Canid

Hi Paula Thank you for your interest. Yes, we think it a great pity that our Canberra member had to resign. This was a really good team with the best working Labrador one could possibly wish for. Elias, our Swiss trainer said that in his now 30 years of involvement with SAR, this dog is the best he had come across. Unfortunately it didn't help us any as this team is so far away and, as already mentioned, work commitments simply became too onerous. Them's the breaks I guess. We have now had quite a lot of experience dealing with interstate teams and we have come to the conclusion that unless there are a minimum of 2 teams (really the minimum should be 3) with reasonably good access to experienced trainers on a reasonably regular basis, one team on their own is really pointless. It is just too hard to keep up the momentum and, in any case, SAR requires team members. Unlike obedience, it is impossible to do SAR training on one's own. The only reason why it worked at all in the ACT is because of the quality of the dog (taking nothing away fromt he handler) and because the handler made a huge effort to come to Melbourne whenever he could. We also visited him whenever we could. In all respects, SAR is essentially a team effort. The team at the pointy end only got there because of the support of the rest of the team members. However, if you are really interested in participating in SAR training and you can find a one or two like-minded handlers, then we would be very interested in discussing this further. Good luck with the choice of your new puppy. Regards Elke Effler President Ausralian Swiss Search dog Association Inc

I guess the real question is whether you have seen or worked with Bernhard Flinks and Ed Frawly and if you have, then maybe your method is similar, that's all - just curious.

Thanks about the balls, but are the balls you get different from the ones Ed Frawley markets? And is what you do with the balls and prey drive similar to what Bernhard Flinks does with the balls? Just interested. Thanks.

The balls being discussed in this forum, are they the round, reasonably hard balls with nobbles or nodules all around the ball? Is it the ball that Bernahrd Flinks, the German Police dog trainer who goes to the States a lot to teach his method, uses? If so, that would be what Ed Frawley of Leerburg Kennels and Productions has made a DVD about. He also markets these balls. If we are talking about the same balls, then they are gairly easily available from local pet stores. We have been using them in the training of our dogs. Hope that helps.

It is great to read that so many people these days are prepared to use food as a means of training their dogs. Thank God the days of jerk, yank and yell are coming to an end. Food, or let's say motivation, is currently the best way to teach a dog what we want from him/her. In the process of learning, the dog does not make mistakes any more than we humans do when we are learning. The process of learning is not a mistake. But when we, or our dogs, are inappropriately corrected in the learning process, it a becomes an incomprehensible punishment that creates anxiety and stress. In this state, no being can learn effectively and usually develops an aversion to the lesson. We have no right to do that to any being, including man's best friend. The point about using food is that it addresses the dog's prey drive in a species-specific manner, giving the dog an opportunity to give expression to his prey drive in controlled circumstances. The prey drive is flowing freely, the dog is calm and in this state can think and take in what the handler wants from him. Kevin Behan's book, Natural Dog Training, explains this really well. Gottfried Dildei's tapes on obedience training are excellent and he clearly demonstrates the reasons for food training and how to go about it. He makes a case for food as opposed to using toys as a motivator. However, we have found that some dogs work better with a toy whilst others, as Dildei maintains, just go over the top using a toy. As in all things, it works except when it doesn't, and then the handler needs to be flexible and aware in relation to his/her dog's temperament, personality and characteristics and adjust accordingly. Dildei uses food right throughout the dog's training and trialling career and his teams usually come out with top scores. There is an ongoing debate as to whether using food is bribery and not really training and that really, the dog should work to please its owner. Of course it is bribery, albeit very cleverly used to gain the dog's WILLING cooperation whilst at the same time working through the dog's drives. It is an excellent means of gaining the cooperation of another species that does not understand our human language. It should be every dog handler's aim to teach his/her dog in the most humane way possible to become a cooperative member of a well functioning team consisting of two different species. As the dog has no choice in what his/her task will be i.e. obedienc, fly-ball etc. and has no choice in how this is all to happen, it is the handler's duty to ensure that the training is done from a position of knowledge (who and what the dog is and what makes it a dog), awareness, sensitivity, consistency and fairness, but NO sentimentality. Food training is currently one of the best ways of achieving this. Of course the food has to be phased out so that the dog will also work when there is no food, but this needs to be properly done under the guidance of an experienced instructor. And when properly done, the heeling itself becomes a motivator, as I so well demonstrated with my last dog and is becoming the case with my current one. Although I believe that this happens because through the correct use of food training, my dogs have learnt to trust me and to so thoroughly enjoy our work together, that simply doing an obedience routine is a motivator. So, for your dogs' sake, keep using food, but use it correctly. :D