Product # 956

Contents

Preface
Introduction: Dogs Save Human Lives
Passionate (Re) Search Work
Hunting
Hunting for People
The Natural Way
Basic Training
Step 1: Dog and Articles
Step 2: Article and Human
Step 3: Search Field and Human
Wilderness Searches
Case Study: Recue Workers on Four Leg
Disaster Searches
Case Study: Irreplaceable Recuers
Elements of Damage
Case Study: “Gas Explosion, We Need Dogs”
Disaster Operation Tactics
Case Study: A Case of Life and Death
Avalanche Searches
Case Study: Avalanche Dogs in Action
Reading the Dog
A World Full of Odors
The Scent Perception of Dogs
History
A Serious Task
International Tests (IPO R)
Bibliography

A woman trapped in the rubble of a disaster area, a man buried under tons of snow in an avalanche, a child lost in the wilderness - there is little they can do to help themselves, but call, knock, wait and hope. Hope that someone will hear, that someone is looking for them, that someone will find them and dig them out. To increase their chances of being found in time and recsued, their best hope is if a trained search and rescue dog has been brought to the scence.

Drs. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak have developed an exceptional method of training search and rescue dogs, which they have successfully used for all type of search operations: Wilderness searches, Disaster searches, and Avalanche searches. This book covers their entire training method from basic training through the specific methods required for each types of search operation, disaster operations, coordination, information on the scent capabilities of dogs, and a brief history of canine search and rescue. The book winds up with International Test requirements from the IPO R and a bibliography for further research.

About the authors

Drs. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak, both Dutch, now live in the vicinity of Vienna, where they continue to train dogs for search and rescue work and Schutzhund. They also train directors and judges for the selection of avalanche and rescue dogs of both the Internation Red Cross Federation, and the United Nations (UNDRO). They are international judge for search and rescue dogs for the Federation Cynologique Inernationale (FCI) and the International Dog Organization (IRO). Ruud Haak is also the editor of the largest Dutch Dog Magazine, Onze Hond (Our Dog).