Be Prepared with Your Dog

 Click here to go to the Bug-out page and list 

Why Every Dog Owner Needs to Get Pet Insurance

 

Image credit

When you bring a dog into your life, it's not just a pet that you're adding to your family—it's a heartbeating, tail-wagging bundle of joy. And just like any loved one, ensuring they have the best care is essential. Seriously, you have insurance, right? If you have kids, they also have insurance, right? Well, your dog needs this, too; in fact, no matter what type of pet you have, they all need this. So, with that all said, how can pet insurance be beneficial? 

Well, the last thing you want to deal with is some major disaster, such as your dog getting a bite, a freak accident, or something worse. At the end of the day, insurance is meant to help you, the owner. But still, why get pet insurance? It’s optional! Well, here’s exactly why!

A Degree of Legal Protection

Alright, just to a small degree, now, in case you have to get a dog bite injury attorney or there’s a case against you, to a small degree, pet insurance can help. So, this isn’t liability insurance in the slightest; liability insurance for your pet is something else. 

But some (not all) pet insurance companies will offer coverage in case a freak accident were to happen, and legally speaking, you need to protect yourself and your dog. Again, it’s going to vary based on the insurance, but depending on which one you have, this can be seen as a positive. 

Financial Buffer for Vet Visits

Let's face it: vet bills can be too much and way too overwhelming, especially when unexpected illnesses or accidents happen. So that’s exactly why pet insurance acts as a financial safety net, covering a significant chunk of medical costs. 

This means you won't have to choose between your wallet and your pet's well-being. Whether it’s routine care or emergency surgery, having insurance in place ensures you’re financially prepared for both the expected and unexpected. Hopefully, it never gets to the point where it’s needed, but in case that happens, you and your dog will be in good hands. 

Encourages Early Veterinary Care

So this one might vary from person to person, but usually, just knowing that you have pet insurance can encourage you to take your dog to the vet at the first sign of trouble. Why wait and worry when you can get a professional opinion and nip potential health issues in the bud? Besides, early detection and treatment often mean a better prognosis for your pet and less invasive treatment, which can be easier on your dog and your budget.

There’s Something for Every Budget

Like all insurance, this one can be pretty expensive, but it can also be affordable. You just need to keep in mind that pet insurance isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. The beauty of it is in the flexibility. You can choose from a variety of plans to find one that suits your budget and your dog’s needs. So, honestly, at this rate, there’s no excuse for any pet owner. 

What is Evacuate, Shelter-in-Place, Bug-out ?

Do you ever wonder? 

What are we actually suppose to know or do when the media or police tell us to stay home and shelter-in-place, evacuate or bug-out?

All Rights Reserved Photo by Amber Higgins
Ready to Go!

What does evacuate mean?

"Bug-out" means what?

It has nothing to do with bugs !

What does Shelter-in-Place mean? Really what do you do?

Where is this shelter you're supposed to put where? :)

We are hearing more often of large cities residents told to "shelter-in-place" during power blackouts and I wonder how many people ask someone- "Do you know how to do this or what do they meant?"

Every city and town in America, and most of the world, no matter how large or small, has plans for handling emergencies and many offer classes for the public to learn more about evacuation and sheltering-in-place but that does not mean everyone attends the class or knows what to do.

So let's go over what these and other words or phrases mean during emergencies.

Evacuate

Sometimes you are given time or notice ahead of time...other times you have no choice but to evacuate now!! 

Especial in wildfires and tsunami...Now means to evacuate right then and there without time to grab much at all in the way of personal belongings or survival gear. Every year people lose everything due to unexpected disasters.

Evacuate means to run! Run or drive fast away from impending death or threat.

Get the hell out of the way!

Go to safety! ASAP

Here is a picture of Daisy with her evacuation saddlebag...she is ready to "Bug-out" !

"Wrinkledpups Daisy Mayham" founder of Family Disaster Dogs

"Bug-out" means to Evacuate

Bug-out is a military phrase used for the same meaning.

Learn what to pack in a carry bag to survival evacuation and how to be ready to evacuate with and without a dog on the Bug-out page. The long list on the Bug-out page is also what is needed to store at home for sheltering in place too, along with stocking up on extra food and water.

Having a bag packed for each family member and ready to grab when you are ordered to evacuate saves critical time. Keep in mind, if you wait and try to pack at that moment, the danger might reach you as you scrabble to find everything and put your family's life in danger.




You do not need a dog to be ready but if you have a dog then preparing with your dog makes sense.

Read my Evacuate with Your Dog's Help book (Free to Read here) to learn how a dog can help.

Preparing in advance will save time which is critical in emergency evacuation.

Shelter-in-Place

Means the opposite of Evacuation or Bugging-out

When you are told to shelter-in-place this means to stay put for your safety. Or get to the safest nearby location and stay put.

Do not go outside because danger awaits. 

Do not move but do sit-stay!

Hopefully, you are at home when told to shelter-in-place where you have everything you need for a few days or until the emergency is over. Food and water are critical for survival and in a major emergency the shelter-in-place order may last days or longer. It's best to stock up on food, bottled water and medicine, just in case.

If you are not at home, maybe you are at work or school, you will have to stay there until the emergency is over.

Again the evacuation bag comes in handy because if you grabbed the "bug-out bag" on the way out the door to work, school or you keep one in your vehicle for traveling (recommended to do so) you will have food, water, medicine and supplies no matter where you are when emergency strikes. You would be more comfortable and sustainable while you are more or less locked up shelter-in-place not allowed to go anywhere for food or supplies.

Be prepared to shelter-in-place at work, home or in public places.

In an active shooter event, yes, sadly this emergency event is becoming more common in the USA so I should mention;

In the event of an active shooter, everyone is told to Shelter-in-Place. In other words find a safe spot, a room if at all possible or hit the floor. Do not move and make yourself a target.

Hide (shelter) or Run (bug-out)

Another good idea is to look around when you first arrive at events or public places and mentally take note of a safe place to shelter-in-place or run to.

It's always best to be safe than sorry.

Go the Free Lesson Links Page 

photo credit FEMA

Visit READY.gov  for more info on how to shelter in place 

My Puppy Can Find Me book and blog

“Does your child know what to do if they are lost?”

“Do you know what to do if they are missing?”

My Puppy Can Find Me picture book is your child’s first step on an exciting learning experience that will teach them what to do if they are lost or find themselves alone.

By reading this picture book with your children the whole family will learn what to do if they are ever separated or missing and how the family dog can be of assistance during emergencies.

This new concept of dog training teaches search dog skills to family dogs for in-home family rescue and missing person emergencies.

Your children will learn valuable lessons by doing these fun exercises that reinforce and teach the pet dog and family to work together during crisis situations to overcome fear and survive.

The whole family learns how to use the family dog to the full advantage regardless of the age, size or breed of the dog.

As a family member and part of the pack your dog always knows where each member of the pack is at, this is natural for the dog to know and we as dog owners only need to learn how to take advantage of this natural instinct our dogs possess.

Illustrations by UK dog cartoonist Helen "Scotty" King

Get a copy of  "My Puppy Can Find Me" by Amber Higgins for every child and parent from Waldorf Publishing so all dogs can help their families.

Pre-order your copy today which helps this book get into the major large bookstores so all children can learn, plus be included in the book's launch and 1st printing!

Only 14.95 !

You might save a child's life.

Visit Family Disaster Dogs online for more books and lessons that show you how any pet dog can rescue and help friends and family in disasters and emergencies.

Your dog finds you everyday and every dog knows how to find a family members for play,food and walks so why not ask your dog to find a lost loved one?

I show you how easy this is in my books.

Find us on Facebook at Family Disaster Dogs

Twitter at URDogCanFindU

Your Puppy is a Hero Dog

book centerfold-copyright protected

How to Train a Tracking Dog Lesson

How to Train a Tracking Dog

Most of the lessons at Family Disaster Dogs, so far, have focused on teaching your dog on how to find a missing person by air scenting or trailing not “tracking.”  This lesson will explain to you how to teach your dog to be a tracking dog that follows each step of a person or the exact path the person traveled.

This lesson can be used to start any dog on tracking for any reason, including AKC tracking titles and other dog club tracking events, law enforcement and SAR.

This lesson is fun for Family Disaster Dogs and other service dogs to do with their family members at the park or playground, and then in the event of a lost family member your dog will be able to track them down without any other training.

First, let’s go over the differences between a tracking and trailing or air scenting detection dog.

A tracking dog follows the exact footprint scent on the ground that is left behind as a person walks while a trailing or air scenting dog follows the scent as it drifts on the wind.

Watch my dog find my daughter..is she tracking or air scenting? answer at bottom of page

You can tell the difference when you watch your dog work by noticing if your dog is air scenting by lifting its head above the ground, smelling high for a scent or carrying their head over 6 inches off the ground. They will seek the scent on the wind and in the air while a tracking dog keeps its nose to the ground and concentrates their focus within about 6 inches of the ground.

 You can hear a tracking dog huffing on the ground; a bloodhound will blow the dust away when they are getting into the scent but when they are air scenting they hold their heads high, nose up seeking. When the scent is found, they are off, nose and head about body height with tail wagging.

