Use a Pet Dog to Find Lost and missing Children, Seniors and Friends

Copyright  2024 Amber Higgins

Use your dog to find Family and Friends, especially disabled and special needs loved ones 

This articles explains how-to use your own family dog to find a lost or missing loved ones. I hope this article and book will be helpful in finding missing persons and special needs children or adults who may of wandered away from home or an outdoor event. Our country has an incredible amount of missing person cases, each day more and more people disappear. We all need to help people be found and every little effort may one day save a person's life. Thank you for visiting my Family Disaster Dogs site, reading this article and sharing so others may learn.

Intro

Did you know all dogs are Family Disaster Dogs ? I created this site and wrote the first book after having worked as a professional dog groomer, dog trainer and breeder for 30 years, along with volunteering with my bloodhounds and shepherds for Search and Rescue for 15 years, I trained in all aspects of emergency response, and trained many other dog handler  teams during that time. 

I realized one day that pet dogs can help their family in emergencies and disasters. Dogs do not need to be a certain breed or trained as skillfully to find a person or other pet that wanders from home or gets lost while camping. Every dog tries to follow whoever leaves the area, if the dog does not appear to try to follow they are still very much aware of the person or other pet leaving the room, house, camp or area. 

So it makes perfect sense to me and most people I mention this bit of logic to, that our own dogs can find us if we get lost. That yes, the dog wants to go with us every time we leave the house but we shut the door and lock them in. So if a toddler happens to wander out of the house and is missing I always suggest to allow the family dog out of the house (on leash or off) and follow the dog who will naturally try to follow the person who left before the dog. 

Dogs naturally follow pack members. We only need to take advantage of this natural instinct and ask the dog to find the missing pack member. Including other household pets and dog or cat friends. So if your cat or other dog goes missing, use the other dog to find them or a friend's dog that the animals know.

Small dogs, giant dogs, young dogs and old dogs....can locate missing loved ones like search and rescue dogs do. They can also help you evacuate, fetch survival items if your trapped and go get help upon command. 

Let’s look at a few of the ways a pet dog can help locate a disabled child or adult in an emergency. 

Keep in mind that a dog always know where people are in the house or yard. They find you for food and play or to go for a walk. Dogs pay very close attention to where each family member is and what is happening. We, humans, seldom notice the dog doing its job of watching over us.

The Family Pack

Your own dog is one of the most valuable assets to have available for finding a known person who wanders off while hiking or camping and goes missing. If an earthquake, flood or storm separates members of the household, most likely the family dogs will be with one of the persons or nearby attempting to reach the family pack. 

As part of the pack the dog depends on us surviving too. Dogs live with us as family members and as part of the pack, they live to please us. They are always by our side and follow us around waiting to give us a helpful paw when the time comes or just to be near.

This natural pack instinct in the dog is very easy to take advantage of to find a missing pack member, such as our child or elderly parent who are missing or trapped unable to reach us or to get help. 

When a favorite family member leaves the room the dog often follows, when the person settles to stay in one place, the dog often lays at the person’s feet waiting for what will come next. The dog is always nearby, willing and ready to participate in what we are doing so let’s take advantage of the dogs’ natural desire to help us.

If you watch your dog, you will notice that the dog realizes when a child is missing from the family pack. Also, think about how many dogs cry and have separation anxiety when a favorite family member leaves them. Does your dog get upset when you leave them alone in the house or car?  Separation anxiety results from our dogs wishing to go with us. The anxiety is from the dog wanting to stay with its pack and not be left behind. 

This proves the dog is very much aware of each person in the family and where that person is. When one leave, if they do not come back to join the dog or family pack the dog will look for them. It’s the nature of the dog. 

If we allow the dog to go find the person, the dog will do just that !

Consequently, if the child or person has wandered away from the house and is lost or missing, it makes sense that their own dog can find them faster than a search dog who does not know the person. Even without any search dog training, a family dog is already on the job seeking to find its lost pack member. 

You can use this to your advantage if a family member is ever lost by simply asking the family dog to take you to the missing person. 

Here's How 

How-to Ask a Dog to Find a Lost Child 

• First, put your dog on a leash so they do not run into traffic because the dog will be excited that you finally asked for its help. 

