How to Do a Puppy Runaway for Search and Rescue Training

Member

By knewf
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (5 Ratings)

Feeny the Search dog makes her

To begin to train a Search dog, you must teach the Search dog that he is going to find a human being when you tell him to "search", and furthermore that this will be the most fun thing he will ever do.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

collar or harness
leash
puppy
treats
someone who will run away and hide

Step 1

Put a harness on the puppy for safety. This is not absolutely necessary but if your puppy is big and strong and anxious to run, you could hurt his neck if you try to hold him back from giving chase until the victim has hidden.
Step 2

Put on a detachable bell on the collar. this bell will always be the dog's "signal" that he is going to look for people. It is his "uniform" I have seen handlers who decided not to use a bell, claiming that it was a nuisance, and years down the road, lost the dog completely in a heavily wooded area because there was no sound of the bell to lead them to the dog. Since much search and rescue work is done off-lead, the bell is an aid to finding the dog when they run out far ahead of you, and also a signal to you that the dog has made a "find" when the sound of the bell suddenly stops.
Step 3

Find a person to hold your puppy for you while you run away. Instruct them well, so that if the puppy should not give chase, they will know what to do. Or if the puppy loses the "scent", they will know what to do. Or the puppy should become distracted by food or other animals, they will know what to do. In most cases the puppy will immediately give chase but it is important that you train your helper also!
Step 4

Run for 50 feet or so into the wind, while the puppy is being held, watching you run away. (the puppy should learn from the beginning to use his nose to find you, that is the reason for running into the wind at the beginning) While you run, the person holding the puppy should be encouraging the puppy to watch you run away, and while you run away you should turn occasionally, jump up and down and wave your arms and get the puppy's attention, and holler, "watch me!!" and call the puppy's name, in an excited tone of voice..then dive behind a bush or into tall grass. Only when you have hidden yourself from view can the puppy be turned loose and told to "find" or to "search".
Step 5

You should do the first few runaways yourself, so the puppy will find you. After this is going smoothly, and the puppy has proven to be steady and willing and eager and even anxious, it may be time for you to switch to the role of the handler and have other people do the runaways. You will want to try this step if and when your puppy is very well socialized and proves to be outgoing and accepting of other people. If your puppy is intrinsically shy and clings to you, he may NEVER be ready for this step and you should switch to another dog for your training. I have only seen this happen once, in all my years of training (20 years), and this was a very tmid fox terrier.