How to Train Your Dog to Search and Rescue

Hello Andrea, What is your specific question? I can answer here but I do not contact through email here. Thank you. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Justin, There are a few commands that are used across the board. Check out the article linked below. Most obedience commands used are the same ones taught in standard obedience classes like: Come, Stay, Sit, Down, Leave It, ect...Plus a few certain search commands. https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/sar-dog4.htm Whether he can still perform at his age depends largely on his skills and physical fitness as a search dog. If his age negatively impacts his senses and endurance, then he may not be able to do it any longer. If he is still able in all the necessary areas then he likely could participate if you can find a team that is open to working with you guys. There is a lot of commitment and dedicated needed from the dog's handler as well. So if you decide to pursue search and rescue you will also need to be very dedicated and interested in it yourself. If you have the time, energy and commitment to do it, then there is a huge need for handler/dog teams. http://www.sardogsus.org/id87.html http://www.vsar.org/SARdog.html The websites linked above are also good places to email someone with questions, to direct you to the right contacts to begin. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Haelie, First, research how to teach a "Go Find" command. Once your dog understands go find in relation to certain people and certain things that you have practiced teaching her to go find by name, then have her sniff something related to that person or thing that she already knows how to find. Since she recognizes who she is supposed to be looking for, the scent should already be familiar to her. Work on this with just a couple of people or objects at first until she is really good at it. When she is really good at finding those couple of things by name after smelling them, then remove the name of whatever she is supposed to be finding, so that instead of "Go Find Jimmy" it's just "Go Find" and you give her the article of clothing to smell. At first she may need to be told what she is looking for if she gets stumped at times, tell her to "Go Find Jimmy" again if she can't seem to locate based on scent. Practice this until she can find Jimmy with just his scent and the "Go Find Command". Add in new scents, teaching each one the same way that you taught the first couple. She should be learning to "Go Find Jimmy", "Go Find my white shoes", "Go Find Freddy", "Go find cat", ect...until she knows many different things. Once she knows how to find them by name with the scent article, then stop saying the name and work on her simply sniffing the article and then finding it when told "Go Find". You will have to teach her to find dozens of different things by their specific names and scents, one at a time before she will probably learn to match a new scent to an unknown object. She will also probably need to smell the article several times while searching to help her remember what she is looking for. Some dogs have a great nose for this, some have to learn only individual items. German Shepherds do often have good noses so your dog may be able to do it. If nothing else he can learn to find many individual items for you. While teaching this make sure that the scent article matches the actual thing he is supposed to be looking for. For example, if he smells the laces of your white Nikki tennis shoes, only expect him to find that particular shoe and not simply any shoes - since he is looking for a certain scent not just shoes in general with this type of training. You can also look into how tracking dogs are trained to sniff out missing person's since the training concepts are similar - they are given an article of clothing, then follow a trail of scent to the unknown person. Your dog will need more encouragement to keep hunting however, because objects will not have a trail of scent. You will have to encourage him to search for the object room by room and encourage efforts slightly, and findings with higher rewards. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Stella, Starting training while a dog is still very young is actually ideal. It will take a lot of patience but your main goals are to teach your puppy the concept of something existing when it's out of sight (like you being in the room even if he can't see you), how to use his nose to find something, basic commands, and socialization around the things he will need to encounter later (people, dogs, outdoor objects like logs, critters, and different environments. The Right Track method and the Air Detection methods would be good to practice, the second method may be too hard right now. When you do the Air Detection method, start by simply playing an easy game of hide n seek - where you pup sees you go hide at first. Once he has learned the concept of the game, make it gradually harder - hiding when he isn't looking but sticking out, ect... Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Amber, I am not specifically affiliated with any one group I could recommend but if you truly feel based on your training experience that she is a good candidate and she has already had some great socialization, manners, and obedience work put into her, I would reach out to SARIUS and see if there is an individual there who knows of someone in need: http://www.sardogsus.org/ I would also follow groups on Instagram and Facebook with individuals who owner train their own dogs and see if there is an individual or group within driving distance of you interested in homing her for that work. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Ruben, The answer to your question depends a lot on the dog and on your local Search and Rescue group. Many times older dogs are considered still for Search and Rescue work and they can be trained. There are some skills that a dog must already have present by your dog's age, such as a balanced temperament, good with people and other dogs, confident in a variety of environments and terrain, a good nose, intelligent and eager to please, ect... Those types of skills are more based on the dog's inherit traits, socialization and the way they were raised. Often task specific type training can be taught to an older dog as long as that dog already has the other skills necessary to do the job - the ones that you likely won't be able to develop this late in the game if not already present. I suggest reaching out to your local Search and Rescue group and perhaps speak with those who lead the organization and see if they feel based on your description of your dog, whether your dog could be a good fit and be worth the time to train for you. There is certainly a need for good dogs if your dog might be a good fit so it would be worth looking into and asking! Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden