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K9 Bailey (CSDA) working close to the surface as she gets closer to the scent source. Photo Credit: Leon Borbandy

Water Search Adventures

By Erin Olsen, CSDA

Using dogs for water search is a less well-known aspect of canine search and rescue (SAR). It is interesting to train and really fun to watch these dogs in action. A recent multi-agency training weekend, in the mountains near Stryker, Montana, gave everyone a chance to practice their water search skills.

Being a member of the Canadian Search Dog Association (CSDA), based in Lethbridge in southern Alberta, I have the great advantage of being close to SAR colleagues in Montana, many of whom are a much shorter drive away than our own team members across Alberta. We have been fortunate to build a good relationship with Flathead County Search and Rescue (FCSAR) over the years, and this has opened the door to various training weekends and seminars with other SAR K9 handlers from places such as California, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Our most recent training weekend near Stryker, Montana, included members from three different SAR groups: FCSAR, Lake County Search and Rescue (LCSAR), and the CSDA. LCSAR member Michelle McMillan allowed us access to private property in the mountains, on a beautiful lake. Kim Gilmore of FCSAR put a lot of work into organizing the weekend and brought a boat and training aids, while CSDA members brought a second boat and a willing diver to work with the dogs all weekend. The K9 handlers had opportunities to work in many different disciplines during the weekend, including trailing, wilderness, and water search.

Approximately 10 SAR K9 handlers camped, worked and played over the weekend, during which we enjoyed fantastic weather, and as always, were challenged, had fun, and learned a lot from each other.

Water Search Dog Training

The basic premise of water search training is that a body underwater will produce scent; that scent will move under water, depending on factors, including water temperature and water currents, but it will also rise and break the water surface. At that point, the scent emerges from the water and the dog can notice it. If we use a boat to get the dog to the area of the scent, and if the dog can tell us about the scent, then dog handlers can help search managers make more focused decisions about where to deploy divers to carry on a more detailed search for, or retrieval of, the body.

K9 Brenner (FCSAR) gets closer to the scent source. Photo Credit: Erin Olsen

An important part of training water search dogs involves introducing them to the idea that a person can be in the water, and has the dog’s toy or food. The presence of a diver in the water is a good motivation for the dog because it gets its favourite reward right at the scent source. An introduction to water search can start by having a diver disappear underwater with the dog’s reward, while the dog watches from shore. The diver is not usually very far away from the dog when this occurs. The dog is then released to swim to where it last saw the diver, and the diver will surface to reward the dog once it arrives. Some dogs react with great surprise the first time the diver surfaces; some act as if it is the Loch Ness monster surfacing!

Eventually, the dogs can progress to the point at which the diver is some distance away, and doesn’t surface immediately when the dog arrives. This usually causes the dog to swim in circles on top of the diver, waiting for the reward to surface. This is just one of the behaviours that a search dog may display when it is in close proximity to the scent source.

Search dogs are also introduced to working from a boat. Boats with electric motors are usually used so that there is less noise and no scent contamination from the motor. Some dogs continue with the “splash” alert that they learned from swimming to the diver; they will actually jump off the front of the boat and swim to the source of the scent and circle on top of it until the diver surfaces with the reward (the strong swimming dogs find that the boat doesn’t travel fast enough for them). Other dogs prefer to stay in the boat; they develop a series of behaviours (alerts or indications) that the handler learns to read to determine when the dog is in or out of scent.

K9 Bailey’s work day is done. Photo Credit: Cheryl Dash

Many other pieces to the water search puzzle have to be put together as well, such as training the dog on human remains, proofing the dog on bubbles, and learning how to mark the dog’s alert behaviours using floating markers or GPS.

As you can tell, water search dog training requires a lot of equipment and many dedicated volunteers to make the training a success. Luckily, it is also a lot of fun and we are lucky to be able to work in beautiful places in Alberta and Montana.

You can take a closer look at Jonni Joyce’s water search dog methodology training, as explained in this article, at www.ipwda. com/sar_training2.htm.

For more information on this subject, you can also refer to the following Web sites:

www.canadiansearchdogs.com

www.flatheadsar.com

www.ipwda.com/SAR.htm

Erin Olsen is a 4 year member of the CSDA, based in Lethbridge, Alberta. The “nose that knows” is her K9 partner, Bailey, a five and a half year old chocolate Lab that was rescued from the Lethbridge & District Humane Society five years ago.

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