American Rettungshunde Sport Association
(American Rescue Dog Sport Association)
An AWDF Member Club
Audio Tips
Audio tips from experts
Our original intent was to have an overview of all the contributors but when you try to learn from
experts they are often busy so these interviews are still coming in. Melissa did her best to
represent each contributor's thoughts correctly; she apologizes in advance for any errors.
ARSA would love to get your ideas on who we should interview for more tips. These names can
come from anyone knowledgeable about training and testing these skills. Please email
melissa@melissastagnaro.com to share names and contact information.
Contributors
Each person was asked to give an introduction and tips on directional control, one or
more alert styles, A/B tracking ID article, or additional hiders for area search, carry,
obstacles, and any final tips each wished to share. ARSA is grateful for the time all of
the contributors gave. All of them wish to see more participants in FCI/IRO sport SAR.
To try to get comparable information from each contributor, we asked each one the
same questions before each interview. Here are the questions we asked:
Suggestions about the directional control AKA "tables" exercise
How do you begin to train the directional tables? What are the steps for the dog to
learn? What are mistakes handlers make in training; how can they be avoided? What
are mistakes handlers make during testing; what should handlers do differently? What
other tips do you have for the directional table exercise?
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Silvie includes a bonus bit about the group heeling.
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Stanley adds a bonus about potential confusion between IGP blinds and RH tables
Suggestions about the bark alert
Tell us how you begin the alert. What are the steps for the dog to learn? What are
mistakes handlers make in training; how can they be avoided? What are mistakes
handlers make during testing; what should handlers do differently? What other tips do
you have for having a solid alert?
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Jose states that the basis for both bark and silent are the same so his advice is shown duplicated both places.
Suggestions about the find-refind alert
Tell us how you begin the alert. What are the steps for the dog to learn? What are
mistakes handlers make in training; how can they be avoided? What are mistakes
handlers make during testing; what should handlers do differently? What other tips do
you have for having a solid alert?
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Stanley discusses bark and find-refind together
Suggestions about the (silent) indication
Tell us how you begin the alert. What are the steps for the dog to learn? What are
mistakes handlers make in training; how can they be avoided? What are mistakes
handlers make during testing; what should handlers do differently? What other tips do
you have for having a solid alert?
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Jose states that the basis for both bark and silent are the same so his advice is shown duplicated both places.
Suggestions for the A/B level tracking ID article search
How do you train the A/B level tracking ID article search? Please tell us the steps for
training, mistakes to avoid during training and testing, and other advice.
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Jose shared an interview of how he likes this exercise set up.
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Petra mentions a fun activity to play when dogs are young to build general confidence and the ability to do this task formally later
Suggestion for finding second/third victim in the search area
How do you introduce the second victim for area search? That is for dogs that are
comfortable finding one person in the woods but don't understand they need to find
more, how to you help them.
Suggestions for carry
How do you train the carry? If the process varies depending on the temperament of the
dog, please tell us how to determine the appropriate steps for different types of dogs.
What are mistakes handlers make during training; how can they be avoided? What are
mistakes handlers make during testing; what should handlers do differently?
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Silvie includes a tip about having the A/B dog more comfortable staying with the helper
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once put down
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Stanley includes tips about dogs converting from IGP to RH
Suggestions for obstacles
What tips to do you have to help the dog understand when he is expected to stop in the
same direction as travel -- like on the ladder, plank, and swing -- and when he is
expected to stop and orient toward the handler like at the directional table center
marker?
What tips do you have to help the dog understand that for level B he must continue to
the end of the ladder independently but on the swing he must halt quickly. Of course the
apparatuses are different but in some ways they are similar exercises often done back-
to-back with two different expectations (continue to travel versus halting).
Other troubles dog-handler teams have and final thoughts
What obedience or dexterity exercises do you see people struggle with in training or
testing? What tips can you offer?
Finally, if our listeners wish to learn more from you, do you offer any online learning or
are you planning any seminars in the U.S.?
