Post by oksaradt on Aug 15, 2008 11:41:29 GMT -5
On the K9-Forensic list there's been a lot of discussion on proofing and Murphy's training puts an extra spin on it, so this is a good time to discuss it.
In a nutshell, "Proofing" is teaching the dog the scents you want it NOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT.
Sure, I start with a puppy that has demonstrated that it just can't get enough of human remains scent, but that same dog is going to be hard-wired to like the scent of other decomposing animals as well. There's no gene combination (that I know of) that is going to create a dog that only loves the scent of human remains and no other. My beginning test doesn't force the dog to choose between decomposing racoon and human, it gives the dog the option of fresh meat versus decomposing. I want the dog that for some odd reason just loves the stink of decomposition.
From my zoology course, I was taught that animals evolve to survive. The speciess that continue to avoid extinction do so because random combinations of genes have come together in a pattern that means that species can eat, drink, and make merry in the environment it finds itself in.
A dog that likes the stink of dead stuff does so because as a hunter some learned to survive via rolling in the dead stuff to cover their scent. This way the dog could lay in wait for dinner without its scent giving it away. Deer hunters today are no different except they buy theirs in a spray can. So, basically, I test for that gene combination where this survival trait has become a dominant feature in this hunter.
Ok, so much for ZO 101.
To be honest, what scent dog trainers do is create an association of positive reinforcement for the dog telling us about specific scents. To be accurate, that means we must also identify to the dog what we don't want to know about. Why is this a big deal?
When I first started down this ghoulish road, it was common for some of the current day experts at that time to profess, "Cadaver is cadaver!" They were happy if their dogs hit on dead horses, pigs, and humans too. Law enforcement.....not so happy. If these dog teams came in to search the "back 40" for clandestine burials, identified the spot "Jimmy Hoffa is there!", and law enforcement brings in the backhoe to find dead bovine carcasses....well, they just blew $10,000 of their budget to find dead cows.
So, a big part of an HRD (HUMAN remains detection) dog is its education in what not to find.
The K9 Forensic list was going on about the containers we like to put our scent sources in. Some handlers don't realize that plastic often puts off a stronger odor than some of our scent sources. The handler likes the convenience of plastic salt shakers for their sources and just go crazy with them, tossing their sources out every where in these plastic containers........ The smart dog quickly realizes, "forget the stink inside, any time I find these plastic do-hickies then the boss gives me the pay off." The handler thinks they have a wonder dog because it just rocks finding their containers, but come to search time and the dog doesn't have a clue. The real life human remains aren't in a big salt shaker.
So, one fellow who'd given this lots of thought decided, "ok, I'll use the forensic-style sterile metal paint cans." To a dog, everything has a specific "stink" to it. Again the dog can learn to hit on the can and not what's been stored in it. It doesn't matter if the handler takes the stuff out to work, some of the metal odor will be on the source and "WE CAN'T GUARANTEE THAT THE DOG DOESN'T DECIDE THAT THIS PREVALENT SCENT IS WHAT THE HUMAN REALLY WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT. I mean, this metal odor is on everything he hides...." The handler then goes on to state, "It's not a big deal. The dogs quickly learn what's what when they have to work around all the other cans......" Could very well be he's proofing without realizing it.
Me? I want to be sure what my dogs are proofed off of.
My containers tend to vary from mason jars, as I can change the lids periodically to contain the scent, and suet cages. If I can, I don't use any containers at all. Murphy is now to the point that he doesn't try to possess my bones as the game/reward is starting to become more important. So, his surface problems are unprotected. When we start decomp problems in mid-September (his birthday for one year) then I'll again have to go to containers......to put it bluntly, if you died and left foo foo all alone in the house with you, after a few days your remains are going to start looking mighty tasty and you haven't put food out in such a long time. Fresh blood can be extremely tantalizing for any dog such that, again, precautions will have to be taken until Murphy learns the game/party/food reward pay-off is worth not sampling the laid-out buffet. Nothing can make a cadaver dog handler team look worse than to have law enforcement's report state there are fresh canine marks on the body or the dog dug at the remains.
So, on to Murphy's current lesson plan. My little spot in the world finally got relief from heat and drought. Murphy was doing an area search for one source when he suddenly started doing nose-ups in my dog cemetery.
I don't have any human children and my dogs are my substitute for all my paternal yearnings. Instead of being the ultimate soccer dad, I'm a dog trainer/handler. When one of my dogs die, it's a big deal to me. Part of my grieving process is digging the grave which I dig as deep as possible to the point of exhaustion even if it requires my mattock, sledge, and chisel. My land has layers of shale and sandstone in the most unusual places. The shallowest of my dog graves is five foot deep. Yes, I've had to use a ladder to get out of two of them. I placed the dog at the bottom in a blanket and then plant a tree or bush over the site.
