Train Your Dog to Find Missing Family and Pets

All Dogs Love Finding People They Know! 

Our dogs love to find us and they do that every day. 

When a dog wants to go outside, they find you to let you know. 

When a dog wants to play he’ll get his toy and find you to play fetch. 

When a dog is hungry, they find the person who feeds them. 

Our dogs consider other household pets and livestock part of the family. Herding dogs find sheep and livestock over many miles. Much of the training is using natural instincts. 

So why not teach our pet dogs to find family members, including other animals they know? In case a loved one goes missing or is lost then all you have to do is ask your family dog where the person is and follow the dog. 

Pictured below is my dog Washee and I training. We are getting ready to follow a person scent trail to locate where the person is hiding. I do not know where the person is hidden, all I have is the person’s scent article to give Washee to smell and remember the scent we want to find. 

Washee led me through a homeless camp and behind a power company to find the person in the second picture. As you can see from Washee’s happy face she loves this fun game of hide and seek! 

The way I train dogs to search for missing persons is based on how a dog naturally behaves. 

Every time someone in the house leaves our dogs want to go with them because they do not want to lose the person. Dogs do not want to let us out of their sight because we are part of the family pack. Especially a person they are most fond of and the person who feeds them him. 

Even people who play with our dogs at a dog park and neighbors the dog knows are part of the dog’s social network. 

The Family Disaster Dogs books and easy lessons on this site explain how to use the family dogs to search for missing people and pets like mantrailing, tracking and search dogs do. 

These books help not only families train their dogs but also K9 Search and Rescue teams worldwide. 

Check out  my author website  to have a look at the books. The site is a work in progress and will have a blog and newsletter for book updates. I plan to keep adding lessons and dog info here at Family Disaster Dogs too. If you would like new posts in your email, sign-up by refreshing this page and waiting for the pop up window.

Thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there in the heat, floods and wildfires. 

Pictured are my two bloodhounds brothers, Sammy and Gus.

Training a Dog versus Teaching a Dog

 

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To train a dog is to have a dog physically doing something. 

In comparison, teaching a dog is showing a dog what you mean.

Training a dog is the physical part of teamwork. 

While teaching a dog is the mental part of teamwork. 

Example 

When we teach a dog to fetch;

First we teach the dog what the ball is, by showing the dog the ball and naming it. 

Therefore, we are focusing on mental education. The dog is watching and learning without doing anything physical. 

Even if the dog is jumping up and down or sitting watching us.  We are Teaching the dog. 

Compare that to this….

Next, we train the dog to move and do what we ask. 

We toss the ball and tell the dog to go fetch. We and the dog are focusing on the physical education. 

We toss the ball. We are using a physical movement. 

The dog runs after the ball, a physical movement. 

Therefore 

To train a dog is to have a dog physically doing something. 

In comparison, teaching a dog is showing a dog what you mean.

Training a dog is the physical part of teamwork and teaching is the mental aspect.  

Amber

Founder and author 

Family Disaster Dogs 

Toby in memory of my husband Rick 

Debunking Common Dog Myths: What's Fact and What's Fiction?

 Dogs have long been our faithful companions, yet myths about our canine friends still run around. Some misconceptions can be harmless while others could compromise your pet's health or happiness. In this blog, we will untangle some of these misconceptions by debunking common dog myths:

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash Copy to clipboard

A Wagging Tail Always Means a Happy Dog

At first, wagging tails might seem to signify happiness, but that isn't always the case. Dogs use their tails to express a range of emotions through body language. For instance a slow, stiff wag may indicate unease or aggression while fast and high wags could indicate excitement. Or on the other hand a low wag may indicate submission. Always be mindful of their body language in order to understand exactly what your furry pal may be trying to convey.

Dogs See in Black and White

One of the more pernicious myths out there is the notion that dogs are completely colorblind. While it is true they don't see the full range of hues as humans do, their world isn't entirely black-and-white either. Canines tend to see shades of blue and yellow better while reds and greens seem dull and muted compared to what humans experience.Knowing this, consider providing your pup with toys in these colors to keep playtime exciting.

