Well, there is so much you can do with your belgian that it is a shame that only international events got so much room in discussion.
Our nordic belgians save humans from ruins and from woods AND do protection work (saving humans too, at least mine did... ) AND sled pulling, so we have to be very satisfied in our dogs! And of course we have more possibilities to work with our dogs, because we live up here in the north with enough space!
Wait, 'til Birdie make the rest of the events; forest search, signal and multievent, combined trial of all of our scandinavian trials!
J
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Our nordic belgians save humans from ruins and from woods AND do protection work (saving humans too, at least mine did... ? )
Wait, 'til Birdie make the rest of the events; forest search, signal and multievent, combined trial of all of our scandinavian trials!
Can I invite you to explain more about this (these ?) national K9 work ?
I am highly interested in Practical Work with dogs. So far it seems Nordic Belgians are the only who could be trained in SAR and Protection together by regulations. Is it Search and Rescue at all or completely different ?
Quite different. We have that international rescue-stuff, f.i. I've worked a bit on ruins, but nowadays I do only tracking. This Scandinavian forest search is a bit same that in ruins. Dogs try to find persons in certain area with a lots of smells and there are completely covered and partially covered persons hiding in there. Area is 100 meters wide and 300 meters long. The intensity of the working gives points and of course lost persons found. Dog must work under commands of handler. And I promise you: it really is not easy! Height differencies can be several tens of meters and hidingplaces in higher classes are quite tricky.
I wait until Birdie makes the complete story.
Dogs in real work means in these forums often only IPO/KNPV and Policedogs. But in Finland our dogs and handlers help authorities as volunteers. And the usage of the woods is growing by people picking berries and mushrooms when at the same time their capabilities to "survive" in there are getting weaker. Ya know, those citypeople... Luckily we have these dogs and people, who are interested in someone else too, than themselves!
J
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Coffee and love are something you just can't warm up again.
Quite different. We have that international rescue-stuff, f.i. I've worked a bit on ruins, but nowadays I do only tracking. This Scandinavian forest search is a bit same that in ruins. Dogs try to find persons in certain area with a lots of smells and there are completely covered and partially covered persons hiding in there. Area is 100 meters wide and 300 meters long. The intensity of the working gives points and of course lost persons found. Dog must work under commands of handler. And I promise you: it really is not easy! Height differencies can be several tens of meters and hidingplaces in higher classes are quite tricky.
Is it something like area search but on lead ?? I mean.. dogs has to track but the area is contaminated also, making the dog hard to follow one particular track. I try to get the idea... is there a starting point (article or something) to get the particular scent or you go in the area and start out searching/tracking left to right until the dog catch a hot trail ?
If the last counts...it's almost the same as police tracking in USA in the woods when there's not enough reason to deploy the dog on suspect. Then you keep the dog on lead and try to track him down.
...but cool civilians can be used to find lost victims !!
No, in the search dog work free of leash. The whole area is walked through and handler (and judge and possible secretary and found persons) walk on the centerline, from where the dog works 50 meters on both sides. There are several persons (3 in the highest class) in hidingplaces. Actually there is no hot track, the whole area is "hot", the dog has to locate the real person from air. So actually, dog is not tracking at all, but working very much the same as in ruins.
When dog notices "lost" person, its have to bark until handler and judge come to place and judge gives the permission to stop and accepts the person officially founded. Or the dog takes a small roll into mouth, runs back to the handler a roll in the mouth as a mark. handler puts a dog in 10 meter line and dog takes both judge and handler to the "lost" person. The last one might be more used nowadays, because it is more secure way to sign and find the "lost". Barking is hard for the dog and the bark must be constant and loud without any breaks.
I have to googlegooglegoogle, I could find some videos...
And when the forest is like that behind in the picture.. ...it is not easy to hear the dog - nor see but maybe 5-10 meters forward.
In the real situations the searchteams consider both tracking and searching dogs, if possible, and there are several teams around the area, where the reported missing has happened.
Welcome to get lost into the Finnish woods! We have dogs to find you!
Jenni
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In the real situations the searchteams consider both tracking and searching dogs, if possible, and there are several teams around the area, where the reported missing has happened.
Great... you describe the same tracking/trailing system as I do train dogs at my seminars for Police K9. Actually there's not much difference with professional Wilderness Searches in USA I think -FEMA-. However: the dog is allowed to go deep in the woods by himself. Must be controllable though where the handler has to move tactical through the area to ensure every part will be checked.
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...it is not easy to hear the dog - nor see but maybe 5-10 meters forward.
last seminar in Georgia we have done some night searches in the woods... ... that was great.
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Sounds like you do have fun in the woods up there in the nordic regions.
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But how do you know people are lost in the woods: do they have to report they go in the woods and exactly there, or just hints from family/friends ?? In some national forest you have to report and tell your route before able to enter the woods. Making in some cases the location of the search relative small. When there's no clue the area to clean is terrible big.
Here in Sweden and also in Finland people are allowed to walk in any forest they like and pick berries and mushrooms for example. We have forest almost everywhere, not just a few big nationalparks. So it would be impossible (I don't even think people would want) to have a system whre people report they're going to the woods.
The scandinavian dogsports, like forest searching and tracking are really popular and people use many different kinds of breeds. Most dog's are only competing and never face a real situation when they have to find a real missing person. In swedish national defenceprogram also the forest search and tracking is included.
2 weeks ago we were visiting Finland (Sanna and Pauli Hasu from kennel Willow Creek). We learned very much about the scandinavian way of tracking. I think we (the Netherlands) can make tracking so much more fun. If we were aloud to walk the forrest... I realy liked the area searche in the forrest. This was part of the Finnish tracking competition (don't know if Sweden and Norway do the same). It was clear to me the dogs went realy fast throught the forrest, not only in the area part, but also on the leash on the forrest track. Great to see!
To bad we don't have that kind of competitions over here!
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Good job Jenni!
) AND sled pulling, so we have to be very satisfied in our dogs! And of course we have more possibilities to work with our dogs, because we live up here in the north with enough space! 
