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'Long Training for Efficient Searching'
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news - 24/03/2010
Long Training for Efficient Searching  -  Switzerland

dogs breeders dog pictures by Paul Cech
"International Rescuedog Organisation" - rescue dog avalanche search-training / Switzerland Long Training for Efficient Searching “Pax“ is a five month old Hungarian Malinois (Belgian Sheepdog). He stands waits and looks in the direction of a snow hill, under which his owner and a helper are hiding. “District!” (Revier) the command is made – and “Pax” runs, puts aside the lumps of snow in front of the hiding place, sticks his nose into the hole, walks into it… and will be cuddled by the helper and rewarded with little treats. That’s the way rescue dog avalanche search-training starts, playfully with young dogs to become well-trained rescue dogs which are sent into action under any difficult avalanche condition later on.



Mid-March in Flumserberg / Switzerland : The “International Rescue dog Organisation“ again invited to the yearly avalanche course. 22 dog handlers from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Japan were working for a whole week a couple of hours per day on the so-called “Prodalp” to either build up young dogs or to train older dogs even better.





“Keep your trap shut! – Politeness later on…“ words from Ruedi Gantenbein, a very experienced course instructor from Switzerland , a “veteran” who has been training dogs for more than three decades. By saying “keep your trap shut!” he just means: let the dogs work in peace. Do not talk in between and do not irritate the dogs with too many commands.





In fact, avalanche rescue dogs do work on their own and without any further commands – this is contrary to area-search. Only when the dog is 50m away is the handler allowed to follow.





Avalanche courses are therefore also very popular amongst those rescue dog teams who are normally specialized in rubble-search (e.g. collapsed buildings).





„The element snow is the most pleasant for the dogs’ noses“, Ruedi Gantenbein states. During all other search activities young dogs can be especially distracted by dust and/or dirt. In the snow they can fully concentrate on the human smell which also gets through the white goods of snow.





Border Collie “Aragon“ is a very experienced avalanche dog already, but still in training. He searches around one of the eight snow hills, snuffles, discovering where the human smell rises to the surface from and begins to scratch and then barks loudly.





Ruedi smiles and the wrinkles around his eyes grow even deeper: “That’s the way it should be!”





Once the dog detects the human smell he should “report”. Especially when working in the dark or behind invisible terrain it is very important for the dog to bark so that the dog handler can orientate himself where the dog is working at the moment.





Avalanche training, though, does not only consist of searching for missing persons, the overall training also includes obedience and dexterity.





While dexterity training for area-search, tracking or rubble search dogs is being trained on ladders, rockers, barrel-bridges etc., other activities are necessary on the mountain in the snow. For example, a dog must learn to walk in the tracks of the handler so that he does not get tired too quickly in the deep snow when on the way to a deployment. Also a main testing-issue: The dog must learn to walk in the tracks within a very short distance or run behind when skiing downhill.





Beyond all of that they, of course, also have to learn to be carried by strangers and transported by different means of transport such as cable-cars, chair-lifts or in trailers on Ski-Doos without showing signs of fear or even wanting to jump off.





Training, of course, also means obedience and dexterity until a dog of the highest level can be sent out on a mission.





At the testing event, carried out at the end of the course, these parts showed the weakest points. Not because the dogs wouldn’t obey, but because they couldn’t work as accurately as they are used to on green grassland.





But for Ruedi Gantenbein this was foreseeable: „It is different when a dog handler walks on uneven ground covered in snow in his ski boots, their dog might be irritated by his unfamiliar movements.





In order to improve the dog handler’s “dynamics”, Ruedi Gantenbein sees clear guidelines: “Thigh and buttock muscles have to be strengthened to walk in ski boots!”





For the president of the International Rescue Dog Organisation, Dr. Wolfgang Zörner, this avalanche course again was a further step to a higher level of rescue dog training: “Many international missions show how much we still have to work to reach the level of training we need to save human lives quickly. On the part of IRO we have the most demanding trainings and testing rules and regulations which we constantly advance in order to be able to work efficiently in case of a catastrophe.”



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Do not forget: On Sunday, 25th of April 2010, the „International Day of Rescue Dogs“ will take place. www.rescuedogday.com



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Pictures: IRO/Cech – free of charge





Press requests:



Paul Cech

IRO Press spokesman



A-2320 Schwechat - Austria

Schildweg 14

Phone: +43 / 699 / 1356 4408

Mail: cech@dogcompany.at

www.iro-dogs.org




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