What are Rescue Dogs?

Posted by Jeanne on June 23, 2009

We have all grown up with at least one hero in our life, but how many people can call their hero Duke or Kiva?  The answer- anyone who has had their life saved by a rescue dog.

Whether it is a house fire, tornado rubble, leftovers from an earthquake, or flowing water behind a hurricane front, these specially trained rescue dogs rush in with no concerns for their own welfare, pulling out victims, some dead and some still alive.  They do this time and time again.

With a powerful snout and the ability to smell things a human may not, rescue dogs are hard-working and very loyal to doing what is expected of them.  And what do they ask for in return?  A hug, a treat or a little one-on-one play time.  Not a huge reward, however for these special dogs, it is very satisfying.

There are different types of breeds who make better rescue dogs than others.  For example, bloodhounds have a talent for prowess and are known for uncovering criminals.  Newfoundlands are good avalanche rescue dogs and Labrador Retrievers are good cadaver dogs.  Any dog can become a rescue dog as long as they can concentrate on tracking scent, such as German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and Golden Retrievers.

Before being allowed to track, each rescue dog is put through extensive evaluations.  Scent detection training is then started and their skills are developed through regular sessions.  In order to track, the dog will pick up on the odor of the person’s skin cells that flake off the body.  These skin cells float in the air and hit the ground as a person moves along, and they float to the surface of the water if the victim has drowned.

The men and women behind these furry heroes are all volunteers who are fit, enjoy spending time outdoors, and take pride in training and communicating with their rescue dogs.  These men and women may also belong to rescue teams such as SOSARD or SWOSAR, who are called out by the police department and may travel several hours to reach a search site.  Along with their rescue dog they search in all different types of weather and terrain for lost children, missing fishermen and hunters, accident victims and injured hikers.

There is yet another type of rescue dog, who can sniff his trail from the air.  Air-scenting rescue dogs work directly and specifically from aircraft, tracking the air and searching for victims.  These dogs specialize in structural collapses and drowning victims.  Because these air-scenting rescue dogs work on scent trailing above the ground and away from handlers, they become very useful in areas that have been contaminated by human searchers, after it is allowed to be aired out for awhile.

In many survivors’ eyes, these furry canines, which make wonderful family pets, make the best heroes of all!

How Do You Deal With Your Barking Dog? – Part 1

Posted by Jeanne on April 20, 2009

Some owners seem to want their dogs to stop barking, period: a good dog is a quiet dog, and the only time that barking’s permitted is when there’s a man in a black balaclava and stripy prison outfit, clutching a haversack marked ‘Swag’, clambering in through your bedroom window.

Dogs don’t see barking in quite the same light. Your dog has a voice, just like you do, and she uses it just how you do too: to communicate something to the people she cares about.

I don’t think that barking is necessarily a bad thing – in fact, I think it’s encouraging that my dog wants to “talk” to me, enough so that I can overlook the stentorian qualities of his voice (which, in enclosed spaces, is positively overpowering) in of his desire to communicate with me. It’s the thought that counts (even though I feel better-equipped to stand by this sanctimonious belief when my ears are sheltered safely behind industrial-quality ear-plugs).

Unfortunately, the language barrier between dogs and humans is pretty well impermeable, which means it’s up to us to use the context, the body language of our dogs, and the circumstances of the vocalization to parse meaning from a volley of barks.

So why do dogs bark? It’s not easy to say (it’s like trying to answer the question, “Why do humans talk?” in so many words). Let’s start off by saying that dogs bark for many different reasons.

A lot of it depends on the breed: some dogs were bred to bark only when a threat is perceived (this is true of guarding breeds in particular, like Rottweilers, Dobermans, and German Shepherds); some were bred to use their voices as a tool of sorts, to assist their owners in pursuit of a common goal (sporting breeds such as Beagles and Bloodhounds, trained to ‘bay’ when they scent the quarry), and some dogs just like to hear themselves talk (take just about any of the toy breeds as an example of a readily-articulate dog!).

More on this subject next week…