Skye is One!

I have been working in Scotland since New Years day so Skye has been at home with Kate and the boys. We decided to coincide this period with getting her Spayed so Kate took her to the vets on the 4th Jan. She gets her stitches out today, which is also her first birthday! I will be easing her back into training over the next week and will report back on progress! SARDA Wales were out this week on a search of avalanche debris on Snowdonia. Thats the first time that has happened for a few years and indicative of the massive amounts of snow we have had.

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.