Thanks guys! I'm going to really have to think about this one. The body slam makes me way too nervous. Most of the searches the group I'm getting involved with are local on somewhat flat ground, but they can be deployed all over the state. I really can't imagine being on a gorge of somewhere in the High Peaks on a steep hill getting body slammed by Elsa.
As far as a bark and hold...same thing here as what others have concerns about. It will be mostly wilderness and I don't think that will work out. Especially everyone on the team is trained for a refind right now.
I'd say her most natural behavior is sitting when she gets to me, but she ALWAYS does that. She's a very "polite" dog and loves her fronts, so that's almost automatic. I'm not sure if I could train out of her doing that on a day to day basis enough for it to be an effective indicator. Same with downs. If she thinks I want something from her, she usually will just throw herself on the ground.
Barking is NOT natural to her, which I thought might be beneficial because I would have no question at all that she was alerting me. But it sounds like that might be too hard to train if she isn't a natural barker?
Sooo. How about using my leg as a target, but not the full on jump? Maybe I can kind of get her to paw my calf/shin or something like that.
Ahh! I knew this was going to be a tough thing to do!