Maintenance window scheduled to begin at February 14th 2200 est. until 0400 est. February 15th

(e.g. yourname@email.com)

Forgot Password?

    Defense Visual Information Distribution Service Logo

    Training humans to master their rescue dogs

    Training humans to master their rescue dogs Department of Homeland Security trains at Camp Atterbury

    Photo By John Crosby | Search and Rescue Dog Keefer takes a breather while training at the Department...... read more read more

    CAMP ATTERBURY, UNITED STATES

    03.20.2010

    Story by Spc. John Crosby 

    Camp Atterbury Indiana

    CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Ind. — It's about training the human, not the rescue dog, according to Lillian Hardy, Search and Rescue manager for the Department of Homeland Security at the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center's Search and Rescue Training Center.

    Hardy provided oversight during a two-day Basic Land Cadaver Course March 20 and March 21 at Camp Atterbury's SRTC in central Indiana. The course is the first segment of a three-part program designed to educate rescue-dog trainers in developing better methods for training their dogs as well as themselves.

    "Dogs already know how to search for things," said Hardy. "They know how to scent. It's just teaching the dog how to scent what we're looking for, and to tell us that they've found it. For the handlers, it's a lot of teaching the dogs to be able to understand and also to understand how to read the dogs' body language."

    Due to the nature of the mission for these dogs, the use of real human remains is necessary in order to properly train them. Because of this, the beginner's class provides the dog-trainers with information about how to protect themselves from blood-borne germs and diseases.

    The course also touches on dog behavior, scent theory and the development of alerts or designated signals for the dog to communicate when it has found something. Overall, the course provides dog trainers with the tools to train their dogs to progress from developing an alert to actually searching for cadavers and using that alert effectively.

    The dogs cannot learn these skills in one day. Hardy said she expects the trainers to take the information home and work with their dogs between the beginner, intermediate and advanced instruction which is spread out over a period of three months.

    The next scheduled class — the Intermediate Course — begins in April and covers how to address individual or specific problems trainers may have with their dogs and how to break through those problems. Finally, the Advanced Course covers how to develop search patterns and searching habits.

    "I think the training facility that's set up here is an excellent facility," said Nicole Mosta, a special resource canine handler with the Will County Emergency Management Agency in Illinois. "You have several different disaster piles. You have an agility course which is obviously very beneficial in building the dog's confidence in how he's going to work in certain situations. I really love the way it's set up. It's a great facility. The best I've seen so far."

    There were 14 trainers and 14 dogs representing fire departments, sheriff's departments and volunteer search and rescue teams from Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

    "Just to have the area, the space for the agility courses that they have to work with and the instructors, [some of who] have been doing this for 20 years, is excellent," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard Sismour, a dog handler with the Canine Searching Out Scent Agency in Pennsylvania.

    Sismour said he appreciates the opportunity to network with the instructors and get a better understanding of how to improve his training.

    LEAVE A COMMENT

    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 03.20.2010
    Date Posted: 04.01.2010 09:49
    Story ID: 47528
    Location: CAMP ATTERBURY, US

    Web Views: 367
    Downloads: 181

    PUBLIC DOMAIN