Remember dogs find us every day when they are hungry. The dog already knows how to find people, we as dog owners only need to learn how to ask the dog to help us.

• Next, show the dog an article of clothing from the missing person that only that person touched, let the dog smell the object and then ask the dog to find the person, encourage the dog to go forward and look. 
• Follow the dog even if it does not look like the dog knows what they are doing or where they are going because scent particles float everywhere we cannot see but the dog can smell. 

Just follow the dog to the person, let the dog do the work, do not make any suggestions or guide the dog because it will only confuse the dog. 

Trust your Dog

• At first you may wonder if the dog is really looking for the person. 
• Do not stop working the dog on the trail or give up on the dog. 

Working search and rescue dogs often look like they are just going for a walk, they may go slow smelling here and there like nothing is important as they work the many hundreds of scent particles that mingle together with the lost person’s scent. 

These scent particles are everywhere and blown by the wind, affected by the natural environment. Only a dog knows how to understand and puzzle though. We humans do not have that nose work skill. We are not equipped to use our sense of smell to discriminate scent particles like animals do. 

Trust your dog.

The dog is always right. 

The nose knows.

Practice makes Perfect

Practice by playing hide and seek with your dog and family members, especially special needs children.

Here’s a few ways to play and learn together with the family dog. If you have more than one dog, it’s easier to do this one dog at a time or the dogs may be more focused on each other than finding the person.

1. Hold the dog 

2. Have a family member hide behind a open door or piece of furniture indoors 

3. Let the dog go and tell the dog to “find them” use the person’s name 

4. Follow the dog to find the person

5. Encourage the dog as they look for the person

6. Everyone make a big happy fuss over the dog finding the person

7. Lots of praise and happiness

8. Repeat with the person hiding in different places

Hiding spot suggestions

Indoors

Under blankets on the floor or bed

Behind open doors

Behind furniture

Under big cardboard boxes

Lay on the floor in another room

Outdoors

Do not let the person who hides go too far to hide at first. Gradual, over days and weeks, add distance to how far away they go to hide. Start off only hiding within easy sight of the dog and person holding the dog. Keep this game simple for the dog so they grasp the idea to find the person when asked. 

Trust your dog, in a real emergency the dog will use its natural drive and instinct to reunite with the missing pack member when asked. 

Keep in mind, you are not training the dog to find the person, the dog already knows how to do that. You are going to teach the dog a word you will use to ask them to do what is natural for them and the use the word is what you are actually practicing. 

Otherwise the dog does not know what the word means or what you ask and you do not have a way to tell the dog to act on its natural instinct.

Here's my children's book that tells the whole family a fun way to train a dog to find family and go to another person by name. 

Believe it or not our dogs do know our names because they hear everyone else call us by the name. 

Summary 

With very little time spent and a whole lot of fun practice you will see how easy this is to do and then you will feel reassured that if your child or loved ones ever go missing or get lost you can start searching while waiting for the police who often will not respond to a missing person case until 24 hours has passed to give time for the person to return on their own.

In my books and on my website, I explain how easy it is to teach the average family dog how to come to our rescue like search dogs do and how to use your own dog to help you evacuate during emergencies and disasters.

Visit www.familydisasterdogs.com to learn more about me and how your dog can rescue you!

Here's a page full of DIY dog training lessons I wrote for everyone to do in the comfort of home. 

What Makes a Mantrailing Team -Train a Dog to Find People 2 of 6 Series

Get Started Mantrailing 

Post: 2 of  6

Train a Dog to Find People  

Note: If this is your first time visiting this site or reading about finding people with a dog using Mantrailing please read the first post and Introduction for this Mantrailing Training series. Each week is being linked together so everyone can follow along no matter when they find this blog. 

This is Post 2 of 6 in the Mantrailing Training Series

Follow the steps below to start your dog....

Before we get started on this journey of finding people with dogs, I would like to point out a very important aspect of dog training. Every dog trainer has their own way of working with dogs.

The way each of us handles and train dogs develops over time with our education and experience.  As dog trainers gain experience we learn what methods works for us. We learn what works with our body language, style and belief systems. Over time we form our own dog training or handling method and pass the method onto students. 

Working with a new dog or group often teaches us something new too.  We never stop learning.  I want to encourage everyone to never stop learning new ways to train as you develop your own method of handling based on what you learn here and along the trail.

 

With Mantrailing ( Man-Trailing) becoming popular with other breeds of dogs in Search and Rescue and also as a recreational and competitive dog sport I noticed a need for a simple to understand training book that is suitable for beginners and experienced handlers who want to start on the exciting journey of finding people with a dog using Mantrailing. 

Now that the book is finished and available I'm sharing the book's lessons with everyone here on my site as a way for me to say Thank You for visiting and following us here at Family Disaster Dogs.

Sign-up for new posts at the pop-up window or follow me on social media to get each week's lesson. 

Over the next several weeks you will have the opportunity to learn the basics of training with a dog to be a Mantrailing team here on Family Disaster Dogs. 

Read my post (click > What is Mantrailing? Where Man Trailing gets its name,

In the series of posts, you will learn what makes a Mantrailing dog team and what you need to train a dog to find people.

You will learn how to get started training the dog with step by step instructions for laying training trails and finding the hidden person. 

There will be suggestions for weekly practice indoors and outdoors. After using this method to actually work with the dog and get started finding people you will be ready to do mantrailing for the fun of it and amaze onlookers with how smart your dog is! 

For more of a challenge and to advance training for those of you who want to train for K9SAR and practice more difficult trails for sport. I suggest you read my book or contact me for lessons.

Over the next few weeks, I touch upon a small amount of scent behavior and environmental variables that come into play during searches to help you understand scent dog science without the confusion many people encounter first starting out.

The final post will give everyone a better idea of what is involved in actual search dog work.  

In the book, there are examples of training trails, maps and a dog training log sheet to copy off for record keeping.

If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact me at via the contact page on www.familydisasterdogs.com

I hope this 6 post series starts you on a great journey into the exciting world of Mantrailing with your dog.

Visit my FDD K9 Store online to get a signed author copy of the books directly from me. 

All my books are available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited and Paperback, here's the author page.

For those interested in learning about K9SAR Sport seminars and trials in the USA visit the American Rettungshunde Sport Association  an AWDF Member Club. If you would like to learn more in the northern Arkansas area and train together contact me from the contact page above. 

(Email me your phone number, if I post mine here I get flooded with spam calls)

Want me to get your dog started Mantrailing then show you how to handle the dog for work or sport, maybe just for a great way to work off  your dog's energy and have fun?  Broad and train now available on 5 acres. Email me

Now Let's Get Started

What Makes a Mantrailing Team

 

What you need to Train a dog to Mantrail

The Dog

Most dogs can learn how to trail and find a person using the exercises in this book because trailing is like hunting to a dog. Following the scent trail of other animals, in this case humans, is a natural ability a dog has in order to hunt and survive in the wild. The breed of dog is not as important as the determination, endurance and stamina of the dog and handler to go the extra mile to find their person.

Age of Dog

Dogs as young as 9 weeks old can start to learn how to follow a person’s trail as long as the puppy is not ran to hard and long they will have a great time with you enjoying this fun game of hide and seek. As the puppy grows in size so can the distance and difficulty of the trail.

Any age is a good time to start mantrailing with your dog because this is wonderful physical and mental exercise for both of you. Even older dogs will enjoy getting outside and using their nose to find a person. Elderly dogs may not be able to work in mantrailing but they can still have fun and stay in shape.

When training a dog to work in search and rescue there are a few things to consider in regards to the age of the dog. The best age for a dog to start more difficult training is about 6 months old and not over three years old because the dog and handler team generally have to train one to two years before the team is certified operational and qualified for active service with law enforcement or emergency response agencies.

Many search dog trainers and handlers agree starting a dog over three years old on a two year training program means the dog will be five years old at qualifying time. In this case, the dog will not have many years of working life before retirement.

SAR groups think about the longest working life of a dog and the time the training takes. For instance, a dog started training by six months old should pass advanced level testing and qualify when they are less than three years old which adds up to a dog 3 ½ years old with an average lifespan of 12-14 years old. The dog only really has about 6 to 8 years of excellent health and working endurance if we are lucky.

With dedicated training the dog team can put in more hours of training time as they advance to be ready for testing sooner.

Plus as the dog age injury may more easily occur and the dog’s endurance will be challenged.

