[NancyJ]

A lot of folks use a body slam or some variation such as a tug at a toy on handlers belt or even just poking into your hip with the nose. It does not have to be the hard jump on your body. I like the jamming the nose into the hip - easy to train and maintain with a small tidbit of food with the major reward when they get you to the victim. (You have to continue to reinforce this behavior in training, something people forget!)

Keep is something an exhausted dog can still do and you won't misread.

The bark -- sometimes the problem with that is the dog has too much to mentally "shift gears" and is often harder to build. Depends on the dog whether the bark will work or be a great experience in frustration. If it is not natural for the dog don't push it. .

I have seen passive indication like a return and a sit really mess with the dog that is real shift of gears, that many just cant do because it takes them out of motion.


Training the indication is one place a lot of people get hung up on and the most important thing you actually "train" Whatever you do get the final indication NAILED and 100% before going any further - and whatever you do don't go changing it around too much! make it easy and fun for the dog.

Renee -a detection dog may do an alert as in a passive alert but the body slam etc all ways to tell you "found them, now follow me NOW" and they will repeate it until they get you there.

Oh, I work an HRD dog now but I had my old area search dog just bite a bringsel that was on MY belt.

 

[NancyJ]

For a cross trained disaster/wilderness dog bark and hold makes sense but I really do not like it for wilderness which is what the majority of dogs are.

It can be really hard to pinpoint the source of a bark a half mile away - try it. Go out in the woods and yell and try to find that person. It gets really interesting with hills and heavy vegetation.

Plus if I had a SAR dog barking and holding a lost hunter I imagine the next sound I hear might just be gunfilre and other lost people could bolt etc.

 

[NancyJ]

What I would recommend is you can try it and - WITHOUT using it as part of search (right now you should not be doing a recall refind anything until the alert is a slam dunk)

See if you can solicit the behavior then with training build it to where your dog will do on command and not something she would randomly do. If you get something that seems workable go from there.

 

[NancyJ]

I think she is training a refind........

She is just wanting the behavior after the dog finds the victim and returns to the handler to take them to the victim. bump, bark, tug, etc.

At least that is how I read it.

 

[NancyJ]

A good ball on a string? A kong wubba? A tug?

I have a floating ball on a rope I REALLY like from England but I cant find it in the states

 

[NancyJ]

I agree probably stick with what motivates the dog - if the reward system ain't broke don't fix that.

I think training him to take it politely is not a bad thing though and I got some pointer on that after I accidentaly got nailed.

Mine doesnt really seem to care what toy I use is as long as he can tug on it or chase it - I just really like THIS toy because it floats and that is a plus for water work and he has never pulled the rope through unlike he has on the kongs. Darned things have a few years on them and are only now starting to wear apart. plus it will fit in a tennis ball holder

Ropeball Floater Large by Happy Pet Products Ltd - Amazing Animal Accessories - Online UK Pet Shop