Dogs that learn to work buried often start exhibiting notice of scent in the vegetation that is taking nutrients from the decomposing corpse. I've noticed this for years in lots of dogs when you work buried remains that a tree has grown over. The dogs start nosing up the bark, checking the leaves, and maybe get glassy-eyed under cedars. One of my favorite cemeteries to train an experienced dog in is one with four huge cedar trees trimmed up to six foot with 10 graves between all the trunks. New dogs get into the center of this with the scent literally oozing out of the cedar branches and just lock in place for a while till they come to terms with it.
So, Murphy suddenly realizes that the trees and bushes in this area are special and indicates on one to tell me there's a dead body down there. I corrected him and said, "leave it! let's keep working." I can't leave it at that though. My log for that day stated that Murphy indicated on buried animal remains under a tree.
This morning's exercise for Murphy was he had to locate two small piles of historic teeth. Each pile was located between two dog graves. My cemetery currently has five dogs in it. As Murphy approached each of the special trees, I began to make a low vocal buzzing noise to indicate this was not a good thing. Murphy found Tempe and really wanted to tell me about her, but I continued to "growl". Murphy started to leave the area, but I asked him to keep searching there. Murphy had previously located 22 inch buried teeth just before this to put him in buried mode, so his nose was down. The relief in Murphy's posture and on his face was easily recognizable when he found the first pile of teeth and indicated on them. I woo-hooed, threw the ball, let him prance, and traded him for food when he brough the ball back to me. I then told him to find more. His eyes went wide as he continued to discover those bodies he had been wandering over most of his life without ever knowing they were there. As he discovered each dog grave's tree, I again growled. When he would leave the scent, I would quietly say, "good boy." He located the other teeth and again big party. We then ended with him finding another buried in the 12-14 inch plot to give him an easy finish.
From now on, Murphy will periodically get problems laid out through out the cemetery and finally directly over the graves where he has to make a choice of what to tell me about.
The only better scenario I could hope for is to find a regular cemetery where someone's pet is buried right next to them.
When I die, I hope to be buried in the center of my dogs. I'm not sure what the wife wants done with her remains. That's her call, but I'll be with the dogs, ready for the next adventure.
Regards,
Jim
Earlier this week
In a nutshell, "Proofing" is teaching the dog the scents you want it NOT TO TELL YOU ABOUT.
Sure, I start with a puppy that has demonstrated that it just can't get enough of human remains scent, but that same dog is going to be hard-wired to like the scent of other decomposing animals as well. There's no gene combination (that I know of) that is going to create a dog that only loves the scent of human remains and no other. My beginning test doesn't force the dog to choose between decomposing racoon and human, it gives the dog the option of fresh meat versus decomposing. I want the dog that for some odd reason just loves the stink of decomposition.
From my zoology course, I was taught that animals evolve to survive. The speciess that continue to avoid extinction do so because random combinations of genes have come together in a pattern that means that species can eat, drink, and make merry in the environment it finds itself in.
A dog that likes the stink of dead stuff does so because as a hunter some learned to survive via rolling in the dead stuff to cover their scent. This way the dog could lay in wait for dinner without its scent giving it away. Deer hunters today are no different except they buy theirs in a spray can. So, basically, I test for that gene combination where this survival trait has become a dominant feature in this hunter.
Ok, so much for ZO 101.
To be honest, what scent dog trainers do is create an association of positive reinforcement for the dog telling us about specific scents. To be accurate, that means we must also identify to the dog what we don't want to know about. Why is this a big deal?
When I first started down this ghoulish road, it was common for some of the current day experts at that time to profess, "Cadaver is cadaver!" They were happy if their dogs hit on dead horses, pigs, and humans too. Law enforcement.....not so happy. If these dog teams came in to search the "back 40" for clandestine burials, identified the spot "Jimmy Hoffa is there!", and law enforcement brings in the backhoe to find dead bovine carcasses....well, they just blew $10,000 of their budget to find dead cows.
So, a big part of an HRD (HUMAN remains detection) dog is its education in what not to find.
The K9 Forensic list was going on about the containers we like to put our scent sources in. Some handlers don't realize that plastic often puts off a stronger odor than some of our scent sources. The handler likes the convenience of plastic salt shakers for their sources and just go crazy with them, tossing their sources out every where in these plastic containers........ The smart dog quickly realizes, "forget the stink inside, any time I find these plastic do-hickies then the boss gives me the pay off." The handler thinks they have a wonder dog because it just rocks finding their containers, but come to search time and the dog doesn't have a clue. The real life human remains aren't in a big salt shaker.
