Training can only lead to success if the starting material is good. So, we have to look carefully at the characteristics of the dog we want to train. Search and rescue dog training is physically and mentally the most challenging kind of training. It requires a stable, adult mentality of both the dog and its handler.

To know which requirements dogs need to work out, it is good to look at the tasks of the search and rescue dog. A search and rescue dog must search intensively and with perseverance for the odour of people who are trapped beneath the rubble or snow, or people who are lost in wilderness areas. The search and rescue dog must not allow himself to be distracted, because he has to work in almost every kind of area and under almost all circumstances.

On the place where the human odour concentration is the highest, the search and rescue dog has to report his handler with a clear and reliabe alert that he has found a victim. Even after hours and days of intensive searching!

From all this we can conclude that the best working dogs are also the best search and rescue dogs. Of course, dogs without pedigree, just like dogs that don’t belong to an official working dog breed, are in principle usable as search and rescue dogs. In addition to hunting dogs, we have seen handlers get excellent results in search and rescue dog work with mixed breed or not-official working dogs. The breed and the size of the dog hardly influences the suitability and requirements for search and rescue dog work. Small as well as middle sized dogs can be trained for special tasks.

The search and rescue dog, here a Malinois, must give the handler a clear and understandable signal that it has found the human odour concentration is highest

Conditions for succes

But sometimes there are misunderstandings about the suitability of dogs for search and rescue dog training. Often people accept without question that every dog that belongs to the so-called working dogs, hunting dogs or herding dogs is suitable for this very special training. That is, however, not true, and therefore we have to make a careful choice. Nervous and frightened dogs, for instance, are not in the picture. With a lot of perseverance, an experienced handler may achieve something with such a dog, but for the dog itself it most of the time is a mental torment, which will be expressed sooner or later in serious disorders.

Only mentally and physically healthy dogs can be used for this heavy training. Many kinds of illnesses and medication affect the nose. Training the dog while his sense of smell is not optimal will lead to all kinds of unnecessary stress situations that are detrimental to the training. In relation to the physical health, we don't want to discuss dog breeds that have several problems, for instance hip and elbow dysplasia, which prevent the normal movements of the dog. But other hereditary physical defects like epilepsy and all the different eye disorders also make a dog absolutely unsuitable for work as a search and rescue dog.

Search and rescue dog training is physically and mentally the most challenging kind of training

Physical characteristics

For a successful search and rescue dog training we demand that the dog:

• be complete health, and sound in life and limb;

• walk and move correct, easy and fast;

• have a strong and muscled body;

• have an optimal sense of smell, sight and hearing;

• have a good mouth (incomplete teeth are not a problem);

• be in optimal condition and have very strong stamina;

• have strong legs, and feet with strong soles;

• be adapted to the weather and climate in which he has to work;

• have a coat suitable for that purpose.

Question to  Resi Geritsen

Is it equally important to look at the characteristics of the handler who is going to teach the dog?

With search and rescue dog work, a lot will be required of the handler, both mentally and physically. Dog handlers, female or male, must have knowledge, or obtain it during training, of modern dog training methods, and also have the ability to work in teams and to absolutely accept direction. To crown it all, working as a search and rescue dog handler requires both real and financial sacrefices too. How many weekends will be spend on stinking debris piles or in dirty wet woods? How much money will be spent on long trips to the less training fields? You should weigh whether you have the ability for this heavy and difficult work that requires people with perseverance and willpower; through physical as well as mental training, the handler has to become a well-balanced and confident dog expert with the right mentality. It is not only that handler or that special dog, but the whole search and rescue dog unit that succeeds during a mission, that’s the way it is!