Rescue dogs: variety of breeds, training features

Everyone knows that a dog is a friend of man. But not everyone knows that some of them are not just friends, but real rescuers who help people in extreme situations and even provide first aid. We will talk about these amazing animals in our article.

Since ancient times, dogs have been used as lifeguards. Thanks to perfect hearing and good sense of smell, they can search for people under avalanches, ruins of destroyed structures, in a burning house and in the water. It has been proven that the sense of smell of these animals works even in a smoky room full of burning. We can say that the scent of dogs is similar to the sixth sense, since these creatures can recognize the presence of a person even under a snow thickness of 9 meters.

Dogs have long been recognized as effective search engines that give a much better result than humans.

Despite the fact that today rescue dogs often serve in the Ministry of Emergencies, the police and other law enforcement agencies, no one calls them rescue assistants, since each of them is a completely independent unit, and few people for their professional activities manage to save as many lives as four-legged heroes.

The very nature of these animals has unique abilities:

• to search for people buried alive at a depth of 10 meters;
• to find victims in houses, engulfed in flames, when the smell of burning interrupts all human smells;
• look for drowned people and take them ashore;
• inform people about the whereabouts of the victims and bring search engines to them.

According to the stories of volunteers, dogs working in the Moscow region have to save up to 3-4 people per day - these are playing children and lost mushroom pickers, and just people with the best skills in orienting themselves on the ground - despite cellular communications, they are lost regularly.

At the same time, a person who went on a search may go past a stray one and not even notice him, especially often this happens if the search is delayed, and the victim becomes exhausted or even faints. Rescue dogs, thanks to their excellent sense of smell, will even find the victim who has fallen into the undergrowth and will certainly bring help to him, giving a sound signal to the rescue team.

Of course, not every dog, even the most daring and courageous, can become a savior. These animals have fairly high requirements.

• They should have well-developed feelings: smell, hearing and touch.
• It is important that the animal has a bold but at the same time friendly character. The dog must make contact with a person, even with someone she does not like - because she will have to save a lot of people with a variety of characters and temperaments.
• The physical form of the animal, the degree of endurance and the state of health are of fundamental importance - they will have to overcome many obstacles and barriers to the salvation of those in need.
• The dog’s nervous system must be stable, since such a dog will have to work a lot, and he must easily withstand the psychological stress.
• It is important that the animal is trained, easily trained and obedient.

Consider several breeds that are best at saving people.

• Newfoundland. These dogs are more familiar to breeders called a diver. Animals are not at all afraid of low temperatures and can actively conduct searches even in cold water. Due to the structure of the body and the structure of the coat, divers can easily overcome up to 20 km and dive to a depth of 30 m.

• Saint bernard. These animals are indispensable during the search operations in the mountains. Animals of this breed are characterized by exceptional endurance, they are well trained and have exceptional physical parameters.

• Labrador Retriever. Retriever labradors are probably the most friendly and good-natured dogs in the world, however, they are often found in the ranks of search squads and other rescue groups. They are distinguished by good learning ability, possess tremendous patience, endurance and, importantly, the ability to express compassion, which is especially important for those people who have to eliminate the effects of technological disasters, tsunamis and earthquakes.

• German Shepherd. This animal is widespread in the activities of rescue teams. The fact is that if the shepherd feels a person who is in a difficult situation, then neither snow, nor hail, nor frost will stop her on the way to finding and saving him. Shepherd dogs often save the conquerors of mountain peaks, while often with great risk to their own lives.

• Doberman. The perfect police dog. Many law enforcement officers in the United States have such an indispensable assistant in their work, since he easily catches up with intruders and protects the policeman himself from attack. These are smart, loyal and extremely dedicated dogs with high physical data. Representatives of this breed of animals often become the owners of a wide variety of state awards, and even titles.

• Leonberger. A universal dog that is trained in a variety of skills to participate in rescue operations.These dogs are distinguished by excellent sense of smell, therefore they most often become search engines. With competent training, such a dog will become a reliable companion in any extreme situations.

