The Water Myth

[oksaradt]

WARNING! My way of working water is nothing close to what the main stream does. I've had great success making accurate finds in water this way, but it is not the "popular method."



Ok, part of my frustration is that water cadaver developed out of area searching and as such, most of those that teach it do so with an air scent outlook. Marcia Koenig, Jonni Joyce, and Lisa Higgins are the big names you always hear with water work. All three of them start out teaching the dog that there is someone live under the water..........horse puckey. JJ even goes so far as to have divers under the water to deliver the initial rewards....more horse puckey. I'm sure this appeals to those that humanize their dogs, but my dogs and those I work with deal with scent and could care less if there is a nice person under the water with a toy.

Most of these systems also depend on the scent machine. A device that's gone through lots of fine tuning, but is still basically the same. There is a chamber with a source in it, usually bloody, where air is forced into the chamber through an inlet and out another tube that runs out into the water to bubble scent up into the air. Few of the bodies I've recovered had a bubble-machine effect coming off the body. What the scent machine does is stay in the comfort zone of those dogs trained to air scent and lift their noses up into the air. That the original inventors of the scent machine also believed in using divining roads to pinpoint bodies in fires suggest to me that they just didn't think it all through. But, like Syrotuck, they were on the cutting edge of their time and to suggest their might be a brick short of a load would be considered sacriligeous in the dog world.

For an HRD dog that's been trained properly, it can migrate to water work after it has begun buried remains. Water work is simply buried remains in water instead of particulates with water and air running through it. The scent rises off the body via oils that separate from the body. Oils and water do not mix well and oils rise to the surface. An HRD dog can work the oil slick quite well. An HRD dog can find skeletal remains in the water quite well as it's just another buried.

As most teams train with small amounts of remains, a whole body is like a beacon of scent. I've had dogs working the shore 300 yards downwind from where I located the body. The dogs were all tasting the water, biting the trees, vegetation, and anything laying at the waters edge SOAKING UP THE OIL. If this was a gaseous scent, the dogs would all be lifting their heads. Each dog team enjoying this opportunity was asked to have their dog define the edges of the scent cone where it hit the water and then to work inside that width to determine the highest concentration (via the dog had to make a choice). At this point the handler could take a back azimuth on their compass into the wind with the wind as their heading and the force pushing the waves. This back azimuth would then point to the body's main oil slick. With irregular beaches, three locations on different beaches allows for triangulation of where a dog should be deployed in a boat.

So, i suppose if the area search dogs that wish to cross-train on water wish to use the scent machine and the buoy to "bob it, bob it, make it look alive!" that's all well and good. But, to be accurate, an HRD dog should probably work the boat.


Ok, I've vented. I feel much better. Sorry to waste your time.
I get frustrated as my dog and I have been asked to confirm or deny buoys placed by dog teams all over the area that were all to point to up to two bodies. After I was put in the position of telling the divers to pull them all, I was thanked as the water was full of debris and barbed-wire which could have threatened their life. The bodies were found by the other HRD dog working the area as vindicated when the waters dropped and they were in an eddy. The ten buoys my dog had to check and rebuff were all downstream of the bodies.......

My dogs start water work just like they start buried with teeth in shallow water, then bones in deeper water, then adipose tissue in deeper water still. Once we are using adipose tissue, they have to work shoreline as well to give me directions towards the source. This is not a big deal and those that make a fuss over it are stuck in the past. It should be part of routine training.


Regards,

Jim

[bonefinder]

since I am testing on water tomorrow, it was great to read this and to reinforce what you have already taught me. Thanks for posting. Bonnie

[tempe507sar]

You guys will like this water training story. We were attending a weekend training with a neighboring unit, the instructors had rigged up a cage with source, an anchor, and a cool bobber mechanism so in the shallow water at the edge of the pond. the dogs worked the shore and then into the scent of the source in the shallow water. When the dogs approached the bobber the instructor pulled it under the water and we could see that the dog had pinpointed the source. I was worried because my lab Gussie is hell on wheels for toys and the bobber looked just like her favorite retrieving dummy. The instructor reassured me that she was pretty fast with the cord and it would be out of reach when Gussie reached the spot. Gussie worked the shore line diligently, her nose took her into the pond and she made a grab for the bobber as it went down. We all watched as she dove and then we waited and waited and waited. UP she came but not just with the bobber, she had the anchor, the cage with the source and a collection of water weeds for decoration. She very proudly hauled it up to me on the shore. Gotta love a lab!
We train several times a year with divers, we've used Coast Guard auxillary and local dive squads. It works well as a joint effort since it helps them be aware of the capabilities of the dogs since we work together on call outs.
Karla

