Recall...

[kiwicopper]

But why have the refind at all. Why not have the dog stay with the subject and bark until you get there?

[Daryl]

Risking being told off for reviving an old thread....

Don't worry, we don't mind opening up old threads if its relevant to you!!

I see that every one talks about the refind... is this the standard in the UK?

In the UK both types of alert are used, but for different reasons. In the Lowland Setting we prefer the dog to refind with any type of alert when the dog gets to the handler, and as Roland said, it must be clear and readable. In the lowland setting we tend to be looking for vulnerable people (children, alzeihmers patients, despondent people etc) who are in a very fragile state of mind, therefore a large dog sat next to them barking certainly wont help. Equally the type of environment that we search can be complicated (even if just by being in a forested environment) in which case if our dogs were to stay and bark it would be unlikely that we would be able to see them to identify quickly where they have found.

On the other hand 'some' dogs that work in an open hillside setting will do the sit and bark, as will dogs working in rubble. At the end of the day as long as you select a suitable method of alerting based on the terrain that you are working in and the type of MISPER that you are looking for, anything goes.

[mike]

But why have the refind at all. Why not have the dog stay with the subject and bark until you get there?

if thats a picture of yourself on a mountain then imagine that in a white out with a strong wind, if your dog is sat next to the person barking it is quite probable you will miss a bark alert due to the wind and your hat covering your ears, it is not uncommon for dogs to hit the scent cone at 200 - 300 yrd so in the dark they may well be out of sight as well. mike dermody (not visited for a while)

[kiwicopper]

Thats not a problem for me as I'm a fair weather search and rescue volunteer...

But that does make sense.
KC

[roland and meg]

I can't get the picture of you at the top of the mountain.

Dog comes and does a jump alert........ and you are no longer at the top of the mountain.

[mike]

I can't get the picture of you at the top of the mountain.

Dog comes and does a jump alert........ and you are no longer at the top of the mountain.

then dont train a jump alert , common sense and a lot easier to teach a dog to come back and bark at you then go into the refind, plus you stay a lot cleaner. mike (with clean trousers)

[mike]

Thats not a problem for me as I'm a fair weather search and rescue volunteer...

But that does make sense.

"Fair weather rescue" most people on here will tell you that the great british public never have the curtesy to go missing on a nice day ! mike

[Obligato]

My youngster does not bark. I bought him a " Norwegian Bringsel" and it really works well with him. He runs out, find the misper, picks up his Training Bringsel at the moment and comes back to me with the Bringsel in his mouth. I take it and he gets a treat and than we do a refind. Further on in training the Training Bringsel will be replaced with the real one and this will be his alert. I prefer this method because it is really clear and he likes picking things up.

[Daryl]

Obligato, any chance of a short video clip of this as I have only ever seen this in books. Even if it was a sort video clip on a mobile phone.....

[Obligato]

There are pictures on our new homepage. I try to do a video at the next training.