stretched canvas. This was a large dojo with students that were lawyers, doctors, accoutants, engineers....as well as homeless guys, jailers, cops, plumbers...but they had access to bucks. Being launched six feet into the air and landing on this mat seemed (to me) like landing on a cloud. And, I should point out that one reason I stayed with Aikido so long is I am addicted to the milli-seconds of negative gravity one can experience if thrown from a very hard attack. Anyway, getting to my point, thanks for bearing with me.
I'd been going to this dojo for about 3 months when I get a yellow belt. Another 3 months and I get an orange belt. My wife comments, "Well, seems like you finally have this Aikido thing figured out as your belts are changing." ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!
The simple thing of it is that Americans (in general) want/need/demand routine recognition and titles regardless if they mean anything. The yellow belt is normally given to a student that the dojo feels can survive their rolls and falls. My first night there I had so much joy with their mat that I ended up giving a little breakfall and roll demonstration without knowing it. There was always free time on the mat after each class. I picked a corner and just let fly. I can literally jump up and then dive straight down into a mat and turn it into a roll. There is a little rush as you watch the mat coming close and then your body takes over. MY BODY TAKES OVER because I had practiced these rolls thousands of times to the point where I no longer had to think about them. My body responded subconciously because of the many thousands of baby steps (BABY STEPS....subliminal message there) I'd subjected it to.
I was requested to be an attacker fairly quickly because a good attacker does so with zeal, without regard of what is going to be done to him/her. It's an honest attack, not choreographed. Only with an honest attack can a student learn the proper way to defend and what the attacker goes through. I was also known to survive just about anything they did to me. The Judo and JuJitSu stuff......well, that often left me not wanting to get out of bed the next morning.
BUT, I got the yellow belt for "time served". This dojo that was doing well financially had learned that to keep students, they required new titles JUST FOR COMING. Gee, like dog teams get for attending seminars. Does it mean they are proficient at what was addressed at the seminar, maybe but more likely not. The Certificate of Attendance bolsters one's resume and gives a lawyer pause, but it doesn't say squat about what you or your dog can do.
The new sensei with the new dojo pulled me aside to discuss this phenomena. He told me that a first degree black belt basically really meant you were "ready to learn." You did have to demonstrate proficiency for the top two brown belts and the black belt, so they knew you had a clue. As I said, black belts bascially mark those that can teach others without doing harm versus the rest. The real experts in this art wore red-and-white belts and those people were expected to contribute to the art more so than just repeat to others what they had been taught.
In the dog world, you'll also see the title, "MASTER TRAINER". With some this is self-dubbed. With others it means you apprenticed for so long under a master trainer who deemed you basically will do more good than harm. It is basically time served, not successes or experience in the field. It is just a method like the belts to deem who has been there longer. But, we Amercians, we like titles.
(So, Jim, where is all this going?)
I routinely (really routinely) will get queries from different people I help along with HRD training. I try to explain to them that I tend to view "dogs trained like Dax, Tempe, Murphy (I can name lots of other dogs other people have trained this way)" differently than I do the typical SAR dog who might not have started training till it was two or three years old, OR has been through lots of different training venues as the handler/owner bounces from trainer to trainer till they find someone they think has a clue. Such an example is a comment I made about Murphy's water training. Next, I'll create a ring of mason jars, but these will be fraught with peril. A couple of jars will have animal remains in them, a couple of jars will have rotting vegetation in them to create methane, a couple of jars will have human remains in them in sand under the water, a couple of jars will be blank, and a couple of jars will have cloth and wood in them. These jars will be spaced in a ring where the space between each jar in the ring will be four feet to allow for overlaps....TO INTENTIONALLY CREATE OVERLAPS, i.e. I expect the HRs scent to overflow from one jar to the ringers. I expect Murphy to fail on some of these jars and to learn from those failures. I will repeatedly put him in situations where he will be forced to decide if HRs are there or not, if he's supposed to tell me about that jar or not, or if there's really nothing in that jar he needs to worry about.
I haven't just jumped to this point from Water 101. Remember, I see Water as a variation of buried. Over the months, Murphy has had to deal with similar situations with surface, with elevated, and with buried. This is just another baby step FOR MURPHY. This is just another minor variation in his current studies in his long climb to becoming proficient in the field.
Would I set this PUPPY EXERCISE up at a seminar? Maybe only for the ADVANCED HRD Dog Teams because I have to assume that most that see themselves as advanced are really dog teams with time served. The Handler Hell I set up at the Texas seminar for the advanced dogs, lots of distractions, lots of visual items for the handlers to key on......I see that as a basic exercise for those dogs trained in baby steps. I see it as a major hurdle for the typically trained SAR dog.
