about SAR

[Presley]

I have for a very long time thought about getting into SAR with Presley.. Can anyone please lead me in the right direction in what we need to acheive and some books that might help with training?

[Sudilar]

Some info and a book mentioned
http://www.ardainc.org/xstatmen.htm

http://www.crsar.com/

http://www.sardog.org/

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Presley, I too, have been wanting to get into SAR myself. I spoke with Candy who has a close friend who does SAr (Aunt Jazz's owner). I wasn't sure if Drake would like doing that. But Candy suggested we join a tracking club and see how he likes it.

We start our tracking lessons on Spetember 13. I am very excitied. Drake has great instinct and loves to work.

Good luck to your Presley.

[Dixieland Dancer]

Hi Melissa. Souraya sent me a PM asking about SAR stuff only a few short weeks ago. I am attaching my reply to her in this post. I do believe getting the dog involved in tracking is the best first step. I can also tell you from watching Kathi and Bob train for SAR work that it is VERY time consuming and even more involved than any other kind of training I have seen or done. The dog needs to be available at a moments notice for any kind of situation that may arise and this means you train in all kinds of environments and you do it continually. They train weekly doing tracks in rain, snow, water crosses, etc. You name it. Aunt Jazzes specialty was finding drowning victims. The foundation is having a dog that can do a track. Hope this helps.

Here is the reply to Souraya.

Re: SAR
Hi Souraya,
Kathi and Bob have been involved in SAR work for about 5 years. They started with teaching Jazz to track and found she was a natural so they got involved in Search and Rescue. They are now a part of Pennsylvania's Air, Search, and Rescue organization. They train with about 17 other dogs weekly for water and land situations. Now that Jazz is gone, Bob has been working a lot with Blaze, Dixie's brother, in training. He is coming along quite nicely.

Last week they got another puppy and have already started her in tracking. They have been bugging me to get involved in SAR with Dixie since they think she is a natural too. I don't have the time though to dedicate every weekend for training since I also have a 12 year old son and our family day is Sunday, which is when they train.

Anyway, to answer your question.... The best way to get started is to find a training club in your area that teaches tracking. Most dogs are being trained for competitive tracking to get a TD (Tracking Dog) title. If you find your pup has the ability to track and you are interested in SAR work, then find a SAR group in your area and ask them if you can come to their practice session and train with them. The reason I suggest getting some tracking work under your belt first before contacting the SAR group is two fold. 1. They will need to know you are serious and what better way than to show them what your dog already knows. 2. This will help you determine if you really like this and if your dog enjoys it.

Nothing is worse than forcing a dog to do something it absolutely hates doing. I have slowed down on obedience training with Dixie and excellerated the hunting because she is bored with obedience now and thrives on hunting. You will know what your dog loves.

I hope this helped. In short, find a club that can help you learn tracking and take it from there!! If you want or need more information I can have Bob contact you.

Candy

P.S. Do a search on Pennsylvania Air Search Rescue. They have a website but I don't know that much about the content it has.

[lovemymaltese]

I have never heard of it, what is it exactly?

[ChrisAK]

SAR is Search and Rescue. Great job for dogs with endless energy and great prey drives.

Yes even little dogs can do this if they have good noses and love to play hide & seek.