Safety
in Training Your German Shepherd:
The first and foremost consideration is your safety.
One
of the things that are stressed in SAR work from the beginning
is not to become part of the problem after being called out
on a search. No one ever goes into a training program, practice
session or real call-out situation with the intention of having
bodily harm come to them or their partner. This can happen and
needs to be discussed from the beginning before training takes
place.
A
comprehensive program should include steps to get every member
of the group certified in standard or civilian first aid, and
should include training in CPR. These courses are made available
through the American Red Cross and in many areas are taught
by certified instructors who are also EMS personnel. In addition
to this, it is advisable to take a course in K9 first aid as
well. Contact your local veterinarian for someone in the area
who can provide this service.
The
first step in becoming a SAR Tech team is learning and training
a wilderness search dog. Working in wilderness conditions is
intended to portray real life situations where searches take
place. This can put an extreme physical demand on your body.
This demand can be so severe to you and your partner that the
threat to your lives is a possibility. One of the most overlooked
elements to your success in a search or in training is you and
your K9 partner’s physical conditioning. I believe all who intend
to pursue SAR, regardless of what level, should be physically
fit and have an ongoing fitness program. The demands of an all
day search or an intense training session are very real and
take its toll on you mentally and physically. This can also
mean the difference between success and failure, making it out
unhurt or having bodily harm to you or your partner.
There
are too many possibilities for injury to mention all of them.
Some of the most overlooked are poison ivy reactions, stings
from bees, trip and falls, barb wire fences, dehydration, hyper
and hypothermia, snake bites to you or your partner, and the
elements from weather conditions.
This
portion of the manual is intended to provoke some thought processes
that are overlooked until it is too late. In the group I was
part of, we selected one person whose job at training sessions
and call-outs was to instill safety to the group at all times.
When- ever the threat, perceived or real, would occur, this
individual would bring it to the persons attention. This person
might be classified as a safety overseer.
The
last portion of the possibilities for injury mentioned was weather
conditions. These elements are continually changing. They are
not fixed, as the terrain and environmental might be. Weather
can produce conditions that are very dangerous to anyone caught
out in them for any length of time. Weather conditions can strike
you down without warning and then you become a victim too. For
instance, lightning can be miles away and not be in the approximate
vicinity of where you are. Without warning, a lighting strike
can come out of nowhere and hit the ground or a tree close by
and strike you down. I have included two brochures from the
NOAA Weather Service and the Emergency Management Center to
better inform you of weather conditions and their potential
hazards. Take time to read these brochures. They have great
storm-related pictures and information for you and your family
when weather takes a drastic turn for the worse.
Tom Brown
Documents about Thunderstorms, Tornadoes and Lightning from
NOAA
Tornadoes..Natures Most
Violent Storms Notice 1.5 Mbytes
Thunderstorms..Tornadoes..Lightning..Natures
Most Violent Storms Notice 5.9 MBytes
Click here to get Adobe Acrobat reader free for viewing .pdf files.