[oksaradt]

Back when our local group was just starting out, we hosted a water cadaver instructor from Florida that had a "sure fire method." She was from Florida where there is lots of water, so the BOD assumed she'd be an expert. The team had a zodiac and I supplied my tri-hull for support. The instructor arrives with this large box on wheels which I figured were sources, containers, and such. Turned out we supplied the sources and the box was an underwater video camera and monitor. Her method of making a find was the dog would get you close and then the camera would pin-point, much like they use side-sonar now. There's a wee bit of problem in Oklahoma. Only two of our lakes are clear enough for diving for sport. All the rest, including the one we were training on, have lots of silt and floating particulate. I took
a wait-and-see approach as she was the expert and I was there to learn.
I helped her place a source out in a lake cove with the depth about 15 feet. We wasted a day working sources in buckets where the dogs quickly contaminated all the buckets as they'd put their muzzles down in the bucket of water with a source in it then check the other buckets, dipping their muzzles in again. Eventually, the dogs were hitting on every bucket and the instructor was not a happy camper.
We migrated straight from buckets to boat work rather than do shoreline. Being typical Oklahoma weather, we had whitecaps which again only flustered the instructor. I drove the instructor in my boat and she would yell at the dog team and boat driver of the zodiac from there. (Again, I was there to listen and learn. My team mates quickly told me to keep my mouth shut, so I did as they asked.)
The dogs did ok, but not what I'd expect. The instructor, not phased at all, looked at me with a smile and proclaimed, "Now, you'll see the advantage of the camera." The dog teams had placed several buoys within 20 feet of each other and she had me drive her to the center of them and anchor. She dropped her camera over the side, never looking at the water. She started tuning the monitor, minutes went buy and she continued to tune the monitor. More time went by and she began to look flustered. I eventually asked, "problems?" She replied, "oh, I guess the monitor got damaged on the flight as I'm not seeing anything."
I asked in the camera worked ok in air. She said it did. I pulled it up and we successfully explored the storage comparatments of my boat with the camera and monitor. She was all happy and announced, "ok, drop it over the side again."
I did as asked and sat back down. She again got flustered and sighed, "I don't know what's wrong, I can't see a thing."
I asked her, "have you looked over the side at the water? Have you placed your hand in the water?"
She looked at me confused and did as I suggested, then proclaimed, "Well, no wonder! This lake is full of red mud."
I smiled and nodded, "Welcome to Oklahoma."
That seminar was a bust.

I worked a case with my dogs some years back where a skeletal articulated foot was found on shore in a tennis shoe near a boat ramp of a local lake. Multiiple dog teams worked that same day in 35 mph winds both on shore and in a boat. We got two areas of interest. The authorities decided to wait until the weather was better. The media lost interest and so did the authorities. It was a dry spring/summer and another foot appears on the shore in the other tennis shoe. I get called to work just my dog and we worked shoreline giving the borders of the scent cone and the highest concentration of scent into the wind. This pointed at the boat ramp. The state dive team came out and deployed three divers on the shore with a 100 foot long line where a fellow on shore held the end of the line, a diver at the other end held the other end of the line, the remaining two divers got on either side of the rope with one hand on it and slowly swam the length of the rope with their free hand sweeping back and forth for skeletal remains. At the end of each sweep they shifted along the shore such that the two divers completely hand searched the bank underwater. They were about done and approaching the boat ramp when one stepped up on top of a car roof some three feet under the water. Turns out the victim had driven right into the lake off the boat ramp and simply shifted over to the side. That the car had been there for five years and no one had noticed it suggests how silty our water is. The front and rear windshields had multiple prop hits which we assume caused a foot to finally pop out. Most of the individual was skeletonized with his remains turning into a styrofoam-like adipocere that coated the inside of the car and glued him to the roof.

I think the divers and I competed on how much credit we could give to the other guy. I avoid the media, so they won. As far as I'm concerned though, my dogs worked a total of 15 minutes and the divers worked 90 minutes. They deserve the accolades.


