Post by oksaradt on Nov 26, 2008 13:03:41 GMT -5
Over the years I've had lots of "BLINDS" thrown at me and I've set up lots of BLINDS for others, so the following is a culmination of my attitude about them.
One of the reasons Dax got to the level she did was because other teams kept trying to set us up to fail. Rather than get upset, I dug deeper into chemistry, set up gradually more difficult problems for my dog where she could do the possible ones, and developed understanding as to why the impossible ones were impossible. A plastic salt shaker with historic teeth hung 20 feet up in a cedar tree with the top closed and capped comes to mind. Dax did find that one due to contamination on the outside of the container, but that's the only reason.
That being said, the BLIND is a useful teaching tool and should be part of every search dog TEAM's training. The BLIND problem should be set up to check if the dog team is at the level the dog team believes they are at.
The BLIND should not be used to show other dog teams just how evil you are. (I'm not really evil, I just like to play the role for fun for my students' benefit.)
The BLIND should not be used to show a dog team how much they suck. A BLIND is a teaching tool, not a tool to one up the other guy. Unfortunately, BLINDs often turn into this and no one wins. Dog teams go in with a level of high anxiety and resentment builds. I can set up a very simple BLIND and the handler's imagination will torture them mercilessly because of past experiences that I had nothing to do with.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE RULES: SET UP BLINDS FOR EACH OTHER ROUTINELY. This can often act as a reality check for the one-upmanship (or you quit asking someone to do blinds for you). If someone sets you up a nasty blind one week, re-create it the next time you train with each other. Turn about is fair play, right?
If their dog can't do it either, then perhaps you should both scale down the challenges until you and your dogs are ready for them.
If someone is setting up blinds for you that doesn't work a dog, then you should discuss each blind so they know exactly where you are at and afterwards what the scent was doing SO THEY LEARN WHAT SCENT DOES AS WELL AS YOU...to set you up blinds that improve you and your dog instead of hamper you.
The BLIND should be set up after the problem setter has discussed with the dog team what level they are at. This includes:
(1) Types of sources the dog has been trained to work on.
(2) Overlaps - How close can sources be placed such that the dog can distinguish separate sources?
This seems like a foolish question. But imagine if I stood in the middle of a gravel road with 20 teeth in my hand and I tossed the teeth straight up into the air and walked away. My standard challenge with this is the dog team can keep all that they find. I later added a rule that for all they didn't find and my dog did, they had to give me two teeth back. And the dog handler gets to watch me throw....so, it's really not a blind, but it does demonstrate overlaps. Overlaps are something you train the dog down to on a gradual basis. How about working a cemetery where the caretakers for the past 100 years buried each new death immediately next to the last one, no dirt gaps over 4 inches.
I always ask how tight an overlap the dog team can work and I respect what the handler tells me.
(3) Environments - Can your dog work through a heavy methane environment?
Have you and your dog worked structures before? Just outside? Inside?
Can your dog work in water?
Can your dog work in the back alleys behind Burger King.....
(4) Proofing: Can your dog distinguish between skeletal human and skeletal non-human of any kind? Can your dog distinguish between tissue-related human and non-human?
(5) Are we going to have a snacking concern?
To be totally honest, the dogs that make the best HRD love the stuff. They have to be trained not to snack. They have to learn that the reward is better than self-rewarding?
If your dog loves the BARF diet, why wouldn't he like other raw meat....aye? It's all about training.
Personally, I want to know this (as a problem setter) because I don't want to lose a source more than anything.
I also don't want the dogs mouthing or licking my bones which I consider as contamination as puppies learn where mom's nipples are by her licking them....there's scent in them thar spit.
If I'm setting up BURIED BLINDS for dog teams, I try to be realistic in how long the scent is going to take to get to the surface. If I'm burying tissue related, I estimate 4-12 hours. If I'm burying skeletal, I estimate days to weeks. Depth also matters. As well as moisture content. If I'm setting up a blind buried and need to speed up the scent diffusion, I'll add distilled water to the hole so it can be worked sooner. I'll also add blank holes with water in them as well.....to be fair.
To do other than the above runs the risk of training dogs on finding fresh turned earth and not the scent of human remains.
Finally, Blind setters and those working the BLINDs should have a question and answers BEFORE and AFTER.
BEFORE:
The dog team should ask:
1) What's my area? I personally like to walk my area if possible and tour those working my problems before hand. This gives the dog handler no excuses for not covering their entire area, provides the dog handler with information on possibly hazardous areas for themselves and the dogs, and gives the dog handler time to strategize how they will cover the area. In any BLIND or real search, the handler should have a method to how they work their dog over an area. Unfortunately, many dogs teams have the "joe bobs" that just release the dog and hope for the best.
