I am a K-9 handler and recently returned from Kosovo. We trained our dogs to smell the ground for aids that were planted underneath the soil. I have returned to my home station and now have the problem of my MWD not wanting to use the air to locate aids or a decoy. I have done all problems since arriving back with the aids several feet off the ground, but my MWD still persist in smelling only the ground. I think he would respond quicker at times if he would use the scent coming through the air and not bracketing to source with the odor that is on the ground. Any other suggestions on how to fix this issue?
Dale,
Welcome back home! And THANK YOU for your service.
Admittly, I'm far from well versed in this area, however it is a discipline I'm interested. At the risk of showing my ignorance I'll ask a couple of questions, and try my hand at some suggestions if I may.
Are you retraining the dogs for other scent work? Narcotics? Human search? Or are you staying with bombs but you just want them to search higher then ground level?
If I'm not learning, I'm not paying attention.
Randy
Sometimes things like this are just time and patience.
Try and encourage the dog to lift it's head, perhaps by rubbing some scent a foot or two off the ground, along a wall, down a hallway.
Once the dog realizes it's okay to lift his head to scent, he will. It's just relearning.
I am not retraining the dog. We used to train with only several aids in the ground before we were sent to Kosovo. Some of the aids were planted high so the MWD never knew what to expect. In Kosovo we searched a lot of dried river beds and had actual finds which only reinforced the behavior of searching the ground only; that is the only time they found anything. We did not take them back to base later and plant aids higher to counteract their ground searching behavior. My MWD is trained to search for explosives and for decoys, but now uses another tatic to find both which I think is slightly unproductive.
The issue with searching the ground applies only when entering an open area. If there are just trees or other objects, his nose instantly starts searching the ground. If he is under a roof or searching around veh's he knows the ground is not productive any more and does not search the ground. I think I just have to have patience and continue mission.
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searching the ground to searching the air
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