The SAR Dog flunkie needs a replacement/buddie

dirtyboots

Observer
Mal mal mal mal mal mine mine mine mine mine mine mine. The absolutely hands down no questions asked most completely obssessed working dog there is. Having said that in it's pure form it is a good thing. Of course you didn't ask what anyone thought about what is the best working dog. For SAR tracking spaniels are hard to beat.

They are not giganticus, have alot of endurance, obey, and are very social. Unless you are going to drop some serious bread on for realsies pure breed, complete with all of the proper socialization performed by a propper breeder (they have imprinting behavoirs dialed in to the day now for developing pups, and if you are going to buy a pup for work and the breeder isn't doing it by day / or doesn't know how for your particular interest / vocation to tailor the imprint, check somewhere that does)

And, now that I've rambled from least realistic (mals) to semi realistic (purebred mega cash dog) lets cover mutts. First, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and say that the dog you have is not going to work. IF there is anything that will overpower your dogs desire to find a person while on a track (say a game odor, lets say, rabbit) you have a training issue, it is not a drive issue. The dog is simply rewarding itself and gaffing you off. It's what dogs do. I am sure you have some great experienced trainers, just throwing that out there, take it for what it's worth.

Okay, anyway, the dog won't work. check rescues, and pounds. Bloodhounds although huge and messy would surely suit your needs. I will not say who, but there are vendors for large agencies that sell mutts from the pound for good amounts of cash. How do they do what they do? Ball drive. Insano ball drive. If you can find a dog that has a high prey / ball drive, higher than food, you can pretty much "teach" them to do anything. They are not often but definitely out there waiting to be adopted.

If nothing else is agreeable just take your time looking, and learning. It is not a breed issue as much as it is finding the right dog to suit your needs. There are selection tests and opinions on what makes a good tracking / trailing dog out the wazoo. Look for a dog whos nose hits the deck when it gets outside, and will take a ball over food. From there you have the beginnings of something workable. Hope that helps, and above all have fun.
 

Waytec

Adventurer
A friend of the family that is working with the Ontario Provencal Police SAR group uses 2 Standard Poodles. She keeps them in sport cut. Poodles where actually bread as hunting dogs.

Another one is the Belgian Tervuren or Groenendael. My mother in law breads Groenendaels so my wife and I had one for some time. The apartment we where in said no shepherds (we had a sheep dog) so we keep it there.

FYI a Malinois is not a guard dog is it a herding dog. AKC and CKC have them in the herding group. Also if you get the dog out of Canada it will be registered as a Belgian Shepherd. The CKC does not break them up as separate breads they are sub breads of the Belgian Shepherd.

I don't agree with the hole no guard dog thing, I bet the little old ladies are lowed there Lhasa Apso's they are a guard dog, look hear under "A Look Back" http://www.akc.org/breeds/lhasa_apso/ . I have been bit more by these little terds at shows than any other breed out there.

My rant for the day Good luck with the hunt. I would look at the Poodles those.
 

RVR2RSQ

Observer
Chessie

I work a Chessie as my SAR dog (trailing and HRD). He is a bit large (mutant 100lbs) and when I start training another for his eventual retirement I will likely go smaller. My wife would prefer I stick with this breed because he has been such a good family dog. Kids 2 ,6 & 9.

I also like the Heelers (ACD) they are a great size, easy to pick up (fences, and what not) and usually have a good drive.

Our team has the following

1 GSD
2 standard poodles
1 border collie
1 Giant schnauzer
3 labs
1 airdale
1 swissie
1 labradoodle
1 chessie

Brian
 

alosix

Expedition Leader
The new guy , Kona, flew up last week from TX:

downloadfile-5.jpeg


http://picasaweb.google.com/jpower2/Kona#

Gotta say.. I didn't realize just how much energy a 'high play drive' pup would have. He is currently quite the handful to keep track of.

Seems pretty bright and happy.

Off to puppy obedience and introducing to the SAR team shortly.

Jason
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,576
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top