So, in the last post I talked about a dog that I was evaluating for search work, Mack. One of the interesting things about dogs is that they do change according to their surroundings, just like we learn to adapt.
In the last post, I talked about how he would play tug and run up on the pile like a champ, how he even started barking for a toy. But wouldn’t you know, getting him into a routine, in a household where he knew the rules, and they didn’t change, his drive dropped. Drive you say? You mean he could drive? No, this is his inherent willingness to do the work….basically, what is that internal ‘thing’ that would make him want to do ANYTHING for the opportunity to play with a toy. Once most of the stress was reduced in his life, his willingness to work for a toy also dropped. Why? My guess, most of his willingness to play with a toy came from stress. It was one of the ‘safe’ ways he had learned to let out some of his frustrated energy. AND he now could garner attention through just being a pet, having someone play with him like a regular dog and he didn’t have to focus all of his energy into the 5 minutes a day when someone would play with him.
Now, Mack is happily in a new pet home, with a mom and dad of his own where he’s very spoiled. I actually get to talk to his new owners about 3 times a week and even saw pictures of him today. He might not be what we look for in a search dog, but he’s very happy having the job of being someone’s pet. That’s also a very important job for a dog.
Moses was sad to see his friend go, but Moe and I spent the weekend at a FEMA search dog testing. We learned a lot and got to watch all of the different elements of a US&R test. There were 7 dogs testing and only 2 passed the entire test. These dogs are highly trained and in one day we asked them to work closely with their handler doing obedience and agility to working far away from their handler on a rubble pile they’ve never seen before to find someone buried in the rubble. Moe and I didn’t test, we weren’t ready.
However, I did get to hide for some of the dogs which was fun. If you can imagine laying in a concrete tube on a sleeping bag, under 6 feet of rubble as fun. (I read a book while 3 of the dogs searched for and found me). Moe and I did get to play a little bit later in the afternoon, I was very happy how he moved over the new piles and found his person.
Dogs are very situational, they do not generalize well. This is the main reason why people have great dogs in the kitchen, but once you get them outside they have no idea what you are talking about if you ask them to sit. It takes a long time to generalize a behavior for a dog, your kitchen is different than your bathroom, which is different than your back yard. The fact that I can take my dog, drive for 6 hours, stay in a hotel, then ask him to run onto a rubble pile that he’s never seen before and he will search for someone he’s never met, sometimes amazes me.
Wags,
Robin and K9 Moe