Jim

[bonefinder]

Jim, you really have to consider doing some type seminar on nothing but water. I'm still a newbie but I HAVE learned that water work really is regional specific. There are many variables on the type of water work a dog team may be exposed to. There is no sense training for the everglades if you live in Colorado or Oklahoma. Yes, there would be some overlap of water theory basics but there are more variables than shared tenets. This is true of land as well......what might be easy for a dog team in Massachusetts might vary from what a dog team might be used to in Arizona.
Another great post. Bonnie

[oksaradt]

Definitely water work is best done in your own region. I was invited to search several times in the caribbean. I passed because I know I'm not familiar with the waters there or the no-see-ums that could bite me or my dog. I have no doubt that water work on the oceans would require a very good knowledge of the tides and flows.

Every one should give Bonnie a high-five as she and Porter passed their NAPWDA cert in the great north last week. One of the areas was two finds in water.

Jim

[rthonor]

bonnie- that is completely awesome. I think this SAR work is very complex and it takes a lot of dedication to do well. congratulations. rt

[bonefinder]

Thanks for the congrats but TRUST ME......water is still my nemesis!
There seem to be so many theories out there, but I aim to simplify, and in all honesty, Jim's method of doing water has been the most logical I have read or watched. Again, I feel you should train for the type water work you might be asked to do.......I don't live in Louisiana so there is no sense in learning how to search bayous.
I learned a great lesson during the NAPWDA test, not a lesson I planned on. The trainer I had for water testing insisted on having the dog RIGHT OVER the source. This was not to my liking for two reasons....one......my dog is trained to pinpoint from shore ( we triangulate the scent and within that triangulation, the source will be found) and two......insisting that he alert right on TOP of the scent would make it more confusing for dogs following us. We were first to go, let me add.
Porter triangulated just fine from shore. That was no acceptable, so into the water I waded and Porter followed. I felt a bit silly, frankly. I never lead my dog. I went to a sand bar about 12 to 15 feet off shore and directed Porter to search from there. As I stood there, I could literally SEE eddies of grease slick on top of the water.....I had NEVER seen this before. One of the new people, who had asked if she could watch me test ( sure, no problem) also noticed the slick and said...."OMG.....I see it.....there are a few eddies of grease right there"......duh......my dog is tredging right on top of the source, spreading it hither and yon. To me, this was totally unnnecessary. I explained my triangulation theory to the trainer, and believe me, the EXACT SPOT was where the triangulation pointed. Enough said.
Now......THAT being said......I need to teach my dog how to get in a danged boat Bonnie

[rthonor]

what is triangulated from the shore mean? thanks,rt

[oksaradt]

Triangulate means that if we plot from the dog's alert on shore into the wind, drawing a line on a map..... And we do this for multiple dogs at different locations around the scent pool, that the lines should intersect very close to where the body can be found...thus eliminating a lot of search area in the boat.


jim

[rthonor]

In general, how far out could the body be from the shore, to do this? Any types of water that you wouldnt do this and go to the boat?

[oksaradt]

Triangulation for boat location works best on lakes. I've targeted a body in the past and had it confirmed with another handler. I asked the LE if I could train my air scenters/cross-trained on shores downwind and explained they would not be in the crime scene. LE said, "knock yourself out."

We had dog teams going crazy as far as 400 yards downwind from the body. There's a huge difference in the amount of oil on the water from a whole body than there is from a q-tip soaked in rendered adipose tissue. The latter you can train on when you have nothing else, but a real drowning is the best way to train the dogs.
The handlers went to the various beaches I radioed in to them with a "yea yea" attitude like I was giving them a bone now that the victim had been located. Once their dogs started working, biting at the water, biting at any wood contacting the water, working the scent cone, alerting like crazy...etc ......then they all worked all the shores I pointed out, rotating by driving back and forth with their dogs.

The lake was filled with trees and debris such that it was not safe for divers and difficult to drag. They posted a boat over our target buoy. The LE officer that slept in the boat that night was woken up by the victim bumping the boat in the early hours of the morning.



You can do variations of this depending on the body of water. On rivers/creeks, you work the dogs on shore to determine the highest upstream point where they detect scent so that you can limit the area you have to search in a boat.

With oceans, tidal currents and thermals could make this much more complicated and I'd consult someone that's versed with water movement in that area.

You could do a variation of this in boats if the shorelines are dangerous due to gators. In that case you'd probably be best served using the trees and vegetation in the area as scent sponges. Once you understand the concept then you adapt it for the situation.

Jim