I have trained older dogs that passed testing and were active for quite a few years so this is a decision I feel is best left up to the owner/handler/trainer that knows the dog personally.

Handler

The dog handler should dress in comfortable pants, durable shoes and layered clothing suited for the weather. You as the handler will be following the dog at a steady pace and must be able to walk the distance. Although you are able to take a break to rest a few minutes on the trail (resting is especially encouraged on hot days) you will not be sitting down.

A mile is much longer than it sounds after you have walked a mile in a dog’s paw prints.

Equipment and gear

ü  Dog Collar (flat leather or nylon)

ü  Regular leash (6 ft. / 1.8m)

ü  Comfortable clothes

Equipment bag to store and carry

ü  Dog Harness

ü  Tracking leash (20 ft. / 6 m)

ü  Water bottle and bowl

ü  Paper notepad and pencil

ü  Biodegradable trail markers; bits of paper, cloth or ribbon

I do not use food or the dog will look for food but I do carry dog treats or toy for after training reward.

72 hour Pack, aka Bug-out bag, Go-bag, Rucksack, and Carry All bag to hold survival gear. K9SAR teams are recommended and in some countries required to carry a 72 hour pack. Check with your local officials to know what gear is required in your area. For a detailed list of what to pack you can look at my book, Evacuate with Your Dog’s Help or my Family Disaster Dogs website.

Scent Article Equipment

ü  Handler Waist Bag with pockets to wear and carry scent article, leash, baggies for evidence, etc.

ü  New unused paper lunch bags

ü  Ziploc Bags or Jar to store small scent articles

ü  Large new paper bag to fit larger personal item scent articles

Continued in the Next Post 

click to Get the Book Start Mantrailing to learn everything you want to know about finding people with dogs.

My Daisy was a Mantrailing dog with me and her pups went to several Search and Rescue Teams

Gathering Scent Articles for Mantrailing Dogs to Search for Missing Persons

 Gathering Scent Articles for Mantrailing Dogs

Search and Rescue Dogs trained to follow the scent trail of a live human being are called Mantrailers. These specialty trained dogs use an article or item belonging to the person the dog will find to identify and discriminate that person from other people. 

No two people smell the same, even when they use the same perfume. Each person has their own unique personal scent signature. This, invisible to the eye, individual scent remains in indoor spaces we visit and on items we handle, touch or wear. 

We leave our scent signature everywhere.

Photo from Upslash.com

To give you an idea of how much our scent remains on everything around us. Let's take a look at all the items in the photo above. Everything pictured will be contaminated with the scent signature of that one person at the desk! 

Each thing on that desk is a potential scent article that can be used to lead a trained dog to that one and only person. The desk, chair and personal space around that person is a scent article too. I have scented dogs on items as small as cigarette butts, paperclips and my favorite scent article for success is a toothbrush because generally only one person uses a toothbrush. Dogs are scented on chairs, benches, cars, desks, rooms, anywhere a person has been and everything they have been close to.

Contamination or the mixing of scent signatures by another person's scent happens immediately when the second person gets close to the first person's item or personal space. 

Contamination also occurs when other natural and humanmade substances or odors get mixed. A contaminated scent article is the most common reason a dog fails to find a person. I will be writing more about contamination in future articles. Sign up for the newsletter or follow me to get the new posts and you can go to this page to read how to train your dog for tracking which is different than trailing.

Scent chemistry is a very complex subject I like to explain in simple terms for everyone to easily understand. So, if we think of a person's scent chemistry as a scent cloud made of invisible particles and flakes of skin, hair and whatever else falls off, such as germs and infectious viruses, like Covid19, we can better understand what a dog follows when they search for a person. The scent cloud is what a dog works with. 

Let's start with what the dog will start with, the Scent Article!

How-to properly gather and store scent articles for dogs to find people.

One of the easiest ways to find a lost person is to give a dog the person's scent and watch him find the scent. 

The dog is only looking for the smell and not for the actual person. 

The dog does not necessarily associate the scent with the person unless the person is somebody they know with that scent. 

copyright A.Higgins

In the photo, I'm giving a Bloodhound pup the scent article

 To a dog, a scent is a scent.

Therefore, the fastest and surest way to teach or ask a dog to find a person is to use the person's scent to show them who we seek and no two people smell alike. Everybody smells different and we smell different at various times during the day or if we are sick.

