Echo may be only just over two-years-old, but he’s proving a bit of a wunderkind – or wonderfind.
In May the Labrador Spaniel cross, and owner Steve Signal of Turangi Search and Rescue, passed the Land SAR/Police assessment for operational tracking and recently added operational avalanche.
That makes Echo the only dog in the North Island, and at this point New Zealand, to be dual trained.Signal is keen for Echo to get the trifecta though and add area search – different to the nose-down, footstep following of operational tracking in that it involves a more general nose-up, wind scenting pattern search of an area where there is no last known point for the search subject. And to help them Signal really needs to have a few volunteers he can tell to “get lost” – in the nicest possible way.
“Hopefully fairly local that we can just call up and say what are you up to? You want to hide in a paddock?”
While Echo, as a Labrador Spaniel cross, has a natural hunt and retrieve instinct, he and Signal are still training on their Taupō lifestyle block every day – whether it’s keeping up with obedience, searching for dropped or hidden articles of clothing, or tracking.
The assessments are no small feat – tracking involves success in three operational tracks, at least three hours old and at least one and a half kilometres long – in reality search dogs will be called in up to 10 or more hours after a last known sighting and could be tracking for four or five kilometres.
An area search is generally a bit fresher, said Signal, because you are looking for scent on the wind.
Training will involve coming in downwind of the lost subject at increasing distances and approaching the scent cone from a range of different angles.
“Until we’re searching an area about a kilometre away from that person, cutting it up into grids and searching those until we finally get a result.”
Keeping up with free-running Echo on practice area searches has kept the 53-year-old ex-military and ex-police Signal “relatively” fit.
But an area search is mental exercise as well.
“You’ve got to be a lot more au fait with what the winds are doing, how scent works on the wind and how it all changes from early morning to late evening.”
And this is where some lost volunteers come in, until May next year when Echo will be finally assessed – so Signal won’t know where a practice track leads or a subject is hiding and so won’t subconsciously be guiding the dog.
“At some stage it comes down to having that stranger input, stranger laid tracks, and strangers going off and hiding somewhere, and you are just given an area to search.”
Finding people to search for isn’t Echo’s worry though, he’s the typical labrador at home, unaware of his superdog status, LandSAR medical insurance and VetOra sponsorship.
“He’s sitting beside me now getting his chest patted,” said Signal over the phone, “but if I was to go out and put his vest on him and my vest on then it all changes.”
As a labrador he is work orientated, though as any owners will know, also food orientated.
“That’s what makes them relatively easy to train. The treat side of things, that’s their drive…
“But mainly his is an old wraggly bit of rope that we play tug of war with. He’d do absolutely anything for that. The only time he gets to play with it is when he’s finished his work.”
Hopefully Echo will get a good wrestle of the rope at the end of his final area assessment – and a decent helping of Blackhawk dog food if he passes the four different area searches, three during the day, in forest or tussock, and one at night.
Credit:Stuff.co.nz