When they put that nose into the ground and snort, seek and run with the nose as close to the ground as it seems they can they have switched to tracking for air scenting.

In dog club events, the difference can cost your dog points towards a title. In search dog work, it only matters that you learn to read your dog and find the person in the swiftest safest manner.

Many people find training a dog to do air scenting or trailing easier then training a tracking dog. For this reason, I covered air scenting and trailing dog training first to give you a better understanding of the fundamentals of detection dogs in order for this lesson to be easier for you and your dog or the novice tracking dog trainer.

I’ve been training tracking dogs since the 70’s and worked at K9 of Hawaii in 1978 to further my education of security dog work. This method is well proven to work with any breed of dog.

Equipment needed:

1 Dog

A person to hide from the dog, known as the “Trail or Track Layer”

20 ft Tracking Leash and Harness

Several pieces of tissue papers or 12 small plastic flags that are used at building sites and available at hardware stores

Small bite size dog treats

A large outdoor mowed grassy area; for instance, a quite corner of a city park away from distractions, a school ground or open grassy mowed field.

Preplanning:

Read these lessons

Using the long Tracking Leash

Planning Training routes

Scent Behavior

Reading a Search Dog

Indicating a Found person

What to do First

Discuss with the Trail Layer how they will make the footprint track for your dog to learn on. Tell them they will be starting at the spot you choose in the grass and they will be placing one tissue paper or flag with a dog treat at this spot, then they will scruff and slide their feet on the ground to shuffle as they walk the first 3 or 4 steps of the trail. 

They will drop a few dog treats exactly where they scruff their feet as they walk away from you.

Your dog can watch this part of the lesson either sitting next to you or tied close by.

This scuffing the ground will help to disperse more scent at the starting point and the trail layer will do this shuffle scuff walk on each corner for the first few lessons until your dog understands they are looking for human scent. Once your dog starts tracking without hesitation you can have the trail layer walk normally when they make a course for your dog to follow.

After the starting point, the trail layer will walk in a straight line into the direction of the wind blowing, if there is a breeze you can feel. The person will bend over to place a piece of tissue with a dog treat or a flag and treat every 10 steps or so for the length of the course. The person should keep a treat to give the dog when they welcome them at the end of the course.

 After 50 ft (steps) or so, the person will either sit behind a tree or the corner of a building, or lay down flat on the grass. We don’t want the dog to have sight of the person but we do want the person in an easy to find spot where they can step out and welcome the dog.

Do not add a corner to the course until your dog is tracking the person successfully on a straight line course. When you add a corner, only add one turn at a time per lesson per day to avoid confusing the dog. Tracking is a gradual training process that should not be rushed.

Once the person has laid the course and trail your dog will follow you get your dog and point to the starting flag. Tap the ground at the dog treat, foot print spot to show your dog the exact scent you want them to follow. Ask your dog to “Smell” or “Take Scent”.

Give your dog all the time they need to smell and when their head raises up from the ground be ready to command “Track” or “Find them” and step off with your dog on the path the person took.

As your dog moves ahead in the direction of the person repeat the “find” command and allow your dog time to do what you ask. If they do not move ahead on the course then prompt them with praise and encouragement as you slowly walk and point down on the path. You may have to point and tap the ground a few times to keep your dog on the scent until they realize what you are doing.

As you follow the person’s trail your dog will find the dog treats covered in the person’s sent along with the flags and scuff marks or pool scent areas. This will encourage your dog to seek the scent and person. 

When you reach the person, praise your dog and have the person welcome them with petting and give them a dog treat.

Repeat the same exact course again. Do not change anything.

Amber working Sam

As you repeat this the dog learns to follow the scent of the foot prints. As your dog learns you will use less treats and more praise until eventually and gradually you replace the food treats with praise only. from then on your dog only gets a food treat when they find the person otherwise you will be teaching your dog to find food. Which we do not want.

Do this same exact lesson and course 3 or 4 times each day for 3 days then give your dog a day or 2 off to think about this new game they have learned. Read the lesson about Burning out your dog to familiarize yourself with this aspect of training a working dog.

Repeat this lesson for a couple of weeks then add a corner and be sure the trail layer scruffs their feet, drops a dog treat and flags the corner.  

The flags are placed on the course for you to see the corners and lay of the trail before your dog reaches them in order for you to know your dog is on the right course.

These flags or tissue paper will also give you confidence to trust your dog because as you work with your dog on tracking you will see how amazing the nose can be.