You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

Although the phrase may be catchy, this statement does no one a favor. All dogs of every age can learn and adapt. While puppies tend to learn new commands more quickly due to their high energy and curiosity levels, older dogs still benefit from patience. Training with positive reinforcement from professionals like All Dogs Unleashed Dog Training in successfully teaching new tricks or routines to them. Its never too late to teach them something new.

Garlic Is Good for Dogs

This myth may have its source in garlic's health benefits for humans. However, this does not carry over to their canine companions. Garlic (and related allium plants like onions) are toxic to dogs and can even lead to anemia by damaging red blood cells. Even small quantities can be toxic so make sure pizza and garlic bread stay away from your furry companion.

Dogs Eat Grass When They're Sick

Perhaps you have witnessed your pup munching away on grass and wondered what's up. While some people might interpret this behavior as an indicator of illness or attempts at self-medication, in reality this could simply be out of boredom, to assist digestion or simply for pleasure. An occasional grass snack usually won't lead to vomiting, but it should remain harmless.

All Dogs Hate Cats

Pop culture portrayals of dogs relentlessly chasing cats are widespread, yet in reality dogs and cats can coexist peacefully together and even form unexpected friendships. Socialization and proper introduction are important in creating this dynamic between them. With proper training in place they could end up as inseparable companions, thus disprove this age-old stereotype.

Conclusion 

Dog myths might make for great conversation at the dog park, but they can cause lasting confusion about our furry companions. By dispelling some of these popular misconceptions about our furry pals and providing them with proper care, we can gain more understanding and create stronger bonds between ourselves and them. After all, a healthy pup starts with well-informed owners.

Amber's Books for dog owners to be ready

Check out the books on the Book Page 

 

What is a Family Disaster Dog? It's Your Dog Trained to Rescue You!

 What is a family disaster dog? It is a dog trained to find and rescue you!

The Family Disaster Dog Book shows you how easy a pet dog of any age, size, or breed can be your very own search and rescue dog! Any size dog, from the little Chihuahua to the Great Dane, can help its owner survive...and they find you every day already when they want to play or eat, so why not learn what else they can do to help you!

One of our biggest fears and chores during a disaster is losing or finding a loved one, and every dog has the ability to find its family members or friends. We, as dog owners, only need to learn how to use the natural ability of the dog to the full advantage during emergencies.

The Family Disaster Dogs book is full of fun and easy lessons that are tailored for the family to learn disaster preparedness with pets, including search and rescue skills in the comfort of the home during daily activities by former Search Dog Instructor Amber Higgins, who spent over a decade breeding and training AKC Bloodhounds for nationwide Search and Rescue FEMA volunteer work along with German Shepherd Dogs.

Here's a few of the skills you and your dog can learn:

Ask any dog to find family members and friends who are lost or missing !

Learn how your dog can be a messenger dog !

How any size dog can carry extra supplies if you have to evacuate.

Learn how to pack and use a Dog Bug-out Bag with 3 days of survival supplies for you and your dog.

Teach your dog to alert you to danger and warning sirens with these easy at home lessons.

If you are trapped in an earthquake. Your dog can find you, dig you out or bring you first aid until rescuers arrive !

Send your dog for help or to your partner or child on command, it's easy to do with this book. 

Teach your dog to bring you items by name and much more !

Teach the whole family how to use the family dog as their own search and rescue dog in tornado, floods, earthquakes and to find lost loved ones !

Don't have a dog then this book is a great gift for a friend or neighbor who has a dog and they can come to your rescue too !

Use this book to form a neighborhood Family Disaster Dog group at church or clubs to help neighbors until emergency response arrives ! 

Be sure to have a look at the "My Puppy Can Find Me" children's picture book by Amber Higgins for young children and parents to learn what to do if a child is ever lost or missing. The children learn a fun game to play with the family dog to "go find mom or dad". Parents learn how to use their dog to find a child that wandered off or is missing. 

Sometimes first responders and the police are overwhelmed with calls for help and they may not reach you right away. 

Do you know what to do if help cannot reach you? What if the roads are blocked by high water or downed trees? What do you do if you cannot find a loved one? What if you are out camping and a family member gets lost and does not return to camp. Waiting for help to arrive often takes hours and during that time the person may go further away from camp, may get injured or worst. That is why I wrote these books. To help you help yourself and loved ones when help is not near. Time is critical when a person's life is at stake. 