2) If the setter and the dog team haven't discussed types of sources, I want to know if the scenario should have skeletal or tissue, or both. If both, why would this have occurred? Both can happen, but it is very rare and should affect how the dog team works.
3) Time limits? If the team has timed certifications, the dog team should bear this in mind in how long they want to take. Other than that, it's could practice for the dog handler to estimate how long they will take in working the area. Working five acres for tissue can be done in minutes. Working five acres for old buried can take hours, lots of hours sometimes.
4) Scenarios. I personally set up blinds with some scenario in mind so that I can try to make the scent source placements realistic. I look at an area and decide what could happen there. Then I place sources according to the story that unfolds in my mind. This provides the dog team information as to how they should work the area. An example can be, "a bone was found here by hunters two weeks ago. We need you to cover the area for additional skeletal remains, if there are any. We just don't know. Could you and your dog helps us out?"
5) Number of sources: Remember this is a BLIND, so I tend to preface my sources count with Zero to N. Many times I count any and all of the distractions as scent sources as well. So, if I put out three human remains and two animal, I might state there are 1 to 6 to find or 0 to 5. I might give the dog handler the maximum number of flags *I* feel they might need and use that as the count. Only twice have I had a dog team come back to ask me for more flags.
Afterwards, there should be observations provided by the problem setter if he/she observed the dog team working. Let's say the dog missed a source after they called the area done. The observer can possibly explain why this happened. Did the dog handler get their dog into that area adequately? What was the dog doing when it was there? Perhaps moving too fast and not working methodically enough to find skeletal.
Let's say there was an overlap problem that the dog couldn't deal with, it should be discussed thoroughly.
To conclude, remember this:
If a dog team works a blind and makes it look easy....the dog team didn't learn anything and can't improve. The point of a BLIND is to help us improve. We only learn from failures. That said, the BLIND should be workable for the level the dog team claims they are at. IF the dog team "just doesn't know where they are at", then you have to start simple. With dog teams that respond like this I'll set up a series of BLINDs that are scent-wise separate from each other, each BLIND more difficult or challenging than the last. Then we work them until the dog team struggles to work the problem. That tells us both where their training should continue.
As dog handlers, we have to be willing to put ourselves out there from time to time and throw caution to the wind. Some of the best BLINDs I've had to work were set up by those that had no clue as to what they were doing. It taught me to search beyond my boundaries and to be thorough. Just remember when you subject yourself to this that .....you asked for it. no complaining.
That being said, I prefer to have BLINDs set up for me by other dog handlers that I know understand the scent we work.
Hope this helps,
Jim
One of the reasons Dax got to the level she did was because other teams kept trying to set us up to fail. Rather than get upset, I dug deeper into chemistry, set up gradually more difficult problems for my dog where she could do the possible ones, and developed understanding as to why the impossible ones were impossible. A plastic salt shaker with historic teeth hung 20 feet up in a cedar tree with the top closed and capped comes to mind. Dax did find that one due to contamination on the outside of the container, but that's the only reason.
That being said, the BLIND is a useful teaching tool and should be part of every search dog TEAM's training. The BLIND problem should be set up to check if the dog team is at the level the dog team believes they are at.
The BLIND should not be used to show other dog teams just how evil you are. (I'm not really evil, I just like to play the role for fun for my students' benefit.)
The BLIND should not be used to show a dog team how much they suck. A BLIND is a teaching tool, not a tool to one up the other guy. Unfortunately, BLINDs often turn into this and no one wins. Dog teams go in with a level of high anxiety and resentment builds. I can set up a very simple BLIND and the handler's imagination will torture them mercilessly because of past experiences that I had nothing to do with.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE RULES: SET UP BLINDS FOR EACH OTHER ROUTINELY. This can often act as a reality check for the one-upmanship (or you quit asking someone to do blinds for you). If someone sets you up a nasty blind one week, re-create it the next time you train with each other. Turn about is fair play, right?
If their dog can't do it either, then perhaps you should both scale down the challenges until you and your dogs are ready for them.
If someone is setting up blinds for you that doesn't work a dog, then you should discuss each blind so they know exactly where you are at and afterwards what the scent was doing SO THEY LEARN WHAT SCENT DOES AS WELL AS YOU...to set you up blinds that improve you and your dog instead of hamper you.
The BLIND should be set up after the problem setter has discussed with the dog team what level they are at. This includes:
(1) Types of sources the dog has been trained to work on.
(2) Overlaps - How close can sources be placed such that the dog can distinguish separate sources?
This seems like a foolish question. But imagine if I stood in the middle of a gravel road with 20 teeth in my hand and I tossed the teeth straight up into the air and walked away. My standard challenge with this is the dog team can keep all that they find. I later added a rule that for all they didn't find and my dog did, they had to give me two teeth back. And the dog handler gets to watch me throw....so, it's really not a blind, but it does demonstrate overlaps. Overlaps are something you train the dog down to on a gradual basis. How about working a cemetery where the caretakers for the past 100 years buried each new death immediately next to the last one, no dirt gaps over 4 inches.
