SAR Dog News Published by the National Search Dog Alliance October 2018 Vol
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SAR Dog News Published by the National Search Dog Alliance October 2018 Vol. 12, No. 10 Article page Synopsis of Annual Meeting 16 2018 BOD Meeting Dates 1 Board of Directors & Founding Members 16 Bucky Says 1 Book Review: K-9 Teams: Beyond the Basics 17 NSDA Certifications 2 Things we don’t think about 18 Regional Testing Information 2 The Last Howl 19 Tests, Training and Seminars 20 Announcements 3 Disaster K-9 Training Scholarship 4 2018 Board Meeting Dates Kibbles and Bits 4 Nov. 1, Dec. 6 Shell Casings and Blood 7 Contact Corporate Secretary, Sue Wolff, at SAR in the Smokey’s 8 [email protected] for the call-in number for the Search for Missing Kotzebue Girl 9 meeting. Depressed K-9? 10 Making Your Own Dog Treats 11 Bucky Says: 2018 Hero Dog 12 Man of Many Trades & Passions-Terry Crooks 13 Don’t sleep alone. Irish SAR Dogs HRD Training 15 Get a dog. SAR DOG NEWS October 2018 Page 2 NSDA’S NEWEST CERTIFIED SAR K-9 HANDLERS Michigan Becky Monroe & Bella Michigan Trailing I Janice Johns & K-9 Blue Trailing I REGIONAL TESTING Don’t put off getting your NSDA certification. Bring NSDA Evaluators to you! NSDA will pay all expenses to deliver Evaluators to your centrally located test site for at least ten (10) tests or more to be given with a minimum of six (6) handlers. The costs of the Evaluator’s expenses will be reimbursed up to $500 per Evaluator with each Evaluator performing at least three (3) tests. See the NSDA website (www.n-sda.org) under the Testing tab for the application. Contact Karen Nesbitt, Testing Manager at [email protected] for more information. SAR DOG NEWS October 2018 Page 3 ANNOUNCEMENTS HANDLERS: A brand new Urban Trailing Standard will be rolled out this winter. If you have any comments on urban trailing or wish to make a comment, now is the time. Send comments to [email protected]. EVALUATORS: A new Acceptance of Risk Form has been posted on the Evaluator page of our website. We felt the previous one asked too many invasive medical questions. Please download it for future activities. ADOPTION He is called Ronan and came through German Shepherd Rescue. Approx. 2 yr. old (per my vet) neutered male. Sable color. 74#. Czech looking dog to my eye. Moderate size and dry body type. Well balanced with good reach and drive. Very correct coat and dentition. Not a beginner’s dog by any means. A new owner MUST have GSD experience and use positive training methods. The dog will protest an unfair correction. Very smart boy. Knows some commands in French, so a former owner may have done some Ring sport training. Ball, toy, tug, treat crazy! Tested him over a period of 3 days using the Brownell-Marsolais scale with high scores, including on rubble. Videos available. Each advancing challenge he met with increasing calm and focus. Fearless in his searches. Ronan was dog reactive to intact male being walked by while he was on a tie-out without his foster person. He is extremely quiet and very rarely barks at anyone or anything. Neutral to mildly interested in strangers. A bit dog reactive but has played successfully with other dogs in his foster setting. Not appropriate for a home with small children or small animals. Vaccines are current. We did x-rays which show elbows and knees are great. Mild bilteral hip dysplasia (shallow acetabulum), well-muscled, moves fluidly and is very agile. X-rays available. If I weren’t retired from detection work this dog would be MINE. We want this dog to go to a working detection or SAR or sport scent home, rather than an agency where he would be a kennel dog and a mere asset. An agency exception could be made if dog would live with handler in their home. Ronan is an extraordinary individual and dearly wants to belong to someone who knows what they are doing! This dog will work his heart out for such a handler/owner. Potential adoptive homes will be carefully screened. We know this dog has been in at least 2 homes after puppyhood, and has landed in a shelter twice. We don’t want to fail him. For more info and an adoption application contact Miriam Rose, Certified Nose Work Instructor, Northwest Noseworks, Sequim, WA 360-681-8989 Evaluator’s qualifications: 15 yrs. Drug and explosives trainer and handler with 7 K-9 partners (incl. a GSD) over my career. I grew up with GSDs. SAR DOG NEWS October 2018 Page 4 Disaster K-9 Training Scholarships