More playing in the snow

I was working in Scotland last week so Skye had a week at home relaxing by the fire and chewing things she shouldn't be chewing! The week off seemed to increase her enthusiasm for training and we headed out 3 times this week with the kids playing hide and seek. We are still doing run outs and I have bought a camouflage net to hide the kids in to make her work a bit harder. We have done some in the dark as well this week. We are doing run outs over about 20-25 metre distances and she is now giving a good indication (bark) when she comes back to me. She is also starting to show a keenness to repeat the shuttle after she has gone back into the body which is good. The photos were taken this morning on our normal morning walk above our cottage. For snow conditions reports visit my main blog.

Skyes First Time in the snow

I went out for a walk today to check out the snow conditions, Skye came along and enjoyed her first time out in the snow.

SARDA Wales Training Weekend

I have been in bed for the majority of the week gone by with some sort of flu virus which has been a real nuisance. I took Skye along for training yesterday afternoon for an hour with SARDA Wales and did some run outs. Today we headed along again and spent the morning in the Llanberis Pass. We increased the distance on the run outs and also added some obstacles in the dogs way, such as wet boggy ground on one occasion and a dry stone wall on another. This kept the dog thinking and allowed me to push her a bit. The longer runouts showed me where her comfort zone currently is and I finished the day on a high with a couple of shorter ones. The video shows what a run out is and was taken at the start of the day today.

This weekend has been an assessment weekend and congratulations go to all of the handlers and dogs that have passed and many, many thanks to the bodies.

Getting the sequence

The early stages of search dog training are quite exciting because things are moving quite quickly. This week Skye has progressed with her game of hide and seek to the point where she is now coming back to tell me she has found - with a bit of prompting.

I have had a few days off and also been practising in the evenings on the days that I have been working. This weekend saw the whole family (we have 4 kids) plus Skye heading off to Warwickshire for a family wedding. Skye slept in the van and we enjoyed some training in the grounds of Ettington Park, a fine manor house that is reputedly the most haunted hotel in England!

The game has now progressed so that when Skye arrives at the body they ignore her and I hang back. She began to get frustrated at this as she wanted to get on and play with her toy and so started barking at the body. I praised this as it is no bad thing, continued to hang back and then recalled her to me. Once she arrived I prompted her to speak and then ran with her to the body asking her to show me.

A couple of days of this and she is getting the idea. This is the really important part of the training so I will continue at this for a while now to get it nailed. I am doing the run outs into the wind to get her subconsciously scenting for the body and I am varying the distance and location as much as possible.

Wild camping and daily training

I took Skye wild camping with some clients of mine last weekend, we had heavy rain and 80mph winds - typical rescue weather! As you can see from the photo she got very wet but was very well behaved in the tent, sleeping quietly in the porch all night.

This week we have been continuing with the very early stages of the search dog training. We have been making the most of my kids each evening doing short 10 metre runouts. This weekend we have progressed the game so that Skye now has to wait until I am at the body with her until the game starts. This very early stage is really important as we are teaching Skye that finding a body means a great game with her toy. She is having lots of fun although we do get some funny looks from other dog walkers!!

Stock & Obedience Test

The last few weeks have been pretty busy for Skye as I have been preparing her for her obedience test and stock test which we did yesterday.

The obedience test has to be done first and all dogs that are to be trained as SARDA search dogs must pass it. I was nervous, especially as the test took place at the end of a training day so I had a big audience of 4 qualified dog handlers and about 6 bodies all watching us intently! The test comprises:

1- Dog to walk to heel on and off the lead. Remains next to heel with the minimum of commands.

This was fine, we did not manage a Crufts special with the dog glued to my hip but she did walk to heel on and off the lead.

2- Dog stay 10 minute, handler to walk up to Dog to remain at stay position until recalled. 25m from dog 5 minutes with handler out of sight of dog.

This was the part of the test that I was dreading most of all and we had practiced every day for a month. Once the first minute had gone by I knew she would be fine. To be out of sight I went and hid behind a wall. Some of the other handlers joined me and giggled with me at the longest 10 minutes of the year!

3- Dog recalled whilst mixing with other dogs /handlers. Dog returns on recall.

I have trained Skyes recall using a whistle as well as voice commands and for this part of the test I used the whistle. We did this element twice and she came straight back both times.

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4- Dog put into down position away from handler. Dog responds to commands, and remains stationary until recalled.

To do this test one of the other handlers ran off calling Skye. She ran off towards him whilst another handler stood next to me and told me when to drop the dog. Again I had trained Skye on the whistle for this and she dropped straight on command from full flight so I was chuffed!

Skye passed and so we then moved into a field of sheep to do the stock test which has two main elements:

1- Dog will be recalled through a number of sheep in a controlled area. Dog returns on recall showing no interest in sheep

2- Dog will be given a stay command and Dog to remain at stay position until recalled showing no interest in sheep. Sheep are herded within 5m of the dog

Dogs will fail if they attack or show interest in sheep during the test. It is quite acceptable for dogs to break their stay if subjected to pressure provided they retreat or go to their handler. The assessor must be satisfied that each dog can be controlled in the presence of stock.

Skye broke her stay on the second part of the test but came straight to me so all was well. I was also asked to let her run freely near the sheep and walk close to me into the sheep to make sure she showed no interest.

Again Skye did really well and so was accepted as a trainee search dog! The hard work starts here!