To teach your dog to search for a lost or missing person, including family members you have to prepare first by gathering a "scent article" then visit my free dog training lesson page to read how-to start a dog.

To find Family Members with your Dog

It is wise to gather one sock from each person you love or do not want to lose before you start training your family pet and to store these as instructed below for later use in training sessions or if a loved one is lost. Place one dirty sock from each family member in a one freezer bag each sock.  

Do Not Mix or touch the sock to anything, only the bag, use a hanger or stick to pick it up. Freeze the socks in case of a disaster where somebody is lost or gone missing. When you go hiking collect a article from each hiker before leaving in case somebody goes off the path and is lost. A search dog or a dog from the hiking group can find them if you let the dog smell the personal item.

Also you can collect a item from each family pet as well, a old collar or brush would do. Store this item as outlined below use it as a scent article for a dog to find the missing pet

copyright A.Higgins

To Find a Unknown Missing Person

When training your dog to find people who are unknown or not family members, you will be using a volunteer person to hide from your dog so you will collect a scent article from that person before the person goes hide. The scent article can be a face mask, a sock, hat or other small personal item nobody else has touched. 

  Gathering the Scent Article

Always handle every scent article, at all times, in training and in an actual search with the upmost care! NO OTHER PERSON or thing should every touch or breath on a scent article from somebody else. 

Preservation and handling of a scent article is the most important aspect of using a dog to find a missing person. The main reason a dog will not work a trail or lose the scent of a missing person is because the scent article used was contaminated. We cannot see the contamination or smell any difference but a trained dog will smell and look for every smell that is on the article. 

If another person handles the article the dog will look for both people. Then a different type of search is needed to be used that will depend upon how well the handler reads the dog to come to the right conclusion. The dog will follow both persons scents and should be rewarded, although it may appear the dog is on the wrong person's trail. 

If a handler does not know a scent article is contaminated and gives the dog the scent article to use to find the missing person or shows the dog the last known location to start on that is contaminated. The dog will smell the missing person and the unknown subject or other substances (I will write about substances soon) the dog will look for all the scents on the scent article or at the person's last know location. For this reason, it's critical to safeguard and choose wisely every scent article used. 

Everything a person touches is a potential scent article, make sure it's only touched by the one person you wish to find.

Collecting the Scent Article

DO NOT touch the scent article yourself, have the person drop the personal item from their hand into a new brown paper bag (lunch bag size) or a plastic freezer bag ( zip lock natural non chemical bag is best) I prefer paper bags because paper is natural and organic to the dog's nose.

This is a post for beginners, you will learn more about scent article collection at a scene in other articles. 

Do Not Contaminate that scent article. 

Have the person fold the bag shut and drop the bag into another holding bag you will carry.

Reminder, Do Not Put 2 scent articles from different people together, each article gets its own bag and label the bag with the person's name, date and time.

If you are not using the scent article right away, store the bag in the freezer until a few minutes before use.

Write "Scent Article" for emergency on the bag (police dogs and search dog handlers will know what to do with this if you ever have to call them about a missing person.

My bloodhound Homer found 26 people and 1 mountain lion while working a 6 year career in law enforcement before semi-retiring from my mentor to me to volunteer and produce fine pups that went to work in several states, Canada and South America. 

The “scent article” tells your dog who they are looking for!

Handle with Care.

When you start the dog on the scent article, you will open the bag and ask the dog to smell inside to bag. Most dogs will out of curiosity, be sure to tell the dog the command "Smell" or "Take Scent" each time to teach the dog you expect them to smell the item.

You only need one item from the person as long as that item is not contaminated by any other odor, substance or person. 

Here's some ideas for the best personal items to use for K9 scent articles.

1. Clothing directly from the person-hats, socks, shirts, shoes, etc.

2. Personal hygiene items-hair bush, toothbrush, comb, bottles only the person touched, etc.

3. Bedding-pillows, covers, sheets

4. Toys

5. Tools

6. Office items-mail, pens, pencil, books, desk top, chair that only one person has used

7. Benches, chairs, table tops, gate handles, door handles, etc

8. Automobiles -seat, steering wheel, doors, inside and outside surfaces, items inside, floors

9. Daily use items- towels, dishes, eating utensils, pipes, walking canes, backpacks, etc

10. Electronics- Phones, computers, device cords, memory cards, device case, briefcase 

For online courses that teach you how to train a dog to search for missing persons, dead and alive visit my online dog training courses and dog lifestyle coach page by clicking here. There is an Obedience course and Family Disaster Dogs course I am finishing writing there, and the Cadaver course is accepting more students. 