may be applied to registration fees and travel expenses. Scholarship Offered The scholarship is named for K-9 Redden, a disaster certified canine, who was struck by a The 2019 application period for the K-9 Redden vehicle and killed in June 2017. Memorial Disaster Dog Training Scholarship is now open. Five (5) - $500 scholarships are available to Learn more about the scholarship at Search & Rescue K-9 teams who currently have, or www.calvarycanine.org/scholarship are working towards, a disaster certification or a certification with a disaster component. KIBBLES & BITS by Susan Bulanda Introducing a New Dog First, I want to explain that this topic could be a book unto itself. In this article, I will give an overview, highlighting the main points. If anyone has specific questions, you can email me ([email protected]) and, if the answer is not too long I will write to you or, if it is too involved, we can arrange for a phone call. Most SAR dogs get along well with other dogs since many units require that all their dogs get along. However, some dogs will get along well with other dogs when they are not at home. But at home, well, it’s a different story. This is because home is their territory and, if the SAR dog is even a tiny bit territorial, their instincts take over. Some breeds tend to be more territorial than others. As a rule, breeds that are bred to run in packs tend to be less territorial and the breeds that are not pack dogs tend to be more territorial. But keep in mind that all breeds of dogs can have various degrees of a territorial attitude. So, what to do? For any dog, no matter what breed, age or sex, if you plan to get another dog no matter what age, breed or sex, the best way to handle this situation is to take an old piece of cloth and wipe each dog around his tail and rear area and then exchange the cloth, wiping the other dog around the tail and neck area. This will introduce the new scent to each dog so that, when they meet, they are already familiar with the scent. Do this a few times. Next introduce both dogs on neutral grounds. The next question I often get is what is considered neutral grounds? That can be anything that is far enough away from your home that the dog does not consider it “his” property. Some dogs expand their territory to include the neighborhood. An example of this is, when I lived in a rural part of Virginia, we had a small development that consisted of about ten houses along our street. My Rottweiler considered this her territory and, if I took her outside with me, she would patrol the neighborhood. All the residents were under her protection as well, especially the children. After everyone got to know Dempsey, they counted on her to watch things. SAR DOG NEWS October 2018 Page 5 On one occasion, Dempsey alerted me that something was amiss by a neighbor’s house. This person was restoring a valuable antique car and was always concerned that someone might steal parts. I immediately called the neighbor and they saw someone leaving their property who did not live in the neighborhood. Fortunately, nothing was stolen. The point being that you must know how much of the area around your house your dog considers his neighborhood or territory. The safest way to handle this is to drive far enough away to a park or other open area. Have someone else meet you with the dog that you plan to add to your family and let the dogs casually approach each other. Do not force them together; let them set the pace. Note: Do not use a dog park or where other dogs will be nearby. If possible, do this as many times as you can until the dogs walk together and/or play together on their own. Do not assume, if both dogs immediately start to play together, that it is OK to bring the new dog home. Give it a few sessions. This is critical if you are adding a dog six months of age or older to your family. Carefully watch both dogs during the introduction. Do not make excuses for less than friendly behavior, which is what people often do. Watch to see if the new dog seems to want to bully the resident dog or vice versa. If this is the case, it will not get better and often leads to aggression as the new dog matures or settles in. The signs may be subtle which is why people often overlook them even though they notice the behaviors. If the new dog is being adopted and is older than six months, it is important to keep in mind that it takes three to six months for the new dog’s true personality to surface.