Searching Areas

Over the last couple of months Skye has been progressing well in her training. This weekend we were "staged" searching small areas in woodland at the SARDA Wales training weekend. (There are 18 stages through to Lowland Dog Assessment and at each stage the dog and handler have to be assessed by two qualified handlers to make sure they are upto scratch - you can view the training stages here)

We have started our Tuesday night training sessions now the daylight hours have increased and enjoyed a joint exercise with the Coastguard on Tuesday night. This was our first time searching sand dunes and they were more complicated than I thought they would be! For the next few months the main training focuses on me as the handler, Skye has learnt her bit and now I need to learn mine! 

Searching Areas

I have been away a lot this winter in search of the snow and so Skye has had less training than either of us would have liked. We missed the January training weekend but had a good couple of days in Feb and a great weekend in March with SARDA Wales. We have also been doing a fair bit with my kids and with Emmer from SARDA Wales between official training sessions.

Skye is now searching areas, these started off small with the search taking no longer than a couple of minutes and we have built that up so that at the last training weekend she did a couple of 30 minute area searches. She is like a different dog when the jacket goes on her now, super keen to get to work and is starting to range quite nicely. This means that she will cover the ground away from me and so we can be more efficient in our searching. I now have an understanding of how to direct her where I want her to be in relation to the wind and we are forming a partnership as a search team which is really exciting.

I am also starting to read her body language as she is out on the hill. I can read the difference between whether she has picked up the scent of a person or a sheep or perhaps some discarded food. She is far better at reading me and knows when we are heading out to do some training!

I am looking forward to a spring and summer of work with her so that we can both develop what we are doing and prepare for our first assessment. 

Training - the story so far

Since my last post Skye has been doing well with her training and we have now come to the end of her first 12 months of Search Dog training. She is still very puppyish but with that she is extremely keen to work which is brilliant. Over the last few months of SARDA training we have been concentrating on extended run outs and C Searches, getting the find sequence well and truly nailed. This weekend we were staged at C Searches and given lots of help in moving onto searching small areas. This is where I come in as I now have to learn how to efficiently move my dog through the search area, maximising the wind. This next stage feels exciting and I look forward to the next 12 months of training!

Training Weekend

Skye and I have been with SARDA Wales this weekend for the May training. We spent both days in the Llanberis Pass under blue skies and sunshine, with a reasonable breeze both days. At the start of the weekend Skye was being cocky and not running all the way into the body when she found it. She would run until she saw the body and then turn back and come and get me. We worked on getting the bodies better hidden and this solved the problem nicely so that by the end of today she was doing run outs and pop ups properly. A great weekend of playing with the dogs in the sunshine.

SARDA Weekend

It is a SARDA Wales training weekend this weekend. Unfortunately Skye managed to reopen her wound having been spayed last month. This has meant she has missed this months training whilst resting at home - I am sure she is as frustrated as I am! I have spent the day yesterday bodying for the other young dogs who are coming along really well. I am heading off to Scotland later for a couple of weeks work so Skye should be fully fit by the time I get back.

Training in Llanberis

This morning Skye and I joined Helen with her dog Cluanie for a couple of hours training. I have been easing Skye back into some short run outs after her operation. Yesterday we did half a dozen with the kids and today we did another half a dozen with Helen. Skye was very keen and worked well, giving a good indication each time she came back to me.

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.