     

Visit the Home Page Here

My Daisy gave me the idea for this site and books ! Good girl Daisy!

Read the Family Disaster Dogs Book for Free on Kindle or buy a copy as a gift ! 
See and get all my books at my author page click here... 

Leave me a comment below, thanks for visiting!
Stay safe in 2020!

Free Dog Training Lessons

The author's Daisy

The reason for the Family Disaster Dogs site and free lessons listed below.

Is to train as many Family Dogs as possible to be able to assist every family in the World when emergencies strike. 

In doing so, time can be spared waiting for response from other rescue teams who upon arrival can work to further aid the family in the situation.

When a large scale disaster strikes, such as tornadoes, Katrina and the tsunami earthquake in Japan, time is critical to survival. Search teams have their hands full with a large number of call outs. 

The trained Family Disaster Dog can help rescuers by saving time because the dog is on location at the time of the incident.

Additionally, at least one family member is trained in the basic Search And Rescue techniques so they can help their own family and friends while awaiting outside response. Learn how-to find a person with your dog.

Another benefit  of having your dog trained to help you in an emergency is that if your neighborhood is cut off from outside help (which happens) then you can help your own loved ones and neighbors. 

Just think, if all the neighbors have dogs then you can form your own search and rescue team just like a neighborhood watch group.

This site will help you in all areas of setting up your own dog and friend's dogs to assist in any disaster or missing person incident.

If a grandmother or child wanders away and gets lost, you can help. If your family is camping, take your dog. 

Very few people get lost with dogs with them and if anybody wanders off the trail then you can ask your Family Disaster Dog to go find them. 

All you have to do is read the lessons pages, work with your pet and email if you need any advice. 

Note: These lessons are for family dogs and are not how-to train a professional working dog which is much more complex. Although working dog trainers may find some useful tips here as well. For professional working dog lessons contact me from the contact page.



Here is the page with a long list of survival items you need to pack and how-to pack them

In the Page Menu on familydisasterdogs.com

Find what Equipment is needed page on the Equipment Page

There is a Glossary and Terms of Words Used Page

Learn why a Scent Article is the easiest way to find a person, on this The Scent Article Page

Learn How-to Evacuate with a Dog's Help 

Full Free Lessons listed on the Lesson Page and in the blog date list at the bottom of this page are over 200 dog related training and care articles..click a date to see more.

These are some of the lessons on the link page with links to the most popular

Lesson 1: Taking scent and scent articles above link on the Scent Article Page

Lesson 2: To Leash or Not to Leash

Lesson 3: Start Searching for a lost person is included below in #4

Lesson 4:  "Find it!" Start looking for a lost person or object

Lesson 5: How to use a Tracking Leash part 1

Lesson 6: More Leash Work  part 2

Lesson 7: Tracking Leash part 3

Lesson 8:  Avoiding Burn Out

Lesson 9:  How to stop bad behavior

Lesson 10: How to hide from a dog

Lesson 11:  Scent Behavior

Lesson 12:  How to Read a Dog

Lesson 13:  How to Train your dog to do a Building Search

Lesson 14:  Train your dog to do an  Air Scent and Area Search

Lesson 15: How your dog will be  Indicating and Alerting a Found person

Lesson 16:  Is the dog collar on right?

