TOADS

Canine Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) training is the newest addition to the TOADS stable of activities for you and your dog to become involved in. TOADS hosted a workshop in March, 2011 with Elke Effler, one of Australia’s best search and rescue dog trainers leading the workshop. From here a few attendees at the workshop started the journey to qualify their dogs for urban search and rescue operations. Once qualified, dogs are able to search for missing people trapped in collapsed buildings after natural disasters, such as cyclones and earthquakes, accidents or terrorist attacks. Training is time consuming and requires a determined handler that is willing to invest a significant amount of time each week into training. The main focus of training is search work with your dog needing to indicate their “find” with a bark. Along with the bark alert, basic obedience, an ability to traverse different surfaces and directional training (sending your dog to a target up to 30 meters away) are also needed to qualify a search and rescue dog. These facets of the training will be taught but perfecting these skills will have to be mostly done as homework. Many healthy dogs up to 5 years of age are suitable for search and rescue training. Your dog needs to be sociable with other dogs and humans and have a strong play drive. If you are interested in finding out more about search and rescue training why not come along and have a look at one of our training sessions. Alternatively you might like to view some of the training on our Facebook page. Training is currently undertaken 3 weekends per month on either a Saturday or Sunday. Training locations change but will be somewhere in or up to 30mins around Townsville. For more information email info@toadsagility.org.au
and your email will be forwarded to the USAR trainers.