So, I lightly mentioned the Ring of Water to a student who started the Water 101 and is just really starting on Buried. That student responds with "BRING IT ON! WE CAN DO IT!" When I got that reaction, I suddenly had the image of my first sensei walking across the floor to begrudgingly hand me the blue belt, shrug to me with an embarrassed smile, and say, "It's just the American culture of immediate reward we are dealing with."
I don't want to discount the progress the student has made with the dog. They've really come a long way. But, their head is still in the mode of immediate reward rather than "what's smart for my dog's training for where it's at?"
Thanks for enduring my rambling. That's really all I wanted to get across, but I felt it needs to be directed at the bulk of dog handlers out there rather than just one person with lots of motivation.
Jim
From my perspective, SAR dog team training and U.S. Martial Arts have a lot in common. I could be described as a NiDan in the Fugakukai Akidio organization. That means I was deemed a 2nd degree black belt by this organization. About five years ago, da wife asked me to make a choice. We have no kids, so I was able to put my free time into getting a 2nd masters, doing Aikido three times a week, and training in SAR with a team once or twice a week.......*grin* as well as traveling around the world teaching my way out of a job and then starting a new business. Busy hands are happy hands I always say. My point is that I'm not longer actively practicing Aikido because da wife requested I give up one pursuit. So, I gave up Aikido after 11 years.
I studied Aikido with one sensei for the first five years. He was "old school" in that there were "white belts" and there were "black belts". In the old school, 10 years of diligent training might get one to the point where they can be deemed a black belt. After three years with the old school sensei (master teacher), he very begrudgingly handed me a "blue belt" with no explanation. He was a really nice guy that I could talk about anything with, so I asked him, "ummm, no disrespect, but what's this crap?" He almost hung his head and stated, "it's not your fault, it's the other students." Most U.S. martial arts dojos experience a high turn-over rate. People watch a Steven Segal movie, fantasize, and decide they want to be that guy. They throw down some bucks for training, buy the heavy cotton gi, and promise to come regularly. After a few weeks of boring rolls exercises and some "wimpy moves" they lose interest. Some do stick it out. I think at the time I received a blue belt, we had these five "biker types", really nice guys with some sweet bikes, cool tattoos, and faces I never wanted to meet in a dark alley. Aikido is a very technical art developed to allow the japanese farmers to defend themselves against the Samarai in their armor. It is all about timing, precise movements in response to your attacker, and using your attacker's force against them. The sensei would show the class a defense against a style of attack and then we'd practice against each other. I have a high pain tolerence, so unless you did the technique right I'd just stand there looking at you politely. They would say, "ok, you do it!" And they'd suddenly be on the floor with their wrist in my hand. The sensei was afraid of losing these students for what they've perceive as a lack of respect. He figured if I had a special "blue belt" then they could justify their inability to drop me with my expertise.
During this time, I had attended seminars at the Fugakukai dojo as I worked with several of their students where I was employed. I always put on a white belt to attend and practice with them as that is expected. If I go back to my old dojo, I go in wearing a white belt and one of my buddies will quickly run up and bitch me out, telling me to put on a black belt. In this dojo, black belts mean you are expected to teach, not that you can kick ass.
At about five years, my first sensei's wife put her foot down and said he needed to focus on "making babies and making money." He capitulated. We parted good friends and he now has six little ones. He always tried to do whatever he was focused on to the fullest extent.
So, my buddies at work talked me into joining their dojo. I should state that Aikido involves you getting thrown.....a lot. Unlike the striking arts, where it's best to stay on your feet, this art expects the attacker to go flying somewhere. The first sensei didn't have a lot of money, so I learned to do my breakfalls and rolls on wood floors, concrete floors, grass, whatever. The new school had "heaven in a work mat." They started out placing 3/4 inch plywood down, chevy valve springs next, another 3/4 plywood sheet, then two layers of gym mats under a very large stretched canvas. This was a large dojo with students that were lawyers, doctors, accoutants, engineers....as well as homeless guys, jailers, cops, plumbers...but they had access to bucks. Being launched six feet into the air and landing on this mat seemed (to me) like landing on a cloud. And, I should point out that one reason I stayed with Aikido so long is I am addicted to the milli-seconds of negative gravity one can experience if thrown from a very hard attack. Anyway, getting to my point, thanks for bearing with me.
I'd been going to this dojo for about 3 months when I get a yellow belt. Another 3 months and I get an orange belt. My wife comments, "Well, seems like you finally have this Aikido thing figured out as your belts are changing." ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!
