Rescue Dog Training Method

2023 Author: Molly Page | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 12:41

The idea of using dogs in the army is old enough. For the first time, military dogs were used in the search for the wounded at the end of the 19th century, then in the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. During the First World War, about 35,000 dogs were trained and used; during the Second World War, this number increased significantly. The first peacetime rescue team was born in 1961 in the Netherlands.

The first brigade of rescue dogs in Czechoslovakia was established in Pribryami in 1968. The purpose of its creation was to establish the possibility of using dogs in the search and rescue of people. Based on the experience of this brigade, in 1976, regular training of rescue dogs was started at SVAZARM. True, some dog breeders were engaged in this training before. In 1978, the first demonstration trials of rescue dogs were organized and teams were formed. The first contacts also date back to this time and cooperation with the Civil Defense and the Czechoslovak Red Cross began in the form of joint exercises. Since 1981, it has become a tradition to hold Czechoslovak championships in training rescue dogs, which contributes to the improvement and popularization of training. The main purpose of dog training is to assist in the search for victims of natural disasters, industrial accidents, in hostilities.

I. Selection of dogs for training

1. Choosing a breed, type of dog. All service and working breeds can be used to train rescue dogs. However, practice shows that the most capable of rescuing are German shepherds. These are dogs of a strong and dry constitution, courageous, possessing not only innate diligence, but also physical endurance. You can work with them in severe frosts and heat. German boxers, Rottweilers, Airedale terriers, Dobermans and others have also proven themselves very well. True, when working with dogs of these breeds, one should count on longer training and keep in mind that they cannot work in frost and heat.

For training, it is advisable to choose dogs of a strong type, that is, with a well-developed skeleton, with dry and strong muscles, a moderately wide head shape in the form of an oblong wedge, long and well-developed limbs, short hair with an undercoat. The type of higher nervous activity is desirable balanced and mobile. Dogs of the above breeds are representatives of this type. They have the physical prerequisites for overcoming maximum loads during training and practical use.

The ideal type of dog is sanguine, that is, a balanced, agile type. Dogs of this type easily move from irritation to calm. Conditioned reflexes arise relatively easily and quickly. A choleric dog is unsuitable for training, the process of irritation prevails in it, it can attack the person it has found. And most importantly, choleric people cannot work in a group of dogs. Also, a phlegmatic type dog is not suitable for training. They are slow, clumsy dogs. Reflexes arise slowly, they are unreliable in practical work.

The success of dog training largely depends on the understanding between the breeder and the dog. Not every dog breeder can achieve this. One cannot think that an animal has the same degree of intelligence as a person. True, the dog is the smartest of pets, but, nevertheless, it is only an animal.

The dog does only what it is trained to do. The Soviet physiologist IP Pavlov came to the conclusion that the animal acts on the basis of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes. Unconditioned reflexes are all instincts, without which the animal would be helpless. It would die of hunger, could not quench its thirst, reproduce and protect its offspring. The unconditioned reflexes include, for example, the instinct to obtain food, self-preservation, the instinct of reproduction and raising offspring, They constitute the biological basis of the existence of an animal. The instinct to get food plays a special role in dog training.

Conditioned reflexes arise gradually, they can be called a habit or habit. The dog learns them on the basis of pleasant and unpleasant sensations, that is, on the basis of his own life experience.

Unconditioned reflexes are innate, they will never disappear from the dog's memory. Conditional, however, are easily forgotten if they are not fixed.

It is interesting that I. P. Pavlov established that some of the conditioned reflexes are inherited and become unconditioned. The training of service dogs is based on conditioned and unconditioned reflexes.

3. Physical data and endurance of dogs. When choosing a dog for training, it is necessary to take into account not only its ability to learn, but also physical data, endurance. She must be strong, persistent, able to work in any weather conditions, overcome a difficult and long way when searching, withstand heavy loads, looking for people in the rubble. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the dog in good physical shape. We must not forget about the physical form of the dog breeder.