Step 10

Next you can train again with the helper out of sight of the dog but still to your left or right. Keep the distance short. The helper will offer the bringsel and the sock toy each in turn on the outstretched hand or held between the thumb and fingers.

Step 11

In the next step, keep the same distance, but now affix the bringsel to the dog’s collar while the helper moves out of sight with the sock toy. If everything is going well, slowly increase the distance from the starting point to the helper’s hiding place. The dog now has to pick up the bringsel on its own and bring it back to you. Remove the bringsel from the collar and the dog returns on its own to the helper.

Step 12

The dog may sometimes go back to the helper so quickly that the handler can’t keep up. In the beginning, do not call your dog back. The dog will normally stay with the helper, and when you also reach the victim, then the dog can receive its sock toy. If the dog wants to leave the helper before you arrive, the helper can give the sock toy immediately to the dog.

Now start putting a leash that is ten plus feet (3+ m) long on the dog before it goes back the second time to the helper to get the sock toy. First only attach the leash on the dog’s collar (or an identifying harness) and let the leash drag beside the dog. Once the dog gets used to it, you can hold on to the leash when the dog goes back to the helper the second time.

Figure 8.9 Hovawart Jenny shows how she keeps the bringsel in her mouth.

Dropping the Bringsel

Because of an unlucky jump over a high bunch of kindling, one dog dropped the bringsel during training. Because they have learned that they can only pick up the bringsel at the site of the victim, dogs are often uncertain when they reach the handler without the bringsel in their mouth. On getting the command “Show me,” you often see them become very happy that the handler has understood, and they’re already running back to the victim.

Sometimes dogs that have dropped their bringsel go back to the victim, pick up the bringsel again, and bring it to the handler. Either is fine, as long as the dog knows it should only pick up bringsels near victims; otherwise, there is the danger that they’ll begin to alert on the odor of any person they find, such as other searchers.

Troubleshooting Bringsel Training

The bringsel is not a toy and only serves as a tool with which the dog shows its find. Don’t let the dog play with the bringsel. The dog can work out its drives on the sock toy, which the dog gets when it comes back to the helper. The dog doesn’t have to take the toy anywhere and can decide all by itself how it wants to play. The dog can do whatever it wants with its sock toy, except destroy it. The handler should stimulate and support the dog in this play as long as the dog needs it.

Some problem phases can occur while working with the bringsel:

• The dog picks up the bringsel at any human odor, without finding the helper or victim. Solution: Immediately correct with “No.” Give the bringsel back to the helper for a time.

• The dog picks up the bringsel near blankets, plastic, or other items on the ground. Solution: Build these situations into training and, if necessary, correct immediately with “No.”

• The dog picks up the bringsel at a spot where a helper was lying shortly before. Solution: Bring this situation into training and correct where necessary.

• The dog picks up the bringsel at a standing or walking person. Solution: If you don’t want the dog to alert to standing or walking people, correct the dog immediately.

If there are more problems with the bringsel training, start the training again from step 2. Proceed through all the steps as they can be completed without problems. Do not teach ranging in the same exercise as the bringsel alert. When a dog is learning ranging, it is often under pressure and will try to please its handler (incorrectly) by picking up the bringsel!

Figure 8.10 The dog comes back to its handler carrying the bringsel.