Today we did our first day of search dog training in Beddgelert Forest in the rain. As well as helping other people with their dogs I did lots of short training bursts with Skye. To start with we are working on "run aways". This involves a "body" running away with her toy, shouting and then hiding. I let Skye go and she runs into the body. I run in after her and then she gets a game with her toy. A good excuse for being a big kid and playing with my dog!

I am really pleased to start search dog training and many thanks to all of the other handlers that have given up free time to offer advice and training to get us off to a good start.

2 days training at Northumberland Canine Centre

Skye and I have had a great few days away in Northumberland this week. We joined Jacquie Hall at the Northumberland Canine Centre for a two day course specifically put together for SARDA trainees. Jacquie has been training dogs for over 25 years and instructing for over 20 years. Jacquie regularly competes in Working Trials with a Golden Retriever and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.

Her other canine credentials are:

• Working Trials Reserve Ticket winner.
• A Member of The Canine Behaviour Institute.
• John Rogerson Associate.
• Hon.Training Adviser to Search & Rescue Dogs Association (England)
• Founder member / Senior Instructor - North Northumberland Dog Training Club.
• 15 years experience as a dog groomer & pet shop owner.

Thankfully the facilities include a large indoor arena as it was persisting it down all day on Wednesday!

There were 6 of us trainee handlers with our dogs ranging in age from 4 months old to 3 years old, 5 Collies and 1 Australian Cattle Dog. Skye was plumped nicely in the middle at 7 months old.

During day 1 Jacquie put time into training us as handlers, the dogs are the easy bit! We looked at some basic dog psychology including how dogs interact with each other and with humans, how to understand their body language and how dogs learn. Dogs are not too much different to humans in this respect and this part of the day was fairly similar to the coaching courses that I have been on in my work as a Mountaineering Instructor. The same basic rules of showing what is required, breaking it down into workable chunks and then joining it all together again were demonstrated nicely when we were all asked to teach our dogs to run an agility course. With dogs the reward element is a little less complex than with humans - we just tell them how good they are and feed them - the dogs that is!

One of the components of the SARDA Wales obedience test is a walk to heel on and off the lead. I have been struggling for weeks with this with Skye but with 2 minutes Jacquie had her looking like a Crufts champion and had showed me how. Its all in the timing! We also looked at loose lead walking, the importance of the dog recognising its own name (its amazing how many of ours were indifferent!) and the recall.

The beauty of this sort of training is that you benefit from all of the mistakes that someone else has made over 25 years and get an instant answer - rather than relying on trial and error.

The second day dawned bright and sunny so we spent a good part of it outside. Practical sessions were again complimented by some theory sessions including dealing with aggressive dogs. We looked at how to train the down stay position keeping the dog calm, relaxed and happy and repeated the exercises we had done the day before in the paddock with the additional distractions of new sights and smells.

The course ended with each of us recalling our dogs past all of the other dogs, walking them to heel through the other dogs off the lead and finishing with the dog lying down. We were all beaming like kids in a sweetshop!

The two days have given me new found confidence in my dog, answered all of the questions that I had about training a puppy that I want to use as a Search and Rescue Dog, corrected the mistakes I had been making and given me some new practical skills to develop my dog. They have also given me the knowledge to read other dogs and understand their interaction a little bit more - but I am by no means an expert!

Jacquie can help anyone with any dog - you don't need to be training a Search Dog so if you are struggling with your own dog have a look at her website, I can't recommend her highly enough. I also wish all of the other handlers the best of luck, especially Stuart and Jasper who have their Stock & Obedience test coming up in a weeks time after such a successful two days.

BBC One Show

SARDA Wales were on the BBC One Show at 7:00pm this evening - I have embedded it here in case you missed it:

Helicopter Training Day

I have been with SARDA Wales this weekend on a training weekend. Yesterday was spent on Anglesey whilst today we were in the Llanberis Pass. We were joined today by the BBC who made a short piece for "The One Show" so keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks. We spent the day doing helicopter training with the dogs - I have put together a short film to tell the story.

Skye heads out Land Rover Training

This month Skye managed to tag along on a Llanberis team Land Rover Training Day. I was helping to run the driver training for the team and Skye spent the day in the back of the Land Rover with occasional runs behind!

Skye - the story so far

I have set up this Blog to record Skye as she grows up and (hopefully) trains as a search dog. She was born in January of 2009 and is a Border Collie. I bought her from a working sheepdog centre near Worcester when she was 6 weeks old. The photos show her as a bundle of fluff playing in our living room at about 8 weeks, in March asleep in her crate and in May ripping up the heather in our garden! A strong play drive is an important part of the training as that is what will motivate her to find people.

Most of SARDA dog handlers are a Full Member of a Mountain Rescue Team.
Once your application has been passed by the Committee you are required to body for six months. In this time you are monitored to ensure that you have the time and the commitment needed to train a dog. The bodying period also allows you to experience what a real casualty may go through and also the way different dogs find you in relation to the wind and where you are hiding.

I have recently completed this period and become a Trainee handler and I am now preparing Skye for an acceptance and stock test. This involves an obedience test without sheep and then a further test in a field of sheep to make sure that she will ignore them.

Training is divided into stages which have to be passed before going on to the next one. It takes roughly 2 – 3 yrs to get a dog on the Call Out list and all members of the Association are involved in the training of each dog – bodies, qualified dog handlers and assessors. As a trainee I am on the Call Out list in order to navigate for a qualified dog handler to gain experience and get used to being woken up at 3am to search a cold wet hillside!