Sometimes you fit in a trail when and where you can.
This short track was laid by my husband at 0700 this morning. It baked all day in the sun and since this is also my pasture, all my goats, alpacas and the cat have been on it and all over it throughout the day.
I ran her this evening at 2035 shortly after arriving home from work.
For the last few weeks I’ve changed how I am defining this dogs job of finding the lost. I am striving to build that crazy toy obsession in this timid girl to the point that no matter who she’s looking for she’s only thinking of finding that toy. This new training strategy I’ve implemented is specific to this dog and dealing with her paranoia and shyness of strangers that seemed to only be getting worse with age.
She’s now 4 yrs old.
So far it is working beautifully!
As K9 Handlers and Trainers we must adapt to each dog and it’s unique needs to help them become their working best.
*I apologize for the video being sideways. It wasn’t filmed that way and does not play back that way on my phone. And I can’t seem to fix it. I’m a dog trainer, not a tech guru.😕*
Training for the unexpected as well as accepting the newest search technology is imperative for a Search K9.
Today the first introduction to a drone for my personal trailing/article search K9, Maggie.
She had a short search scenario to solve that involved gusty winds around metal and concrete buildings coupled with difficult terrain changes. The excitement included having a drone hovering over her while she worked.
She looked at the drone once while on trail when it descended to about 8 feet over her head.
She immediately dismissed it and continued with her job finding her subject inside a parked car near by.
Unfortunately I didn’t get video of it since I was working her but I did get video of the drone coming in to land after she’d been well rewarded for her search success and was waiting for our SAR Team drone demo for finish.
Training never ends for the working dog, and that’s exactly how they like it!❤️