If you have a dog in the family, these easy fun lessons will teach you and your dog what to do. These books have helped people all over the world to learn how to save a person's life. Why not have a look at the books and the 285 page Family Disaster Dogs blog ? 

I keep the four books free on audible and kindle so everyone can afford to be prepared and learn these valuable skills. Sharing this information with you at no cost is my mission, my way of helping communities worldwide. I spent many years training daily with my own dogs and volunteering to find missing person with county search and rescue squads. I learned a wealth of information during those years about emergency response and disasters, information that is not readily available to the public due to the amount of knowledge required and liability laws. That information is what I share with you, the public, and as a seasoned educated writer I try very hard to keep the lessons simple so even a child can learn. 

Have a look at the books on the book page in the page menu above or visit my author page at Amazon. 

If you do not use Amazon the books are available at book stores and retail outlets worldwide, a simple internet search will show you where. Please feel free to ask me for a copy  or to train in person if that is easier for you! I will be happy to meet with you anytime and work with your dog, just ask!

Planning to Take your Pet on Vacation or Holiday with You

 I want to share this great guide and article with you, in case, you plan to take your dogs on holiday with you. 

Dogs are family, so spending holidays with them can have positive mutual benefits. This is further explored in the guide, 29+ important reasons to take your dog on your family holiday.

It shares some of the interesting discussions, such as:

• Mutual benefits (for the person and the dog) when taking dogs on a holiday

• Best pet-friendly places in the UK to explore when spending holidays with dogs for our friends in the UK and others who plan to visit the UK.

This guide also explores many insights and studies which elaborate on the reasons for wanting to get a dog. Found in the piece is a study from the Canine Behavior and Research team at Dog Trust that reported 48.2% of current owners and 69.7% of potential owners considered having a dog to facilitate their exercise. 

You can read the full version here:

https://www.dogfriendlycottages.co.uk/benefits-of-pets-on-holiday/index.html

Dog Training Tips and Resources 2023

The Evacuate with Your Dog's Help book explains how-to evacuate with pets. How-to make a bug-out (survival) bag for owners and dogs to carry. Every dog of any age or size can help its family evacuate. Be prepared for disasters with your pets. Learn what to expect at disaster shelters and from pet rescue during disasters. Included is a detailed expanded list of survival items for pets and owners with step-by step instructions to train your dog to carry a saddlebag to hold items to evacuate and "bug-out" with. Plus Pet CPR instructions and how-to calm a frightened pet. How-to find a lost pet. USA Evacuation Law for pets. 

Both of the books are free on Kindle and Audible. These books are used as a worldwide emergency preparedness resource from the author. Paperbacks are discounted to help with cost of publication. 

What is a Family Disaster Dog? It is Your Dog trained to Find and Rescue You!

Let me tell you how easy a pet dog of any age, size or breed can be your very own Search and Rescue Dog!

The Family Disaster Dogs book is full of fun and easy lessons that are tailored for the family to learn rescue skills in the comfort of the home during daily activities. Your pet dog is a Family Disaster Dog! 

Any size dog from the little Chihuahua to the Great Dane can help its owner survive..and they find you every day already when they want to play or eat so why not learn what else they can do to help you !

Take a look at my Amazon Author Page to read or hear previews of all my books. Thank you in advance for sharing the books and leaving a review which helps other dog owners find many helpful resources, including mine, in search engines.

 Stay safe out there this spring and summer!

Enjoy your dogs and do something new with them today! 

Thank you for visiting Family Disaster Dogs 

Be sure to look at the Page menu above, there are several pages to see and at the bottom of this post is a time line with over 250 articles for dog owners.

How To Make Sure Your Dog Remains Fit & Healthy

 Looking after your dog is about much more than showing them love - though that is of course very important too. It’s also a case of making sure that you are doing everything you can to keep them as fit and healthy as possible. This is the kind of thing that might actually be more challenging than you first think, and if you are currently just thinking of getting a dog in the near future, you might want to be aware of some of the following. Let’s take a look at how you can ensure your dog remains healthy throughout their life.