After a couple of weeks with one corner then add another turn so there are 2 corners or turns on the course. Keep the course about 100 ft long until your dog has the hang of tracking. 

Train on nice, mild not breezy days when the weather is not to hot. If the weather is hot, train in the early morning or evening when the day cools down for better performance.

There will be more discussion about weather and performance in the coming lessons about variables of a search scene.

In a few weeks and once your dog is tracking the person’s trail as outlined successfully, and only then, you can use a different person and change people every couple of days. 

You do not want to change people the same day or use more then one person a day while training a novice tracking dog until the dog totally understands what you want them to do. 

You will know by watching your dog when this happens. You will feel a great deal of accomplishment when you realize your dog is doing this! 

You will be like, “oh wow, look what my dog can do!”.

At this point, which can take a month or so, and only after this point is when you can add other people, and you can start aging the trail too.

When you age the trail the dog learns to find a person who has been missing longer lengths of time, such as somebody who is missing 8 hours. 

The dog first has to learn what the scent smells like 15 minutes later then when the person walked there, then 30 minutes, then 1 hour and up to 48 hours later.

Therefore, when you are training dogs that will be looking for people and not doing tracking events for titles, the dog has to learn how to tell the time and age of the trail in order to work a scene where the person has been missing for several hours or a day. 

Dogs do tell time very well when we pay attention.

Whereas, if your dog is not going to be looking for lost people then you can skip the part about aging a trail or adding extra people. You can use an object, like a toy for your dog to find and you can use yourself as the trail layer.

Go to the Lessons page to learn how to train your dog to track you and much more !Including how to get a reluctant tracker to work.

Have fun and happy trails with your dog! 

answer: My dog is video above is tracking and trailing, she is working the foot scents of the person 
 

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"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! 

Leave a comment and follow me to FB and Twitter !

Easy Dog Training Tips that will Completely Change your Life

If you have a dog then you will know how difficult it can be at times to get them to listen to you. After all, you may find that no matter what you do, you just can’t get anywhere and this is the last thing that you need. If you want to avoid all of that then just take a look below to see if you can get some help with that.


Decide on House Rules
Before you bring your new dog home, decide on what they are and aren’t allowed to do. If they are allowed on the bed or the furniture then let them, but don’t try and change the rules a year or two down the line. If you do this then they will only become confused and you may even find that they don’t obey you as much as well. it also helps to try and plan if there are any areas of the house that they aren’t allowed in. This way you can save a ton of hassle for both you and the dog.

Source

Give them Their Space

It’s so important that your puppy has somewhere they can call their own. From the earliest moment you can, try and give your dog their own private sleeping place. You will want to choose a place that is not used by anyone else in the family or even by another pet as well. This way they can have their own level of comfort and you can also reward them if they stay quiet for long periods of time as well.

Teach Them To Come When Called

You really do need to teach your dog how to come when they are called. This should be the very first thing that you are able to master. When your dog is coming to you, your status as the alpha will be reinforced and you will also teach them how to respond to their name as well. The benefits of doing this are endless and you may even find that it is easy for you to get them back on the lead if you go out of the house as well.

Source

Avoiding Barking

Dogs bark and there isn’t much that you can do about it. It is their way of communicating and most of the time it won’t be a problem. If your dog is constantly barking at things that they shouldn’t be however then this can cause you major problems. You may find that you get complaints from the neighbor and you may also find that you just don’t get anywhere with training either. For that reason, it’s helpful to look into sites such as Dogable as this will really help you to teach them not to bark every single time they see another dog or every time someone walks past the window.

Of course, there are so many things that you can do to try and teach your dog everything they need to know and by following the above tips, you can be sure to get the whole thing done without any hassle.

Training a Messenger Dog- Teach any Dog

Training a Messenger Dog

Go Between 2 people

My books are in the UK too! And available worldwide.

Click here to go to my Amazon UK author page.

And

 "My Puppy Can Find Me" children picture book by Amber Higgins with art by UK Cartoonist Helen "Scotty" King 

Training a Messenger Dog- Teach any Dog to Go to People for Help

Your family disaster dog can be a huge asset in the event that you are ever trapped or separated from your loved ones. For instance, after a tornado or earthquake when rubble is everywhere and you may be unable to reach a family member or them you because of debris in the way. Your dog can go under or over the wreckage to deliver supplies or messages between you and your family. 

Military and war dogs are trained as messenger dogs and many have honored as a hero after running through explosives, gunfire, and razor wire in order to deliver a message between soldiers. Your family dog can be your hero too by simply following the lessons here at Family Disaster Dogs.

