Mounted search and rescue

[Dana Mc <k9preydrive@yahoo.com>]

Jorene,

I can't see the future. But I do like to imagine a "perfect SAR world" now and then.

Imagine the teams comin out and a Mounted K9 Unit being deployed... The handler mounts his ride and whistles to his K9. The dog heels next to the horse and they and a few flankers head out to their Hasty search....

The flankers set up in a wedge formation with one on each side and one behind the horse. Each are in constant communication via earbud GMRS radios and the member at the rear has VHF or Sat Comms to Base.  The rider calls the K9 up and send her out. Then proceeds down the road with the flankers off at 30degrees to her sides. The horse can be seen to monitor the K9s progress for a while but then falls into the routine of regular mounted behavior. Ears twitching and rotating at each scurrying of a wood creature. Nose testing the air for any sign of human, live or deceased. 

The flankers fan out about 20m and watch for hazards or clues. They are GSAR trained and capable of recognizing and protecting sign should they find any tracks or evidence along the way. They know how to gauge the horse and the dog so as to not interfere with either as they perform their jobs, and are not trapped by their egos so much as to feel they are being left out of the SAR equation by being "just" a flanker.

The person at 6 o'clock maintains a GPS track record and is prepared to take notes for or from Base and has field experience enough to know to listen to the rider/handler and be patient as he knows she has a plan that may change along the way.

As the run the Hasty search along this span of road they hear other distance calls from various Mounted K9 teams, ground teams calling deep in the woods where the mounted units can't venture and the hum of small gas powered UAVs as they traverse the open fields and mountainsides, directed from back at base camps by techs on laptops.

Would this ensure our teams find our victims more often? Maybe not everytime, but I can only see good coming from this type of training and coordination. The mounted teams don't even have to be the handlers, they can monitor their horses and provide their Mounted advantage right alongside of the K9 handlers too if they have worked to a level of comfort for all members and species so that neither impairs the other during the job. It should enhance the unit, not detract from it.

Again. "Perfect" world scenario :)

Ok, back to eveyone's regular conversations. Just wanted to interject a bit!

Dana McGuire
LESAR

ps. nothing here about rats. lol. I just threw that in for the subject to be funny. Tho those Giant Rats on the link provided in the other message sounds pretty cool! At least for the bomb sniffing!

---

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Subject: MSAR-Riders Digest, Vol 78, Issue 1

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Today's Topics:

  1. Scenting (Jorene Downs)
  2. Re: Scenting (E.S.)
  3. Re: Scenting (IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:30:26 -0700
From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
Subject: [MSAR] Scenting
To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <001301ca1236$e223a040$a66ae0c0$@com>
Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="UTF-8"

I just posted this (below) to another SAR discussion group in response to watching a great HRD dogs video.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9026816343700085922
(or http://tinyurl.com/HRD-dogs )
and thought MSAR riders might find my comments useful.

Jorene Downs wrote:
> Excellent video on effective HRD dogs. Thanks for the link!
>
> SAR folks might find it interesting that horses have natural air scent
> ability and scent discrimination similar to dogs, making them a good
> untrained search partner. As a prey animal, they are naturally more
> aware of their surroundings than the human riders, and rely a lot on
> all of their senses. Beyond scenting ability similar to the dog's, the
> horse's field of vision is close to 360 and very good at noting
> movement or anything unexpected. The ears can pivot to focus on
> audible. It is obviously advantageous to remind the mounted searcher to
> "look where the horse looks" since that horse is more than just
> "transportation" and a height and speed advantage for the mounted
> searcher.
>
> You can also train the horse to follow / search for specific scents and
> Alert ... air scenting, HRD, narcotics, etc. Much like putting a saddle
> on a particularly large SAR Dog. The folks who *really* have the
> advantage during a SAR is those few searchers who are mounted and also
> work a SAR Dog, since the dog is smaller and more agile getting into
> places the horse can't go.
>
> The combination of trained (or even untrained) horse and trained dog
> can be effective, because the height of the horse allows it to pick up
> scent much higher than the dog's nose. Send out the SAR Dogs early then
> follow with the horses as the scent rises, or position horses and dogs
> based on terrain and potential for where the scent is likely to be
> higher or lower.

- - - - - -
Jorene Downs
SAR & CERT
Mounted SAR
www.ceoates.com/msar






------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:54:03 -0700
From: "E.S." <ES212@QWEST.NET>
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Scenting
To: <Jorene@CEOates.com>,    "Mounted search and rescue"
    <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <000501ca1253$57e5e470$4200a8c0@LIFEBOOK>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
    reply-type=original

try this one, they are better then bogs....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4366787580687808717&hl=en




----- Original Message -----
From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 4:30 PM
Subject: [MSAR] Scenting


>I just posted this (below) to another SAR discussion group in response to
>watching a great HRD dogs video.
> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9026816343700085922
> (or http://tinyurl.com/HRD-dogs )
> and thought MSAR riders might find my comments useful.
>
> Jorene Downs wrote:
>> Excellent video on effective HRD dogs. Thanks for the link!
>>
>> SAR folks might find it interesting that horses have natural air scent
>> ability and scent discrimination similar to dogs, making them a good
>> untrained search partner. As a prey animal, they are naturally more
>> aware of their surroundings than the human riders, and rely a lot on
>> all of their senses. Beyond scenting ability similar to the dog's, the
>> horse's field of vision is close to 360 and very good at noting
>> movement or anything unexpected. The ears can pivot to focus on
>> audible. It is obviously advantageous to remind the mounted searcher to
>> "look where the horse looks" since that horse is more than just
>> "transportation" and a height and speed advantage for the mounted
>> searcher.
>>
>> You can also train the horse to follow / search for specific scents and
>> Alert ... air scenting, HRD, narcotics, etc. Much like putting a saddle
>> on a particularly large SAR Dog. The folks who *really* have the
>> advantage during a SAR is those few searchers who are mounted and also
>> work a SAR Dog, since the dog is smaller and more agile getting into
>> places the horse can't go.
>>
>> The combination of trained (or even untrained) horse and trained dog
>> can be effective, because the height of the horse allows it to pick up
>> scent much higher than the dog's nose. Send out the SAR Dogs early then
>> follow with the horses as the scent rises, or position horses and dogs
>> based on terrain and potential for where the scent is likely to be
>> higher or lower.
>
> - - - - - -
> Jorene Downs
> SAR & CERT
> Mounted SAR
> www.ceoates.com/msar
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> MSAR-Riders mailing list
> MSAR-Riders@lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/msar-riders
>
>




------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:42:26 -0400
From: "IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN" <ilichten1@verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Scenting
To: "'Mounted search and rescue'" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <0KNP003R5CSHCBU6@vms173003.mailsrvcs.net" href="mailto:0KNP003R5CSHCBU6@vms173003.mailsrvcs.net">0KNP003R5CSHCBU6@vms173003.mailsrvcs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

There are numerous papers, both peer reviewed scholarly works, and anecdotal
stories of the effectiveness of discriminating air scent horses, dating back
to the 1990's.  Check the archives here as well.  Many are on the document
CD I provide for free.

Irv Lichtenstein

-----Original Message-----
From: msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:msar-riders-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of E.S.
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 10:54 PM
To: Jorene@CEOates.com; Mounted search and rescue
Subject: Re: [MSAR] Scenting

try this one, they are better then bogs....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4366787580687808717&hl=en






------------------------------

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