Credit - CCO License

Walk Them Every Day

This is the main headline need that most dogs have. Your dog needs a lot of exercise - quite possibly more than you assume at first - and you need to make sure that you are helping them to get it. This means taking them for a walk once a day. And for some breeds and dogs, that might increase to twice or even thrice a day. You can also try to provide them with plenty of space to run around at home, if possible. If that is not possible, even more walking might be necessary.

Feed Them Regularly

The regularity of feeding is hugely important, just as it is with human beings. See https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/how-to-keep-your-dog-healthy/ for more on this. You need to make sure that your dog actually knows when their food is coming each day, because this actually helps them to regulate their metabolism, and that is vital for ensuring their ongoing good health too. So feed your dog regularly, at two or three of the same times each day, so that they are more likely to have a decent regularity in their internal system as well. That is more important than most people give credit for, so make sure not to overlook it.

Credit - CCO License

Provide Them With Plenty Of Nutrients

One of the main things with regard to their food is that it is actually a complete diet. There are a couple of main ways you can make sure of that. One is by ensuring you feed them with so-called complete dog food. This is food which has all the nutrients and minerals a dog needs. The other is to occasionally feed them other vegetables that you know are good for them. If you look at https://www.nextritionpet.com/blogs/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-spinach you will see that spinach is particularly packed with minerals and nutrients your dog needs, for instance.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate

Finally, a word on providing plenty of fresh water. If you are not doing this, it doesn’t really matter what else you are doing. Hydration is even more important to dogs than it is to us, because they lose a lot through panting. You should always provide it as much as possible, and you should make sure they especially have a lot of cool, fresh water in hot weather, or after exercising. As long as you do that, it is going to make a huge difference to how healthy and fit they are.

Train a Dog to Find People for Fun Sport and Work on Audible Kindle Amazon Paperback

Now on Audible!

Hear the audio book HERE for free 

Start Mantrailing for Fun, Sport and Work 

Train a Dog to Find People

Mantrailing is a K9 Search and Rescue specialty that is quickly becoming popular as a sport and recreation for all dogs to enjoy. Mantrailing dogs use the nose to scent discriminate one person from all other people to locate the one particular person.

A truly amazing fact about Mantrailing is how quickly most dogs’ take to this type of training, and how quickly the dogs find people. Dogs love to use their nose to find people. The fun part of Mantrailing is that we follow the dog and allow them to lead the way!

By listening to this audiobook, you and the dog will be finding a person from the first day of training and beyond. Each training session uses a time tested and proven step by step method for solid reliable success on the trail. You will learn to read the dog, and the dog will learn to tell you what they find. Both of you will have a great introduction to the world of K9SAR.

This audiobook is suitable for training as a dog and handler team to work actual missing person’s incidents, sporting dog events, as well as a fun activity that will amaze you and anyone who watches a dog use its nose in the most incredible way. I encourage you to ask friends and family to participate by using the exercises in this audiobook for a fun outdoor adventure.

New Audible Book Coming Soon-Start Mantrailing Train a Dog to Find People

 Here's the News!

New Audible Book Release

December 2022  

A Great Gift in time for Christmas 2022 !

This book is training dogs around the world to find people and now everyone will be able to listen to the step by step lessons on a phone while in the field working the dog with the Audible book.

 If you have ever thought wanted to find a fun outdoor activity to do with your dogs or get involved in finding missing persons with a dog this book is for you! Already training and working scent dogs or Search dogs? This book will help you get started or possibly learn a few skills to hone your dog's skills.

This book is tailored to all breeds of dogs, all ages and sizes of pups can learn to find people. Amaze your friends and family with how fast and easy your dog can find them! You and your dog will be finding a hidden person the very first day when you follow the easy step by step instructions and pictures. 

You can learn about K9SAR and what it takes to be a Search and Rescue dog team that is called out to find lost and missing persons or you can just have a fun sport to do with your dogs.

The book Cover dog Amber with her handler are a members of RRI No. Scotland

The book features pictures of American and UK mantrailing teams 

Below is USA Mantrailing Team Bella working a hot trail after a person

Have a listen to the sample preview of the Family Disaster Dog book at audible for no cost to hear how the book will sound on your device at this link to the Family Disaster Dogs audio book. 

 Here's my author page where you can hear all my books  

 

 

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click to See and buy the paperback and e-books directly from me at the book shop page

Have a Great Dog Day!