The search and rescue dog, as we remember, finds any smells. It can be light concentrations brought by the wind or traces – it doesn’t matter to the dog. The smell arrived, the dog worked it out, drew conclusions, and began to look. Suppose, if a person becomes ill, he loses consciousness and rolls into a ravine – a search and rescue dog will find him, even if no traces lead there.
Absolutely! Here’s a breakdown of the Cane Corso’s potential as a Search and Rescue (SAR) dog, the vital qualities needed for this work, and how to develop these skills:
Can a Cane Corso be a Search and Rescue Dog?
- Potential: Cane Corsos possess several traits that make them suitable candidates for SAR work. Their history as working dogs gives them a foundation of strength, stamina, and intelligence.
- Key Factors: Success depends heavily on the individual dog’s temperament, trainability, and dedication to the training process.
- Breed Strengths:
- Keen Senses: Their strong sense of smell is essential for tracking.
- Athleticism: Cane Corsos are agile and powerful, able to navigate difficult terrain.
- Loyalty and Work Ethic: They form strong bonds with their handlers and have a desire to please, which can translate into focused work.
Key Considerations
- Intensive Training: SAR work requires specialized training far beyond basic obedience. This includes scent discrimination, off-leash work, and extensive conditioning.
- Temperament: The ideal SAR Corso needs to be calm, confident, and unfazed by unexpected noises or situations. They should be friendly with strangers to avoid complications during a search.
- Socialization is Key: Early and ongoing socialization is crucial to ensure the dog is comfortable in various environments and around different people.
Important Qualities of a Search and Rescue Dog
- Physical Fitness: SAR work is physically demanding. The dog must be healthy, strong, and have excellent endurance.
- Sense of Smell: A keen sense of smell is paramount for tracking and finding people.
- Focus and Trainability: SAR dogs need to follow complex commands, work independently, and maintain focus in distracting environments.
- Balanced Temperament: They should be confident, non-reactive, and able to work calmly around unfamiliar people and situations.
- Handler Bond: A strong connection with the handler is essential for effective teamwork.
Training a Cane Corso for Search and Rescue
- Solid Foundation: Start with basic obedience and socialization. A well-behaved, responsive dog is the foundation for further training.
- Scent Work: Introduce scent discrimination games and slowly progress to more complex tracking exercises.
- Off-Leash Reliability: Develop strong off-leash control in increasingly distracting environments.
- Specialized Training: Seek out SAR training programs that can teach advanced searching techniques and offer realistic scenarios.
- Teamwork: Emphasize the dog working closely with you, the handler, as a cohesive team.
Key Takeaways
- Not All Corsos are Suited: While the breed has potential, individual temperament and drive are the biggest determining factors in a Cane Corso’s suitability for SAR work.
- Dedication is Essential: SAR training is a significant time and resource investment for both you and your dog.
- Finding the Right Resources: Connect with SAR organizations and experienced trainers specializing in working breeds. They can guide your training and assess your Corso’s potential.
- Rewarding Experience: Successfully training a Cane Corso for SAR work can be incredibly fulfilling and create a unique bond with your dog.
If you have a Cane Corso with the right temperament, drive, and love working with you, they could potentially become a valuable search and rescue asset. Research the rigorous training involved, and honestly assess if this path aligns with your dog’s personality and your own commitment.
Contents
What Is Search And Rescue Dog?
The Search and Rescue Service (PSS) is a set of governing bodies, forces, and means designed to solve problems in the prevention and elimination of emergencies.
A rescue dog is not just a profession, it is a noble cause, to which the animal and the dog owner must devote a lot of time and effort. At the same time, the four-legged heroes simply do their job.
The most suitable pups for such as job can be a Cane Corso, German Shepherd, Retriever, Belgian Shepherd, Border Collie, Giant Schnauzer, Doberman, Russian Spaniel, Newfoundland, Terrier, etc. It should also be taken into account that a service dog like Cane Corso has to work with people of different ages, sometimes very frightened (under stress), so the dog must be non-aggressive.
The territories in which the search for victims is carried out can be very diverse and occupy significant areas, which requires a good orienting reaction from the dog. The dog should not be cowardly and should calmly endure frequent crossings on any form of transport.
Cowardice, lack of activity, insufficient hearing and smell, nervousness, and fear of gunshots, loud noises, and smoke make the dog unsuitable for search and rescue services.
General Facts About Search & Rescue Dogs
Here are a few general facts you need to know about Cane Corsos as a search & rescue dog.
