Koalbee Robinette 1996. |
There are all types of teachers pets. Some of them are dogs. Koalbee,
a black lab, is the pet of Search and Rescue teacher Joyce Robinette.
Joyce has raised labs for 14 years. “I got Koalbee when she
was 7 weeks old. I had great plans for her to show and breed, but
she had a mild genetic hip dysplasia. Friends in WV K-9 SAR encouraged
us to train in Search and Rescue. So, we went to school!”
After working with the K-9 Association for two years, Joyce became
a trainer.
“The class is offered once a year, starting in January, with
classes twice a week for three months, then, once a week. Classes
are intense, 3-4 hours long and owners work with their dog at home
each day. It takes a year for a dog and handler team to be fully trained.
Classes usually start with 6-12 people. About half become certified.”
Joyce says dogs from three months to three years come to search training
knowing basic obedience commands. “It is especially important
they know to come immediately on command.” Good search dogs
come from sporting, working or non-sporting breeds. Most hounds and
many mixed breeds make excellent search dogs. But all have exhibited
the most important trait, a strong play or prey drive, or both, in
varying degrees.
In class, “First, the dog learns to find an object with the
owner’s scent. Then, we hide people. The dog has to come back
and tell you that he’s found something. Some dogs bark. Since
Koalbee isn’t a barker, her ‘alert’ is to sit. When
she finds something, she comes to me and sits down. I say ‘show
me’ and she takes me back to the spot.”
Joyce says dog and owner learn together. “Dogs learn to communicate
information. Owners learn to read and trust their dog. If the dog
tells you he’s found something, you learn to go with it.”
“Some people say a good search dog shouldn’t be a pet.
That’s NOT true!” insists Joyce. “The closer your
relationship, the better your dog will work for you.”
There are tracker dogs and air scent dogs. “Tracking dogs should
be the first ones on the scene, before people arrive, so they can
pick up a direction. They follow a trail exclusively. Then, air scent
dogs come in. Tracking dogs may lose the scent over a creek, but an
air scent dog won’t. Koalbee is an air scent dog. When her nose
goes into the air, I know she’s found something!”
Handlers learn to read topographical maps and use a compass. “A
dog is sent to an area condoned off into sectors and works on a grid.
We do night searches and day searches, with a ‘find’ within
a certain time limit. There is a lot of walking. The dog and you have
to be in good shape.”
Koalbee is also a certified cadaver dog. “It’s different
training, and the ‘alert’ is different. Koalbee lies down.
Dogs are taught with a pseudo-scent like the scent of a body. Dogs
can find the scent in water or even from a boat. It is best to go
with a cadaver dog, on lead, or you can miss something the dog wants
to tell you.”
After graduation, SAR dogs practice every day. “We do something,
even hide and seek with a tennis ball, to keep them sharp.”
There is no charge for SAR training. “The expense comes from
your time and mileage for training. And the accumulation of all your
SAR gear! You also absorb travel costs of responding to searches.”
After a heart attack at 48, three years ago, Joyce retired her pager.
“It was wonderful, but no more nights on the mountain for me!”
She still champions SAR dogs, still has the familiar bone to pick
with officials. “Search dogs need to be on the scene first,
before people contaminate it. The success rate is much higher when
dogs are brought in first.”
Koalbee’s hip condition never did cause her trouble on the
job. It just meant an early career change to teachers’ pet.
For more information about WVK9SAR, contact Rita Richard, President,
at 304-364-5713.
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