So, one fellow who'd given this lots of thought decided, "ok, I'll use the forensic-style sterile metal paint cans." To a dog, everything has a specific "stink" to it. Again the dog can learn to hit on the can and not what's been stored in it. It doesn't matter if the handler takes the stuff out to work, some of the metal odor will be on the source and "WE CAN'T GUARANTEE THAT THE DOG DOESN'T DECIDE THAT THIS PREVALENT SCENT IS WHAT THE HUMAN REALLY WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT. I mean, this metal odor is on everything he hides...." The handler then goes on to state, "It's not a big deal. The dogs quickly learn what's what when they have to work around all the other cans......" Could very well be he's proofing without realizing it.
Me? I want to be sure what my dogs are proofed off of.
My containers tend to vary from mason jars, as I can change the lids periodically to contain the scent, and suet cages. If I can, I don't use any containers at all. Murphy is now to the point that he doesn't try to possess my bones as the game/reward is starting to become more important. So, his surface problems are unprotected. When we start decomp problems in mid-September (his birthday for one year) then I'll again have to go to containers......to put it bluntly, if you died and left foo foo all alone in the house with you, after a few days your remains are going to start looking mighty tasty and you haven't put food out in such a long time. Fresh blood can be extremely tantalizing for any dog such that, again, precautions will have to be taken until Murphy learns the game/party/food reward pay-off is worth not sampling the laid-out buffet. Nothing can make a cadaver dog handler team look worse than to have law enforcement's report state there are fresh canine marks on the body or the dog dug at the remains.
So, on to Murphy's current lesson plan. My little spot in the world finally got relief from heat and drought. Murphy was doing an area search for one source when he suddenly started doing nose-ups in my dog cemetery.
I don't have any human children and my dogs are my substitute for all my paternal yearnings. Instead of being the ultimate soccer dad, I'm a dog trainer/handler. When one of my dogs die, it's a big deal to me. Part of my grieving process is digging the grave which I dig as deep as possible to the point of exhaustion even if it requires my mattock, sledge, and chisel. My land has layers of shale and sandstone in the most unusual places. The shallowest of my dog graves is five foot deep. Yes, I've had to use a ladder to get out of two of them. I placed the dog at the bottom in a blanket and then plant a tree or bush over the site.
Dogs that learn to work buried often start exhibiting notice of scent in the vegetation that is taking nutrients from the decomposing corpse. I've noticed this for years in lots of dogs when you work buried remains that a tree has grown over. The dogs start nosing up the bark, checking the leaves, and maybe get glassy-eyed under cedars. One of my favorite cemeteries to train an experienced dog in is one with four huge cedar trees trimmed up to six foot with 10 graves between all the trunks. New dogs get into the center of this with the scent literally oozing out of the cedar branches and just lock in place for a while till they come to terms with it.
So, Murphy suddenly realizes that the trees and bushes in this area are special and indicates on one to tell me there's a dead body down there. I corrected him and said, "leave it! let's keep working." I can't leave it at that though. My log for that day stated that Murphy indicated on buried animal remains under a tree.
This morning's exercise for Murphy was he had to locate two small piles of historic teeth. Each pile was located between two dog graves. My cemetery currently has five dogs in it. As Murphy approached each of the special trees, I began to make a low vocal buzzing noise to indicate this was not a good thing. Murphy found Tempe and really wanted to tell me about her, but I continued to "growl". Murphy started to leave the area, but I asked him to keep searching there. Murphy had previously located 22 inch buried teeth just before this to put him in buried mode, so his nose was down. The relief in Murphy's posture and on his face was easily recognizable when he found the first pile of teeth and indicated on them. I woo-hooed, threw the ball, let him prance, and traded him for food when he brough the ball back to me. I then told him to find more. His eyes went wide as he continued to discover those bodies he had been wandering over most of his life without ever knowing they were there. As he discovered each dog grave's tree, I again growled. When he would leave the scent, I would quietly say, "good boy." He located the other teeth and again big party. We then ended with him finding another buried in the 12-14 inch plot to give him an easy finish.
From now on, Murphy will periodically get problems laid out through out the cemetery and finally directly over the graves where he has to make a choice of what to tell me about.
The only better scenario I could hope for is to find a regular cemetery where someone's pet is buried right next to them.
When I die, I hope to be buried in the center of my dogs. I'm not sure what the wife wants done with her remains. That's her call, but I'll be with the dogs, ready for the next adventure.
Regards,
Jim
Earlier this week