Post by oksaradt on Jan 11, 2011 13:18:33 GMT -5
I've debated on what to write about lately. One would think that with the holidays that not much would be going on, but that's just not the case. So, this is going to be a mix of subjects that will hopefully give root for discussion or at least food for thought.
(This got longer than I expected, so other subjects will be tacked on as we go - maybe new threads.)
1) How long will your dog work before needing a break?
Many of us get lazy in how we set up problems for our dogs. I tend to time my problems to judge difficulty and to compare my two dogs' results. The older experienced dog is not always the fastest as the two have different attitudes and methods of problem solving. I could try to try to cookie-cutter train such that both dogs turn out identical, but would that really be best for the victims? These two dogs will be my "team" of "scent experts" and having two different outlooks on how to solve a problem is probably going to raise my odds of their making the find. Yea yea, one hopes in the real world that both will be the sterling model of the scent dog expert....but the real world is rarely like our set problems no matter how much I try to re-create reality.
Timing also keeps me in check such that I realize I need to make problems more difficult for each dog per it's current "work ethic" level.
So, what's the big deal on search endurence? If your law enforcement gives you one acre to search every time, then there is no big deal. If they get a tip that a body might be out there somewhere in 40,120,....1500+ acres and "we don't know if it's buried, scattered, hanging or what...." search endurence or work ethic suddenly becomes a big deal. If it's just you and the one dog working the 120 acres, then it's a humongous deal. I quote typical clandestine grave time as 1 acre per hour. Scattered skeletal as 5 acres per hour if it's recent. If it's old then it's a forensic trace evidence search and back to the one acre per hour if we're lucky. If we are looking for a recently deceased body dump, then (no disrepect) life is good and lots of area can be covered quickly. To be honest though, recently deceased surface or above is a rare search for me.
If the search warrant is good for a window of time, your search limitations just escalated and you are forced to make judgement calls. Do you call out 10 other dog teams? Can you find ten other dog teams that can do this search and be available in a day's notice? Does your law enforcement want to deal with the circus of a large search for a criminal investigation? Many HRD searches are done where no one but you and the detectives know they occurred because many investigations are a matter of clearing tips until you get the right tip (if it ever comes along).
So....search time...? I look at search time as how long the dog stays focused on the search or is easily kept focused. I'm not really happy until this reaches four hours. One way to reach this is to gradually build walk/hike time with your dog before you take them into a search area. This starts out with little delay and continues to build such that the dog learns that there is still a chance to make a find. This is where it's important that the dog have a high drive to find the scent of human remains for the dog's own reward. This is where the dog the owner decides will be an HRD dog, regardless of its drives, can become a dissapointment. It's not the dog's fault. It's a case of handler ego and ignorance. Some handlers learn from the experience and some are destined to repeart their mistakes.
Endurence also entails how tight a search a dog can perform for how long. Doing trace work is extremely precise and tiresome. Make no mistake, the dog is required to be nose-to-ground through out the search on (say) four-foot wide alleys. The handler is asking the dog to find that single finger-bone that the coyote left behind or a tooth. It's very laborious and not all dogs can do it. The fun side for my dogs in searches like this is often they are expected to sit next to me while I painstakingly brush and trowel to the scent source. The dog is asked to check again and again to confirm I'm excavating in the right place. So far all have found this quite entertaining. Could your dog do this? Can you do this? It's the extreme of historic HRD work.
All of the above are typical situations my dogs and I get asked to perform. Endurence is a big deal.
Jim
(This got longer than I expected, so other subjects will be tacked on as we go - maybe new threads.)
1) How long will your dog work before needing a break?
Many of us get lazy in how we set up problems for our dogs. I tend to time my problems to judge difficulty and to compare my two dogs' results. The older experienced dog is not always the fastest as the two have different attitudes and methods of problem solving. I could try to try to cookie-cutter train such that both dogs turn out identical, but would that really be best for the victims? These two dogs will be my "team" of "scent experts" and having two different outlooks on how to solve a problem is probably going to raise my odds of their making the find. Yea yea, one hopes in the real world that both will be the sterling model of the scent dog expert....but the real world is rarely like our set problems no matter how much I try to re-create reality.
Timing also keeps me in check such that I realize I need to make problems more difficult for each dog per it's current "work ethic" level.
So, what's the big deal on search endurence? If your law enforcement gives you one acre to search every time, then there is no big deal. If they get a tip that a body might be out there somewhere in 40,120,....1500+ acres and "we don't know if it's buried, scattered, hanging or what...." search endurence or work ethic suddenly becomes a big deal. If it's just you and the one dog working the 120 acres, then it's a humongous deal. I quote typical clandestine grave time as 1 acre per hour. Scattered skeletal as 5 acres per hour if it's recent. If it's old then it's a forensic trace evidence search and back to the one acre per hour if we're lucky. If we are looking for a recently deceased body dump, then (no disrepect) life is good and lots of area can be covered quickly. To be honest though, recently deceased surface or above is a rare search for me.
If the search warrant is good for a window of time, your search limitations just escalated and you are forced to make judgement calls. Do you call out 10 other dog teams? Can you find ten other dog teams that can do this search and be available in a day's notice? Does your law enforcement want to deal with the circus of a large search for a criminal investigation? Many HRD searches are done where no one but you and the detectives know they occurred because many investigations are a matter of clearing tips until you get the right tip (if it ever comes along).
So....search time...? I look at search time as how long the dog stays focused on the search or is easily kept focused. I'm not really happy until this reaches four hours. One way to reach this is to gradually build walk/hike time with your dog before you take them into a search area. This starts out with little delay and continues to build such that the dog learns that there is still a chance to make a find. This is where it's important that the dog have a high drive to find the scent of human remains for the dog's own reward. This is where the dog the owner decides will be an HRD dog, regardless of its drives, can become a dissapointment. It's not the dog's fault. It's a case of handler ego and ignorance. Some handlers learn from the experience and some are destined to repeart their mistakes.
Endurence also entails how tight a search a dog can perform for how long. Doing trace work is extremely precise and tiresome. Make no mistake, the dog is required to be nose-to-ground through out the search on (say) four-foot wide alleys. The handler is asking the dog to find that single finger-bone that the coyote left behind or a tooth. It's very laborious and not all dogs can do it. The fun side for my dogs in searches like this is often they are expected to sit next to me while I painstakingly brush and trowel to the scent source. The dog is asked to check again and again to confirm I'm excavating in the right place. So far all have found this quite entertaining. Could your dog do this? Can you do this? It's the extreme of historic HRD work.
All of the above are typical situations my dogs and I get asked to perform. Endurence is a big deal.
Jim