Lesson 17:  How to use a Choker Chain Collar properly

Lesson 18:  How to use a leash

Lesson 19: Finding Evidence and Objects with your dog

Lesson 20: Planning Dog Training Courses and Routes   part 1

Lesson 21: Planning Dog Training Courses, Laying Trails  part 2

Lesson 22 : Advancing in Search Dog and Survival Training

Lesson 23: Aging Tracking Dog Training Courses and Trails

Lesson 24:  Learn Area Search Basics

Lesson 25: How to do Area Search Training

Lesson 26: How to do Cadaver Dog Training

Lesson 27: How a dog can Alert to Danger

Part 1: Teaching your dog to alert you to danger  Part 1 Alert to Danger

Part 2: Teach your dog Part 2 Alert to Danger

Lesson 28:  Dog learns how to come back to you after they find somebody or thing
which is called Teaching Refind or Return to Handler or Recall

Lesson 29: Your dog brings you items you need Retrieve and Go-Get Object

Lesson 30: Dog learns item by name to bring you Retrieve Object by Name

Lesson Test: How your dog will help you evacuate -What To Do when Alarm Sounds

Lesson 31: How to Find a Lost Person with Your Dog

Lesson 32: Training a Dog To Do Tracking

Lesson 33: Training a Messenger Dog -Go between 2 people

See a video of my family dog finding a person for the first time

Go to the Lesson Page in The Page Menu (top right sidebar) for links to each lesson.

Amber working a Bloodhound pup

You can also find these pages

Dog Bug-out Go-Bag Survival Backpack List and How-to

Links to Family Disaster Dogs Lessons

Emergency Links

K9 CPR –Emergency Breathing Technique For Pets

Good Luck and Be Ready !

See my Family Disaster Dogs ebooks and paperbacks at Author Page

Family Disaster Dogs-Your Dog Can Rescue You!

What is a Family Disaster Dog?  

It is Your 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!

Dogs do these skills every day without us noticing. Teaching your family dog to come to your aid during an emergency is not as difficult as one might think.

This site and book shows you how 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 ! 

Photo by A. Higgins

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. 

These fun and easy lessons are tailored for the family to learn 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. 

These fun dog games are for the whole family to learn how-to:

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 these lessons. 

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 and the site or ask for help from me to Form a neighborhood Family Disaster Dog group at church or clubs to help neighbors until emergency response arrives !

Coming soon "My Puppy Can Find Me" children's picture books by Amber Higgins for young children to learn what to do if they are every lost. With illustrations from UK Cartoonist Helen "Scotty" King ! Click and see how she can make your dog as a cartoon for gift ideas!

Books to teach your own dog to rescue you by Amber Higgins

Click to see a Free Preview and Get a Copy

Click to get a Free Preview and buy in Paperback or Kindle

Follow Family Disaster Dogs on Twitter.com/@URDogCanRescueU

Join the Facebook Group at www.facebook.com/familydisasterdogs/

"Find It " Train any Dog to Find a Person or Missing Family Member

" Find it " 

Train any pet dog to find family members in case the person goes missing

You can use your dog to find children, elderly or family after earthquakes or floods.


Only do this trailing/tracking lesson with your dog 1 or 2 times a week. Skipping a week is okay because we do not want your dog to get tired of playing this game. 


If you haven't already, read the first lesson of  "Getting Started" and the Scent Articles  continue as instructed after the overview.


This lesson can be done indoors or outside, with a dog on leash or loose depending on the dog and where you want to practice. I often start this lesson indoors with a loose dog and a child playing hide and seek for the first few weeks.

These guidelines should be followed indoors as well as outdoors for the best results.


Start with a person your dog knows and only do this lesson with that person 2 to 4 times each session once or twice a week. 

After 2 weeks, if your dog is finding the person fairly easily then you can change people and scent articles and only then use a different person. If you change people or scents to early your dog could get confused and lose interest. 


If your dog ever loses interest then stop and play with them for a few minutes. Then do the lesson again step by step so your dog understands. The steps for this lesson will be posted on a separate page for easy reference.


Overview


Hold your dog by its collar as the person slowly runs and waves at the dog to a hiding place that is easy to find and only one turn away. 

Hold the scent article, the person's sock, to your dog's nose, say "Smell" and then turn your dog loose and say "Find so and so" use the person’s name, follow your dog to the person. More about the scent article below.

Your dog, no matter what age will attempt to find them.

If the dog does not start searching for anything and only stands there looking at you to find the person then encourage the dog to go with you and show the dog with excitement how fun it is to find the person. 


When you and your dog find the person, praise, praise, praise by you and have the person shower this dog with attention. Your dog will be so happy to do this again, you'll hardly be able to hold him.

Repeat the lesson a few times each day.

"Find It " continue on with this in mind..

It's okay for the hidden person to give your dog a treat if your dog is more inclined to work for food then love as long as you remember to replace the food with love in a few lessons.