Not every dog is suitable for this service
Not every purebred and even service breed dog is suitable. The myth that any dog can be “taken off the couch” and prepared is harmful and incorrect. A candidate dog for training is subject to criteria that are difficult in modern realities – it is necessary to have a healthy, willing-to-work, and balanced animal in terms of its mental qualities, including not having pronounced phobias.
Needs at least 2 years of training
The average time for training a dog “from scratch” is about two years, provided that at least two training sessions take place on average per week. At the same time, the period of “explaining” to the dog its task is insignificant compared to the periods of setting signal behavior and gaining experience sufficient for the dog to be able to solve search problems in any situation.
The dog must be physically prepared and enduring
In addition to the search skills, the dog must be physically prepared and enduring – for the RPS, the dog, on average, covers a path over rough terrain 1.5-1.7 times more than the path of the cynologist. 20 kilometers is quite common.
Obedience skills are essential
Yes, obedience skills are essential for a search and rescue dog. Controllability is one of the important skills for an animal, other skills are built based on this skill, including search ones, and first of all, contact working relationships are built in a pair of handler-dog, allowing the calculation to act as efficiently as possible.
Required Qualities Of Cane Corsos For Search And Rescue Service
The performance of such complex and exhausting work is possible only if the dog has excellent natural data, which are developed and improved by special professional training of dogs. To work in the PSS, a dog must have excellent hearing, a keen sense of smell, endurance, and remarkable strength.
It should be no higher than 45-50 cm, which will facilitate its transportation and movement in hard-to-reach places. A dog for PSS must have a strong and balanced character, be well-trained and trust people. Even strangers and animals should not cause her aggression. Lethargic or vice versa, overly excitable animals are of little use for rescue work.
Even though PSS is a rather difficult job, it does not require the selection of dogs of special breeds with special pedigrees. It can be a bodyguard dog, fighting dog, farmer’s dog, etc. Experience shows that German shepherds, huskies, collies, Cane Corsos, etc. large dogs do well with the service. As for age, not only a puppy is suitable for training, but also a well-developed dog up to two years of age.
Taking into account the specifics of the work, trainers use both more hardy and strong males and attentive and careful bitches. Not age, breed, and gender, but competent preparation of animals and proper care for them affect the final result.
Why Cane Corsos Make Good Search & Rescue Dogs?
Of the service breeds, undoubtedly, the Cane Corso is the best for the PSS. Dogs of this breed perfectly produce all types of search and never show aggression towards strangers. They have a great “intelligence”, that is, a pronounced rational activity.
These big dogs were from ancient Rome and were bred to guard the farm and protect livestock. They also were used in fighting. The Cane Corso nearly went vanished after World War II, however, experienced a revival in the 1970s in Italy. And this breed was acknowledged by the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 2010.
They are purebred and mixed-breed dogs. However, if you are interested in using a Cane Corso for Search & rescue job, make sure you buy one from a professional breeder or adopt one from a National Cane Corso rescue center.
With good visibility, these large pups work independently, being at a great distance from the handler. It is necessary to develop a search skill in a Cane Corso puppy from an early age, and training as well as early socialization according to the PSS course should begin from 1-1.5 years.
Dog training at a special search and rescue service course begins after the development of OKD skills, however, interest in searching the area and digging up buried sources of smell begins to develop from an early age.
How To Teach A Cane Corso to Report The Handler About A Found Person
The development of this technique is aimed at developing the dog’s skill of barking at the detected helper before the trainer approaches, without showing aggressiveness towards him. To develop this technique, you need to start after the dog is accustomed to searching for a person in an open area.
To practice this technique, 2-3 assistants are disguised as in the previous case. The trainer sends the dog the command “Search” and a gesture to search for a disguised person. After detection, the assistant encourages the dog with the exclamation “Good” and gives the command “Voice”. After barking at the dog, the helper encourages the dog to give treats, only after that the trainer comes and takes the dog aside.
When the next helper is found, the same actions are repeated. With repeated repetition of such actions, the dog develops the skill of barking at the person it has found, without showing aggressiveness. In the future, the encouragement the dog is made by the trainer himself when approaching the “victim”.
The technique is considered to be worked out when the dog, at the trainer’s command, actively searches, finds a disguised helper, and independently barks him until the trainer approaches
FINAL WORDS
Cane Corsos are excellent companions who can cope up with other pets and strangers if you can provide proper training from a young age. It’s important to socialize pups well with people as well as other animals to develop a better temperament and Behavioral issues.
With proper training and mental stimulation, your Cane Corso pup can make one of the best Search & rescue dogs.
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