You can send your dog to locate a loved one and carry a first aid kit, food or water. Be sure to include a pen and paper in your dog’s go-bag backpack so the other person can write you a message and you can send messages back and fourth.

Also, include a dog tag on your dog’s collar and a luggage tag on the backpack that says,  ” send dog- say  ”Return” or  the command you will teach your dog in this lesson. Be sure all of your friends and family members know the command to send your dog to you and other people. Write instructions on a note that is in a clear plastic cover and attached to your dogs backpack so people will be able to use your dog to find you if you are ever unconscious and trapped.

You will teach this lesson after your dog has learned to retrieve or fetch in the previous lessons and as you practice the fetch lessons you will incorporate this lesson into your sessions teaching your dog to carry objects on command by asking your dog to keep a hold of the object they retrieved as you walk with your dog tell your dog to “carry”.

This lesson will use 2 people and basically what you do is send your dog back and fourth between yourself and another person by using “Come” (click for lesson) and “Return” or “Go-To” then later after your dog is doing this exercise you will ask your dog to carry an object to the other person and they ask the dog to return to you with a the item or a new item.

Start out with the other person close by, within sight of you and about 30 paces or steps away from you.

Ask them to call your dog and immediately you will command your dog to “Go to name”. If the person is somebody your dog knows, be sure to use the person’s name so your dog will learn to go to them by name.

If the person is not somebody you will be finding in a real event then you do not have to use the name because your dog will learn to find any human being if you send them out to “Go” to a person. They will look for a person until they find one.

You can even teach your dog at this point to go to people dressed or smelling a certain way, such as a person dressed in an army uniform instead of civilian clothes. The dog will learn to only go to those in that uniform and not another uniform if no other uniform or smell is used during training.

Drug dogs can be taught to go to a person smelling like the drug, explosive dogs can learn to indicate a person who smells like they have been in the same room as the explosive materials used in bombs.  A dog can be taught to go to find food, water or shelter if these items are gradually added into this lesson one at a time by command.

After you send your dog to the other person and when your dog reaches the other person, the person will praise your dog then send the dog back to you using the “Return” or another command you want. At the same time you will call your dog to “Come” and praise when your dog comes back to you.

Repeat this 4 or 5 times, make it fun and keep it fun. If your dog becomes bored with this game and stops to look at you like “hey, why don’t you two people walk to each other instead of me running” then it is up to you to make this game more interesting.

Change Locations often when Training the Dog

Change locations by having the other person move off to the side from where they were the first time so your dog has to look for them to make the game more challenging. Add toys and move about the yard to change the course, you can throw a ball between each other and release the dog using the commands to add variety to the game.

In no time your dog will be going between you and another person on command. Then you can add a third person as yourself; while you stand on the sideline and have your dog go between 2 other people as you use the commands to work your dog.

If you use the people’s names then your dog will learn to go between those people in a crowd. Eventually, you can teach your dog the name of everybody in the house, club or group and have your dog carry items back and fourth. Just like service dogs that retrieve items for disabled people your dog can get you items too if you teach your dog the name.

Don’t forget to put the Dog Go-Bag  on your dog and practice using it to carry items between people. Some dogs are better at carrying items a long distance in their mouths then others and the backpack can carry much more then one dog’s mouth.

Your dog will be very proud to carry items for you and you will be able to see the joy in how they work this lesson. Once they have reached the stage of working this lesson well, you can add this skill to the tracking and trailing lessons.

To do so follow these steps, after your dog finds a person by tracking or trailing, the dog returns to handler then you give the dog the first aid kit and send the dog back to the person. The person takes the first aid kit, praises your dog and commands your dog to go-to you and your dog comes back for you to follow them to the person.

Daisy Fetch

Now that your dog knows people by name and how to go-to, you can do the same lesson in reverse, where you hide and ask a person to tell your dog to find you in case you are ever missing. Your wife or family member can ask the dog to, “ Go-to you by name”, your dog will  find you.

If you are unconscious and unable to speak to your dog, because of this training the dog will try to “alert” you, if that does not work then your dog will return to who sent him to bring them to you. All of the training in all of these lessons fit together to teach your dog a whole mission of tasks that are possible to do in the event of an emergency.

Always have a person use your name when sending your dog back to you or a code name, such as handler, so that one word means YOU. Then your dog will find you only. This is very important lesson for your dog to learn in case you are ever missing.

These lessons teach the dog how to think like a person in order to communicate with us and help us. We are not only teaching the dog to do as we say but to think for us to find our family members or to save our life.

In the next lesson we will go over how to teach your dog to find you in more detail.

All the previous lessons can be found at this lesson page. and on the page tab on the left side of this page.

Stay Safe out there!

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