Read lesson 6 " Making Trails" ( in the menu above you will find a lesson links page to this and all the lessons) to learn how the person should hide and how your dog will find them before your person hides to often. The dog can be easily confused and refuse to work if you ask them to think to hard at first or do to complex of a trail.


If you dog ever refuses to find a hiding person, go back to previous lessons and retrain until the dog is more confident and understands exactly what you are asking. Some dogs catch onto finding people right away and others take a little more encouragement.

Your dog must always find the person. 

Important

After your dog has found the hidden person a few times, sometimes with help from the person calling out or making a noise then have the person be very quite so the dog learns to work people who are unconscious.

Even if your dog passes a hidden person let the dog go on until it stops on its own to turn around, they usually will turn around and find the person if given the time to move out of the air scent cloud they are working. This scent cloud can be far from the person and the dog has to learn to work out the scent cloud for later search experiences. 

 Never let the dog think it has not accomplished this and it will always lead you to them in a real life emergency. You must learn to Trust your dog's natural ability to find its pack.

Your dog is always right.

If he led you to a blanket and then goes to the closet to find the person, then the person has at one point or another touched this blanket.

Period.

Trust your dog and follow him and he will lead the way. After all, didn't you notice him standing there next to you wondering how he can help?

After a couple of weeks of playing hide and seek inside and outside, you can have the person stay hidden for a longer amount of time.

Start with the person hiding for 3- 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, gradually go up to 30 minutes. 


Once your dog finds a person who has been hidden 30 minutes, you can have the person hide without your dog seeing the person run away to hide. Give the dog the scent article, say "smell" and "Find 'em" the dog will go find the person using only the sock and trail left by the subject. More on this in later lessons. (look at the lessons link page above)

Always praise.  


Even if you had to lead the novice dog to the person. 


Never ever scold the dog during this training or he won't want to help you. 
This is one area of training we can not make a dog do, they can refuse and you don't want them to do that !

If you ever have to call in a missing person's report, give the officer in charge your frozen scent article to use with the police or search dogs. They will be impressed that you knew this helpful clue in the investigation and it will save valuable time.

Take the scent articles with you when the family goes camping or on hikes, one never knows when the scent article may come in handy. Don't forget to take your dog camping with you; they could be a life saver if anyone wanders away from camp.

Remember your dog has lived with you a long time, he knows each family member's name so ask him to find them by name, and then if the sock isn't available he can still help you in real life disasters.

Make sure nobody else has touched the sock (scent article) except the person the sock belongs to. This means you too. Pick the sock up using a stick or hanger and place in a Freezer bag by itself. Use one scent bag for each person. Do Not combine two scents.

During the first 2 weeks of training, use only one person a day for your dog to find or the dog may get confused. Once he has the idea, you can change scent articles and people in the next lesson.

 Never ever scold the dog during this training or he won't want to help you and this is one area of training we can not make a dog do, they can refuse and you don't want that.

A scenting dog is not trained by you, they do this naturally. Do not expect them to do so just because you tell them to.

Actually the dog is already scenting and following each new scent that comes their way. 

All you have to do is watch and follow the dog. This is especially apparent during an emergency. Never forget your dog’s unique scenting abilities or their abilities to find their pack members. 

Practice makes Perfect..use the Training Goal Page to judge your progress.


Be careful to avoid K9 Burn Out. ( read the article in the lessons page) 

Just like people who overwork, dogs can experience "Burn Out" and not feel up to preforming the job. 


If your dog loses interest then take a few weeks break and go back to training only one day a week at the most. Working actual tracking courses like discussed above every two weeks works well for most dogs. 


If some dogs are worked to often the fun goes out of the game for them, so the less often they get the chance to play or hunt the more excited they get when the hunt is on again.

Once your dog gets the idea and is finding people you can ask the person to hide for longer time, gradually make the time longer until you can have the person take a walk the night before and ask the dog to follow the person's scent trail the next morning.

For instance, the person is a friend or a child goes to spend the night at a friends, they leave your home the night before to walk to their home and the next morning before people have walked on the same path have your dog smell the person's scent article and start at the doorway to follow the scent trail to the friend's house...Praise the dog well, make this a very happy reunion and your dog will find them every time! 

Good Luck! 

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