I always ask how tight an overlap the dog team can work and I respect what the handler tells me.
(3) Environments - Can your dog work through a heavy methane environment?
Have you and your dog worked structures before? Just outside? Inside?
Can your dog work in water?
Can your dog work in the back alleys behind Burger King.....
(4) Proofing: Can your dog distinguish between skeletal human and skeletal non-human of any kind? Can your dog distinguish between tissue-related human and non-human?
(5) Are we going to have a snacking concern?
To be totally honest, the dogs that make the best HRD love the stuff. They have to be trained not to snack. They have to learn that the reward is better than self-rewarding?
If your dog loves the BARF diet, why wouldn't he like other raw meat....aye? It's all about training.
Personally, I want to know this (as a problem setter) because I don't want to lose a source more than anything.
I also don't want the dogs mouthing or licking my bones which I consider as contamination as puppies learn where mom's nipples are by her licking them....there's scent in them thar spit.
If I'm setting up BURIED BLINDS for dog teams, I try to be realistic in how long the scent is going to take to get to the surface. If I'm burying tissue related, I estimate 4-12 hours. If I'm burying skeletal, I estimate days to weeks. Depth also matters. As well as moisture content. If I'm setting up a blind buried and need to speed up the scent diffusion, I'll add distilled water to the hole so it can be worked sooner. I'll also add blank holes with water in them as well.....to be fair.
To do other than the above runs the risk of training dogs on finding fresh turned earth and not the scent of human remains.
Finally, Blind setters and those working the BLINDs should have a question and answers BEFORE and AFTER.
BEFORE:
The dog team should ask:
1) What's my area? I personally like to walk my area if possible and tour those working my problems before hand. This gives the dog handler no excuses for not covering their entire area, provides the dog handler with information on possibly hazardous areas for themselves and the dogs, and gives the dog handler time to strategize how they will cover the area. In any BLIND or real search, the handler should have a method to how they work their dog over an area. Unfortunately, many dogs teams have the "joe bobs" that just release the dog and hope for the best.
2) If the setter and the dog team haven't discussed types of sources, I want to know if the scenario should have skeletal or tissue, or both. If both, why would this have occurred? Both can happen, but it is very rare and should affect how the dog team works.
3) Time limits? If the team has timed certifications, the dog team should bear this in mind in how long they want to take. Other than that, it's could practice for the dog handler to estimate how long they will take in working the area. Working five acres for tissue can be done in minutes. Working five acres for old buried can take hours, lots of hours sometimes.
4) Scenarios. I personally set up blinds with some scenario in mind so that I can try to make the scent source placements realistic. I look at an area and decide what could happen there. Then I place sources according to the story that unfolds in my mind. This provides the dog team information as to how they should work the area. An example can be, "a bone was found here by hunters two weeks ago. We need you to cover the area for additional skeletal remains, if there are any. We just don't know. Could you and your dog helps us out?"
5) Number of sources: Remember this is a BLIND, so I tend to preface my sources count with Zero to N. Many times I count any and all of the distractions as scent sources as well. So, if I put out three human remains and two animal, I might state there are 1 to 6 to find or 0 to 5. I might give the dog handler the maximum number of flags *I* feel they might need and use that as the count. Only twice have I had a dog team come back to ask me for more flags.
Afterwards, there should be observations provided by the problem setter if he/she observed the dog team working. Let's say the dog missed a source after they called the area done. The observer can possibly explain why this happened. Did the dog handler get their dog into that area adequately? What was the dog doing when it was there? Perhaps moving too fast and not working methodically enough to find skeletal.
Let's say there was an overlap problem that the dog couldn't deal with, it should be discussed thoroughly.
To conclude, remember this:
If a dog team works a blind and makes it look easy....the dog team didn't learn anything and can't improve. The point of a BLIND is to help us improve. We only learn from failures. That said, the BLIND should be workable for the level the dog team claims they are at. IF the dog team "just doesn't know where they are at", then you have to start simple. With dog teams that respond like this I'll set up a series of BLINDs that are scent-wise separate from each other, each BLIND more difficult or challenging than the last. Then we work them until the dog team struggles to work the problem. That tells us both where their training should continue.
As dog handlers, we have to be willing to put ourselves out there from time to time and throw caution to the wind. Some of the best BLINDs I've had to work were set up by those that had no clue as to what they were doing. It taught me to search beyond my boundaries and to be thorough. Just remember when you subject yourself to this that .....you asked for it. no complaining.
That being said, I prefer to have BLINDs set up for me by other dog handlers that I know understand the scent we work.
Hope this helps,
Jim