The simple thing of it is that Americans (in general) want/need/demand routine recognition and titles regardless if they mean anything. The yellow belt is normally given to a student that the dojo feels can survive their rolls and falls. My first night there I had so much joy with their mat that I ended up giving a little breakfall and roll demonstration without knowing it. There was always free time on the mat after each class. I picked a corner and just let fly. I can literally jump up and then dive straight down into a mat and turn it into a roll. There is a little rush as you watch the mat coming close and then your body takes over. MY BODY TAKES OVER because I had practiced these rolls thousands of times to the point where I no longer had to think about them. My body responded subconciously because of the many thousands of baby steps (BABY STEPS....subliminal message there) I'd subjected it to.
I was requested to be an attacker fairly quickly because a good attacker does so with zeal, without regard of what is going to be done to him/her. It's an honest attack, not choreographed. Only with an honest attack can a student learn the proper way to defend and what the attacker goes through. I was also known to survive just about anything they did to me. The Judo and JuJitSu stuff......well, that often left me not wanting to get out of bed the next morning.
BUT, I got the yellow belt for "time served". This dojo that was doing well financially had learned that to keep students, they required new titles JUST FOR COMING. Gee, like dog teams get for attending seminars. Does it mean they are proficient at what was addressed at the seminar, maybe but more likely not. The Certificate of Attendance bolsters one's resume and gives a lawyer pause, but it doesn't say squat about what you or your dog can do.
The new sensei with the new dojo pulled me aside to discuss this phenomena. He told me that a first degree black belt basically really meant you were "ready to learn." You did have to demonstrate proficiency for the top two brown belts and the black belt, so they knew you had a clue. As I said, black belts bascially mark those that can teach others without doing harm versus the rest. The real experts in this art wore red-and-white belts and those people were expected to contribute to the art more so than just repeat to others what they had been taught.
In the dog world, you'll also see the title, "MASTER TRAINER". With some this is self-dubbed. With others it means you apprenticed for so long under a master trainer who deemed you basically will do more good than harm. It is basically time served, not successes or experience in the field. It is just a method like the belts to deem who has been there longer. But, we Amercians, we like titles.
(So, Jim, where is all this going?)
I routinely (really routinely) will get queries from different people I help along with HRD training. I try to explain to them that I tend to view "dogs trained like Dax, Tempe, Murphy (I can name lots of other dogs other people have trained this way)" differently than I do the typical SAR dog who might not have started training till it was two or three years old, OR has been through lots of different training venues as the handler/owner bounces from trainer to trainer till they find someone they think has a clue. Such an example is a comment I made about Murphy's water training. Next, I'll create a ring of mason jars, but these will be fraught with peril. A couple of jars will have animal remains in them, a couple of jars will have rotting vegetation in them to create methane, a couple of jars will have human remains in them in sand under the water, a couple of jars will be blank, and a couple of jars will have cloth and wood in them. These jars will be spaced in a ring where the space between each jar in the ring will be four feet to allow for overlaps....TO INTENTIONALLY CREATE OVERLAPS, i.e. I expect the HRs scent to overflow from one jar to the ringers. I expect Murphy to fail on some of these jars and to learn from those failures. I will repeatedly put him in situations where he will be forced to decide if HRs are there or not, if he's supposed to tell me about that jar or not, or if there's really nothing in that jar he needs to worry about.
I haven't just jumped to this point from Water 101. Remember, I see Water as a variation of buried. Over the months, Murphy has had to deal with similar situations with surface, with elevated, and with buried. This is just another baby step FOR MURPHY. This is just another minor variation in his current studies in his long climb to becoming proficient in the field.
Would I set this PUPPY EXERCISE up at a seminar? Maybe only for the ADVANCED HRD Dog Teams because I have to assume that most that see themselves as advanced are really dog teams with time served. The Handler Hell I set up at the Texas seminar for the advanced dogs, lots of distractions, lots of visual items for the handlers to key on......I see that as a basic exercise for those dogs trained in baby steps. I see it as a major hurdle for the typically trained SAR dog.
So, I lightly mentioned the Ring of Water to a student who started the Water 101 and is just really starting on Buried. That student responds with "BRING IT ON! WE CAN DO IT!" When I got that reaction, I suddenly had the image of my first sensei walking across the floor to begrudgingly hand me the blue belt, shrug to me with an embarrassed smile, and say, "It's just the American culture of immediate reward we are dealing with."
I don't want to discount the progress the student has made with the dog. They've really come a long way. But, their head is still in the mode of immediate reward rather than "what's smart for my dog's training for where it's at?"
Thanks for enduring my rambling. That's really all I wanted to get across, but I felt it needs to be directed at the bulk of dog handlers out there rather than just one person with lots of motivation.
Jim