Good morning everyone. As promised here is a little about Training a Dog to Search for people buried in an avalanche. There are other aspects to an avalanche dogs training but Search is the central one.
I will hand you over to Logan. To explain a few of the steps.
To begin. Every time you train – the dog is dressed in her harness to work.
- Master Runaway. Handler runs away from dog while dog is being restrained by assistant. This is because the one person that the dog will want the most is their handler. Once the handler has run away we say SEARCH and then release the dog. Once the dog has found its master they will be presented with the rag, the dog will then grab the rag and play, being pulled from side to side by the handler. This ragging game is the foundation of all of the training for our profile, we select dogs that are predisposed to RAGGING so they love the training games.
2 Next is Stranger Runaway. This is the same game but now with a stranger, the stranger runs away , we say SEARCH, the dog locates them and then engages in the ragging game. This is teaching the dog that he can find someone he doesn’t know and you can have super fun awesome time.
3 Then we Delay the time after the person (we call him a Quarry) has run away and before you release the dog. This is saying to the dog, we can still play this super fun game but it’s not until I tell you to SEARCH. This reinforces the search command.
4 Next is Blinds. This is where your quarry is already out there when you get to the search site and you release the dog with the “search” command and then they find the Quarry and have the super awesome funnest time ever. This is telling the dog you might not know the person is even there but since I’m telling you to “search” you will have a super fun awesome time finding someone anyway.
5 Then we go to Quincys. This is where we build snow caves and have the Quarrys do runaways into the cave. This reinforces to the dog that there can be fun times UNDER the snow. Later we pile snow in front of the door. The dog digs her way In. This says you will have to dig for your fun time.
6 Next is The Leap. The quarry is hidden far away and in front of them there will be a big backpack and a smelly rag attached to the backpack. In this situation we release the dog and hope that they become interested in the backpack with rag attached. As soon as they approach it they are encouraged to engage with the rag. Once they pick it up we approach the dog and rag (play) in the same manner as a Quarry did. This is telling the dog, it doesn’t have to be a person! You can find an inanimate rag and have fun with that!
7. Then we hide the RAG in the cave. Then we bury the rag in the snow. So now we have a dog who can find a human smelling rag buried in the snow. All we have to do next is to extend how long they can search for, how many articles they can find and how deep they dig for the articles.
There is also training for Obedience, Retrieve, Travel, Helicopters, Long Lines and many other avalanche related skills.
This training can take 2 to 2 and half years to complete. And every avalanche dog trains every day for the rest of her life and has to pass the validation obedience exam with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police every year so she and her Handler can work in an emergency.
Our EXAM for the Searching component is for the dog to find 3 articles buried 75 cm deep in a 100m x 100m square area within 45 minutes. 
Cai and Ferra. Cai: Retired avalanche dog and Ferra: Avalanche Dog in Training.
Good morning if you have any questions Logan will answer them for you in the comments today. And tomorrow I go back to the farm but I will have time to post one more time from here before I go.
I hope you have a lovely day.
Love celi
Here is the Alberta Avalanche Dog Training Facebook site and the go here for the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association in case you would like to become one of their supporters. Like many other essential services they are a volunteer organisation.
The Kitchen's Garden 
85 responses to “Avalanche Dog Training: Search”
Looks like everyone’s having super awesome fun! What a completely brilliant job, and what a brilliant life those dogs have, where every working day is fun. Bet you’re coming home with lots of ideas for Boo and Ton Ton.
Yes, I do have some new ideas – for TonTon especially.. but I will add some new skills to both their resumes.. c
Oh wow! I love this. And I absolutely love those dear doggies…it’s making me think my otherwise very naughty Pepe might be well trained to do something. He LOVES, but LOVES, ragging.
Evidently it is a dogs favourite thing and interestingly I will not let my dogs do this – I train them to give me whatever is in their mouths without the ragging. So they release immediately. c
Me either, I don’t play tug games with Mirrhi, I’ve trained her to ‘give’ when I say. And for border collies, the having is the bigger thing than the chase sometimes.
Amazing!!! And absolutely “super awesome fun!” 🙂
I love how they are so loud and effusive when they reward a dog.. c
Mandkind Thanks you for your service Logan.
I will pass that on – thank you.. c
Thanks for this informative post and beautiful pictures. So interesting to see how the training builds step by step to produce very talented teams. It must be extremely rewarding to do such important work!
I will pass this on Quinn and thank you.. c
What a fascinating read! Thanks for sharing Logan!
