Search Dog Training

GRIDDING AND "CLEARING" AN AREA:

Why do you use a dog?? It is because the dog can scent much much farther than you are able to see or scent. That is why you, a canine handler with a dog, can cover much more territory than a group of "ground-pounders". Often times when you are training you may grid an excessive amount and it will pay to figure out ahead of time, before you get too far along in your training, just how far your dog can scent and in what conditions.

When clearing an area by gridding, start with the BIGGEST grid and progress to the lowest. Gridding basically is used to cover a large area with hopefully an 80% probability of making a find. Practice by setting your victim out in an open area of maybe 20 acres or so. surprisingly, in even some of the lightest wind conditions, and depending on the length of time your subject has been out, you will find that ONE pass along the perimeter of your 20 acres will indicate that your dog is hitting on the scent! Try not to ignore OR encourage the signals that your dog is giving you. Your dog may pick up on a scent and it is important that you allow the dog to "follow-through" without comment. If it is not what he is looking for, (not human) then he will realize that nothing was found that was important and he did not get a reward and that is when you will take him back to where he first picked up the scent and start your gridding pattern again. This is the only way to get your dog to focus on what he is looking for (human) and to receive the praise only when he makes the find is crucial. ( This is another reason why when you are training you should know where your subject is located at least 70 percent of the time, so that you can learn to recognize how to read your dog. If your dog appears to have picked up the scent it is usually best to stop the idea of "doing another pass" and follow your dog if he wants to follow the scent. ) Warning: some dogs if encouraged to continue the grid pattern even though they have picked up on the scent will no longer search for that subject and will not tell you again. they will say to themselves "well, I indicated that there was a person over there and my human didn't care, so it must not be what we are looking for"

On another note but equally as important: try very hard NOT to encourage the dog with words or behavior which will anticipate that the dog is "on" unless you absolutely know for a fact and have that subject in your vision and you KNOW the dog is scenting him. (for example, you know where you have placed the subject and your dog appears to be hitting ..do not encourage him/her to go in and follow the source....say nothing!!) dogs can appear to be on and really be excited about a bunny trails the other side of the coin is that if your dog does appear to have picked up a scent while he is on a grid pattern you should not encourage him in any way to follow through, you must let him follow through on his own. If he does not follow through and you continue gridding and he does not pick up the scent and go in on the next pass then you may want to grid a closer grid "down the middle" of the two passes to make sure he didn't "miss" and also for you to learn why/what is happening with the wind for this to occur.

Make it a habit to always walk silently with your dog with only an occasional word or two to your dog...and allow your dog to follow through on his own if you believe he has picked up the scent. Only offer the praise when your dog arrives at the source of scent. Do not give praise until you yourself have seen that he has reached the subject. As for the grid pattern, just pick it b back up where you left off if your dog has made an indication and followed through and there was nothing there. Ignoring the dog while he is attending to the business of searching is good common sense and helps to avoid "false alerts" which can happen if you have a very smart dog and he knows that you are pleased when he first "picks up" on a scent...better to say nothing and let him work out his own scent problem than to encourage a "false alert".

GRIDDING IN BRUSHY/THICK AREAS:

It is neither necessary nor is it safe to "close grid" an area that is heavily covered with brush and may be full of dangerous gullies and holes. Just remember THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE A DOG. The dog will scent if there is anyone in a thicket of tangled growth. Even in a light wind the dog will scent. You and your dog make the difference in areas that are heavy overgrown for that very reason, that is why you can accomplish more than typical searchers who do NOT have dogs and must go into heavy undergrowth. It is important that you travel a full circuit around a heavily over grown area such as a thicket so that if there is anything inside the dog has the optimum chance for scenting. .Try hiding your subject in heavily brushy areas and intentionally do not go into the area on a "grid", rather skirt around the edge of the thicket as you are doing your "grid" ....again it will surprise you that your dog WILL scent into it and go in to make the find. (Note: I am talking about a person that is lost or a person that is dead, not a possibility of a buried person, which is a completely different scenario.)

Corn fields are the same sort of scenario. a group of "ground-pounders" must walk through that corn with a human spaced about every five rows apart. a handler and dog can travel at least 40-50 rows between grids. Try this practice and you will see what I mean:

Place your subject outside of a corn field, upwind. You go into the center of the corn field (most corn fields are at least 40 acres) so that means you are going to travel at least an area that is approximately 20 acres... Take your dog into the center of the corn field and walk at right angles to the wind with you and your dog downwind of your subject. USE YOUR COMPASS SKILLS HERE, since when you are in "tall corn" it is completely impossible to take a sighting on anything on the horizon!!.(you will not notice the wind while in the corn, it is usually pretty airless) Nine times out of ten your dog will make a sudden sharp turn and lead you to your subject....even in very light wind. If the dog does not do it from 20 acres away, then try the next grid at about 10 acre away. Try a few scenarios like this and you will realize how your dog works and you will recognize in which conditions you need to make a tighter grid.

Try not to make the mistake of "overkill." It is simply not necessary and is a waste of time and effort to grid every 10-20 feet. Trust that your dog will locate for you in heavily overgrown areas and that you do not have to crash your way through every thicket and thorn bush to check it out. The only time you should have to crash your way through really thick stuff is for example when you have been given an area that is bounded by a river or a stream or a gully as the boundary. Depending on where your wind is coming from, you may find that in order to cover your territory thoroughly you will need to go to the farthest edge of your boundary and work along that boundary ad that boundary may consist of heavy cover, ..but your grids from there on out do not have to be close to be effective. In heavy undergrowth on days with little wind a grid of at least 50 feet is usually more than adequate. but check this out with your own dog several different times and you will soon see how your dog tells you in a heavy brushy area that he has picked up a scent..and it will also alert you as to whether your dog will work in a heavily tangled area.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR when it appears there is nothing there. Is there a "bank" where scent from a source farther away may have collected??? Is there a chance of a gully or a ridge that is sweeping the scent through with a "tunnel" effect so that the scent is pooling in a different location from the source? Is there a hole or might there be a hole or a buried location nearby where scent is filtering out across the surface of the ground but actually coming from a stream or a source below the surface?? Check out above the ground. Is there a possibility of a subject up in a tree? (Tip: Set up some searches like this and literally "teach" your dog to look up. Do not praise him until he has "looked up" and seen the person, then have the person speak to your dog, then offer praise.)

In all cases, if on an actual call-out, if you believe your dog has hit on something and you can find nothing, mark your location and when you report back to base request a follow up with a different canine.