• Drathaar. This is a hunting breed that has long been used to chase game, but people have learned to use its qualities for rescue purposes. Today, representatives of this breed most often work in the coast guard: they are distinguished by the ability to swim, they can easily get to the drowning man and pull him ashore.

If you plan to purchase a puppy for protection and rescue work, then several tests should be performed to show whether the animal is suitable for such work or not. It is important to check the dog’s reaction to a stranger at the moment when the puppy sees him for the first time.

The experience is quite simple: you need to squat down in front of the dog, then very sharply stand up and go down again, after which make a few loud pops over the puppy's head. Next, you need to throw an object that makes noise next to the pet: a rattle, keys or a tin can with peas. You can wave a newspaper over the dog’s head.

If the puppy does not begin to bark hysterically, get nervous, show aggression or, conversely, take submission poses, makes no attempt to run away, but at the same time does not show violent joy, you can read it after successfully testing.

Teaching animals the basics of helping people in distress should be done only by professional dog handlers. Depending on the area in which the dog’s abilities will be used, a training program is selected, a set of exercises, tasks and goals is compiled that the dog will have to strive for. However, in any case, without exception, all rescue dogs during the lessons must be trained in reactions to extreme situations, response skills and first aid.

At the time of training dogs, the following skills are taught:

• search for things;
• human detection;
• sound signal upon detection;
• digging up;
• eyeliner rescuer to the detected objects.

During training, the location is constantly changing - no more than three classes are allowed on one territory, otherwise the animal has a habit of looking only in familiar places. It is important that as the course progresses, the tasks become more complicated: for example, they search for objects against the wind, and also create “false digs” when they dig up the surface, but they don’t bury things.

In the world there are many dogs that have shown real heroism. In particular, during the Great Patriotic War, many animals were not only military search engines - they delivered secret papers, brought cartridges, and even undermined trains where no one could break through. Dogs established themselves as orderlies on the battlefield: animals ran with medical bags and a stretcher, helped to pull wounded soldiers out of the very heat.

Especially famous dog named Mukhtar: on his account more than four hundred rescued soldiers who received wounds during the battle, and the total number of soldiers found during the war exceeds 500 thousand!

Dogs from the former military provided invaluable assistance even after the end of the war - at that time special therapeutic dogs were trained, which healed the souls of soldiers and helped them cope with post-traumatic syndrome. One of the most famous of these dogs is this is a dog named Ricochet. By the way, this retriever is also famous for his activities with children with psycho-emotional problems: he taught them to surf, normalizing health and emotional state.

And today, many methods of dealing with diseases such as autism include the use of four-legged pets. There is a special medical area - dog therapy, it helps to cope even with the most difficult cases. These friendly pets help children to socialize, create the right mood against the background of nervous disorders and mental stress.

Not a single rescue operation in the snowy mountains is complete without dogs. Their assistance is irreplaceable in eliminating the consequences of explosions, natural disasters and terrorist acts, as well as man-made disasters. Their consequences are already great, but without rescue dogs, the loss would be truly enormous.

A big celebrity was a shepherd named Ajax. The feat of this animal can be described in numbers: 96 hours of continuous operation, bloodied and frostbitten paws and 12 saved lives. This dog really fought for the life of 11 children and their teacher in Austria.

A dog named Titus in the Swiss Alps saved his master from death. At the risk of starvation, the animal searched for its master on the top of a snowy mountain for six days, dug it up and warmed it with its heat. All this time, while a man and a dog were waiting for a search group, the climber remained alive only thanks to the efforts of his faithful pet.

It is known that in recent decades there have been quite a lot of natural disasters, about which dogs often warned owners. So, in Ashgabat, shortly before the earthquake, the dog grabbed the child by the hem of his shirt and carried him out of the house, and after a few minutes the building collapsed.

Became a real legend a dog named Bolt, who was able, overcoming a snowstorm, to deliver a package of medicines to Alaska, thanks to which hundreds of people were saved from diphtheria. Our four-legged friends are real heroes. A considerable number of dogs gave their lives to save a person.

In the next video, you will find the release of the Dog Planet program about rescue dogs.