Your dogs are gorgeous and intelligence shines out of their eyes ❤
I agree and will pass that on for you! thank you c
So, it seems that the whole idea of treats, which is often encouraged in dog training is not used at all. Treats were used in the dog training class I went to with my puppies, who were out of control, and I hadn’t a clue as to how to train them! I did learn and lot, and so did they, but now I will see about the ‘ragging’ and try to get them interested in that. They are both four years old now. Logan, shall I throw the rag, and then try to get them to bring it back, and then play the ragging game? And how do you get them to finally release the rag? And, do you ever used food treats with the dogs? Thanks so much for this fascinating lesson on training avalanche dogs!!! Diane
In police dog training, the technique is similar to Logan’s – and the treat is a tennis ball to play with. Too many food treats are not a good idea – they can make a dog aggressive, as well as overweight.
Yes as Viv said Play is the treat.(It is a special work time toy though.) Though I seldom give treats to my dogs. A simple Good Boy is all they get – poor boys!
I only took Shelly to one puppy training class at the local Petsmart. We had to ‘pass the puppy’ handing our own puppy to next in circle and give the one we received a treat. Shelly threw up all the way home as she had too many treats! never went again, trained her myself without the treats. She will play what has been named here as ‘ragging’ but will also drop what ever is in her mouth on the command of leave. She will also NOT touch anything she finds if I say Leave, even if it is a nice juicy morsel of food I have dropped by accident! Dogs are like children, the thing is to be patient and consistent!
There are special toys made from very strong materials to play tug-o-war with dogs — same action as the ragging. I suspect it gets expensive if trainers use toys though, due to the daily playing with them. And, yes, it seems all dogs love that kind of playing — I haven’t met one yet that didn’t… lol 🙂
Thank you, Celi & Logan, for that interesting infos about avalanche dog’s training. What a good work you do, Logan! – Love the first pic: Cute that face of Ferra! And the last shot of both, Cai and Ferra, is very nice too. Beautiful dogs. – Have a lovely time together, enjoying each other! xoxoxo
They are beautiful dogs. I love that shot of them together.. c
Does clicker training feature in training at all, and I assume you use ragging as the reward (not food treats)? Also curious if you introduce distractions across their trails. Thanks for a very informative read and kudos to you, your associates and dogs – brave men and dogs. Laura
They do use clickers to shape behaviour – I will ask Logan about distractions – good question.. c
No purposeful distractions.. c
What lovely dogs and what an interesting post. You guys do an amazing job. Thank you Celi and Logan for a peep into such an interesting job, well vocation really.
Yes you are right – it is a vocation. The dog lives with the handler so it is an almighty commitment.. c
How do you determine when to retire a dog? Cai looks quite healthy.
Poor Cai has a dysplasia of the elbows in his back legs. After this small run he was limping quite obviously. He cannot work for very long at all. And of course he did not pass his medical at his yearly exam a couple of years ago. So he is retired way before he should have been which was a terribly blow for Logan and Cai. It was after this news that Logan began to train Ferra. c
That was a very helpful description of the logic used to train the dogs. It makes so much sense. The dogs are amazing in what they do. My son-in-law’s father is president of the Marshall Legacy Foundation. Their mission is to train land mine detection dogs and deliver them to countries all over the world where mines have been planted. Clearing them is dangerous work. The dogs are great at sniffing out the explosives in them.
Interesting story today. Thanks.
Wow. It would be great to go on a training run with them too! That truly is terrifying work. I have a friend who worked in Vietnam finding and detonating latent explosives for the New Zealand army. I know a bit about that work. He never had a dog though – I bet he wished he did! c
I sure prefer they use (trained) rats for this job, though… (their very light weight being an additional advantage)
What a marvellous and useful thing to be doing. Bravo to the dogs and to Logan. But I hope they’re not needed in earnest too often!
Love,
ViV xox
NO not that often. Much of Logans daily work is skiing the fields setting explosives in areas that MIGHT fall into an avalanche. They are very pro active with avalanche threats. c
I bet Tonton would love that job – he’s had enough practice with pigs 😉
I think Ton would be good too also Ton is tenacious, he will never give up when searching for his stick that is for sure. c
Here’s one for Boo:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35039105
Love it!!
Me too! c
Thank you for taking the time to explain your training program. I teach my dog scent detection, but not people, just scent. We are starting to work tobacco, and the method is so different. But the one thing that is the same is the concept of play as a reward. You have an awesome job!!
The dedication is extreme..c