While dogs are typically known as playful companions and man’s best friends, dogs also have a number of roles that are not as widely acknowledged. When law enforcement is called in to find a missing person, or a natural disaster strikes, dogs are often part of the first line of defense when the time comes to respond.

Burmese mountain dogs, Saint Bernards and Labrador Retrievers are among the most common breeds favored for search-and-rescue training. Their roles may include all or some of the following: wilderness rescue, avalanche searches, drowning searches, natural disasters, and in some cases, corpse retrieval.

Labrador rescue dogs in particular, being one of the more common breeds, are generally classified as one of the following: air scenting, tracking, or trailing. Air scenting dogs are trained to follow airborne human scents, while tracking and trailing dogs follow scent trails that have been deposited on the ground. Each of these types is limited by terrain and changing atmospheric conditions.

Because every dog is different, the training is as important to the handler as it is for the dog. The handler needs to become familiar with the dog’s body language, so as to be certain that he has indeed made a find. When the rescue dog follows a scent or trail to its end, for example, the dog may return to the handler and give him a certain look.

During the dog’s training, it is essential the dog and the handler become comfortable with each other and learn each other’s eccentricities. This is the reason why dogs change partners very rarely because a bond develops during training.

When the dog makes a find in the field, they often have a stance that lets the handler know that they have found the target or another object of interest. This is just one example of why it is important for the handler to become familiar with their dog’s personality. A successful search-and-rescue is very dependent upon the trust between a dog and its handler.

The dog’s abilities will improve daily. As the dog gets more and more proficient with the skills, daily obedience training should be continued along with agility and socialization sessions. Over time, scent training can decrease in frequency to three to five times per week, but increase in duration to between twenty and sixty minutes each.

As training sessions become fewer, however, duration should increase to between twenty and sixty minutes. Focus sessions, such as scent discrimination, should become frequent as well, but only after the dog has proven its proficiency in the training area.

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