K9 search and rescue

Other titles in the K9 Professional Training series

K9 Behavior Basics, 2nd ed.

K9 Schutzhund Training, 2nd ed. (Forthcoming in 2014)

Other K9 titles from Brush Education

Aggression Control

Decoys and Aggression

K9 Complete Care

K9 Explosive Detection

K9 Fraud!

K9 Officer’s Manual

K9 Personal Protection

K9 Professional Tracking

K9 Scent Detection

K9 Suspect Discrimination

K9 Working Breeds

Police Officer’s Guide to K9 Searches

K9 Search and Rescue

A Manual for Training the Natural Way

Second edition

Dr. Resi Gerritsen

Ruud Haak

K9 Professional Training series

Copyright © 2014 Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak

14 15 16 17 18 5 4 3 2

Excerpts from this publication may be reproduced under licence from Access Copyright, or with the express written permission of Brush Education Inc., or under licence from a collective management organization in your territory. All rights are otherwise reserved, and no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, digital copying, scanning, recording, or otherwise, except as specifically authorized.

Brush Education Inc. www.brusheducation.ca contact@brusheducation.ca

Editors: Roland Lines, Peter Enman Cover design: John Luckhurst; Cover photo: Ruud Haak Book interior design: Carol Dragich, Dragich Design Illustrations: Chao Yu, Vancouver Photographs: All photographs are from the collection of the authors except where specifically noted.

Printed and manufactured in Canada

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Gerritsen, Resi, author K9 search and rescue: training the natural way / Dr. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak. — Second edition.

(K9 professional training)

Originally published: Calgary: Detselig Enterprises, 1999. Includes bibliographical references. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55059-447-8 (pbk.).—ISBN 978-1-55059-448-5 (epub).—ISBN 978-1-55059-519-2 (mobi)

1. Search dogs—Training. 2. Rescue dogs—Training. I. Haak, Ruud, author II. Title

SF428.73.G475 2014     636.7′0886 C2013-903637-7     C2013-903638-5

Produced with the assistance of the Government of Alberta, Alberta Media Fund. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

Contents

Foreword

Lt. Jan Kaldenbach

Introduction

Buried Deep Under Debris

Deployment

Team Building

1 The History of Search and Rescue Dogs

Red Cross Dogs

Bringsel Technique

Rescue Dogs in World War II

“Knock and Call” Search Method

Success in Romania

Saving Lives, Recovering Bodies

2 Training the Natural Way

The Origins of Our Method

Looking for Solutions

What Is a Search and Rescue Dog?

Using the Hunting Drive

3 The Hunting Drive Complex

Aspects of the Hunting Drive Complex

The Six Phases of the Dog’s Search

An Ideal Way to Use the Drives

Search Passion

Conditioning

The Right Drives

A Full Partner

4 Training in Three Steps

Young Dog Training

Adult Dog Training

The Learning Process

5 Stimulating Interest in the Sock Toy

Things That Move Are Prey

Search and Prey Playing

Developing the Search Passion

Misunderstandings in Training

Interfering with Play

Prey Sharing

Introducing a Verbal Command

Introducing Rubble Walks

6 Connecting the Sock Toy with Human Scent

Wilderness Search

Disaster Search

Reward at the Right Moment

Avoid Frustrations

Smuggling the Replacement Prey

7 Linking the Search Field and a Human to the Sock Toy

Leading the Hunt

Releasing to Hunt

Handling

Frustration

Direction-Showing Alerts

Importance of Training Helpers

Rubble Experience

Training Essentials

Searching Without Prey

8 Wilderness Search

Search Methods

Missing Persons,

Types of Alert

Training the Barking Alert

Training the Bringsel Alert

Training the Recall Alert

Training Ranging

9 Rubble Search

Trapped People

Types of Alert

Training Rubble Search

Behavioristic Approach

Intelligence

10 Disaster Deployment Tactics

Dangers and Security

Signs of a Collapse

Call Out

The Packed Backpack

Preparing for a Mission Abroad

Ten Basic Rules

The Five Phases Method

Marking Box

11 Building Damage Typology

Elements of Damage

Tooth Gap

Damage Crater

Doll’s House

Swallow’s Nest

Half Room

Spilled Room

Mud-Filled Room

With Layers Pressed Room

Chipped Room

Barricaded Room

Slide Surface

Layers

Debris Cone

Fringe Debris A

Fringe Debris B

12 Avalanche Search

Dangers

Dog Bivouac

The Training Hole

Dog Training

Avalanche Probe

Avalanche Transceiver

Transceiver Search Methods

Avalanche Deployment Tactics

13 A Serious Task

With Faultless Precision

Mutual Confidence

Which Dogs Can Become SAR Dogs?

Who Can Become Handler?

And Who Not?

Teamwork

Mission Readiness Test

Hard Work

14 International Rescue Dog Tests

IPO-R

More Than Sports

Testing Structure

Mission Readiness Test—Rubble

Mission Readiness Test—Area

Notes

Bibliography

About the Authors

Foreword (to the first edition)

In the world of search and rescue dogs, Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak are very well known as trainers. They undertook a lot of missions for the International Red Cross and have also discovered and worked out a new training method, which I absolutely endorse and recommend. Ruud Haak’s books about dogs, in Dutch, are very well known and every dog trainer has, I think, more than one in his or her bookcase.

Ruud Haak is the chief editor of the Dutch dog magazine Onze Hond (Our Dog) and, as volunteers, Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak are instructors for the Austrian Red Cross Search and Rescue Dog units in the neighborhood of Vienna. Resi and Ruud are with the Austrian Red Cross group Wiener Neustadt, which is famous in Europe.

Both Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak deserve respect for all the work they have done in the dog world. They took great pains to gather knowledge, training not only their own dogs, but also those of many other handlers. They also deserve a great deal of respect for saving lives after earthquakes and other disasters.

We have at least one thing in common: we’re all dog crazy. It is an honor to write the foreword to this book for them. I’m sure this will be a very useful manual for everybody who wants to train search and rescue dogs.

I wish Resi and Ruud a lot of success with this book, success they absolutely deserve!

Lt. Jan Kaldenbach, 1999

Retired from the Zaanstad Police Department

Netherlands