Boats, Divers and Dogs

[kg5388]

Spent Saturday providing Sheriff Boats for Dive Team and Search Dog Training.

Divers go down and open a scent pod and the dogs search and alerts when they find the source of the scent.

Once the Dogs alert on the sent we drop a buoy and circle around and do it again. Once we have a spot marked we can send the divers down or drag for the body.

We have some of the best dogs in the country that work on land and water.

 

[DianneB]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Nice Bloodhound!

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Interesting.

 

[royal0014]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Yep, been there, got the t-shirt Where 'ya located?

 

[huntndakota]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Never knew they used dogs over the water like that. Pretty cool

 

[kg5388]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Yep, been there, got the t-shirt Where 'ya located?

Memphis Tennessee

The boats and Divers belong to the Sheriff Dept and the Dog Teams are all NASAR certified and go all over the country.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

thats a wimpy boat for a sheriffs dept

 

[QC]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

We've always had Labs, but I was tired of getting them on and off the beach. I was doing a lot of traveling to Australia and I noticed they used Beagles in their Customs operations. I used to think of them as a kind of nuisance dog, and borderline untrainable, but these dogs were perfectly behaved, able to walk the luggage carousels, and you can pick 'em up and toss 'em anywhere you want. So . . . talked the wife into Daisy:

To my point . . . The Aussies think they're noses are the real deal, and I am telling you she is more driven by scent than any dog we have ever owned. She maps a room with scent like I would think a dolphin would map a lagoon with sonar. It's amazing to watch her. Buuuut, I have never seen a working one other than in Oz . . . And she loves the water, pops up on the bow like that as I soon as I take the boat off plane, and as soon as I throttle up she jumps back into her little sleeping spot. Seems like 25 lbs on a jon boat would be better than 100.

Now to the downside, she is borderline untrainable as she pretty much just does what she wants. That's partly because her Mommy spoils her to death, but that brings me back to the Customs ones that got me thinking about Beagles in the first place. They were perfect little ladies and gentlemen.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

That's partly because her Mommy spoils her to death....

Unlike her Daddy, of course, who wields the rock-steady hand of discipline....

 

[royal0014]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Memphis Tennessee

The boats and Divers belong to the Sheriff Dept and the Dog Teams are all NASAR certified and go all over the country.

Have worked in conjunction with 'cadaver' dogs before. Interesting exercise.

If ya'll do that kind of thing alot, tell your Sheriff to look into Rescue One boats http://www.rescueone.com/ They are purpose built, not sold to the public. Outstanding stability and features unique to water S/R. My Squad has three, one of which is CC with a jet for the river. We wouldn't trade them for anything.....

 

[kg5388]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

We have looked at the connector boats from rescue one but haven't decided on one.

We have 10' ,14' and 16' jonboats with 2 of the 16' in wide beam.

several inflatables

16' ranger aluminum with 60horse outboard with a jet drive.

28' aluminum that the Coast Guard used for buoy maint that they donated to us

Most of our body recoveries happen in ponds and small river/creeks during flooding.

we were training in a small pond and the cadaver dog trainers like to use trolling motors when searching. The boat with the gas motor was the safety boat.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

This is cool stuff. You mean the dogs can smell a dead person who is floating on the bottom of maybe 20 feet or so of water?

 

[royal0014]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Wow kg, that's more boats than we have in the whole county
Most of our drownings are not-too-bright recreational boaters on the lake. An occasional swimmer at the State Park. Actually, it's been pretty uneventful this season, thankfully.

And yes, fairlane, that is correct. Not sure how deep they can smell, though. I would think it would depend on the condition of the body, and the water.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

This is cool stuff. You mean the dogs can smell a dead person who is floating on the bottom of maybe 20 feet or so of water?

There are cases of the dog alerting on a body in 150+ feet of water, and after some years.

http://www.cee.mtu.edu/~hssantef/sar/others/Hardy/WaterSearch.html

 

[kg5388]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

While one of our dogs was being certified it kept alerting in the wrong spot of the creek.
They would not certify the dog because of it. We returned and probed and dug up the spot and found bones and clothing.

It was from a drowning victim that was never recovered 2 years prior.
They certified the dog.

The deepest I've seen a dog locate was 30 feet deep where a guy took a little girls life jacket to save himself and let her drown.

 

[QC]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

Unlike her Daddy, of course, who wields the rock-steady hand of discipline....

Well more than Mommy, but she is the spoiled little girl of the house that's for sure. She sleeps in our bed and often under the covers Now Mrs. QC feels sorry for our Lab and she lets him in bed on weekend mornings

I am amazed at the underwater thing. Is it released gases as opposed to smelling through water?

 

[royal0014]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

While one of our dogs was being certified it kept alerting in the wrong spot of the creek.
They would not certify the dog because of it. We returned and probed and dug up the spot and found bones and clothing.

It was from a drowning victim that was never recovered 2 years prior.
They certified the dog.

The deepest I've seen a dog locate was 30 feet deep where a guy took a little girls life jacket to save himself and let her drown.

Bring that dog to Alabama, we have one that's been missing since '96! Draggin' didn't find him,divers didn't find him, dogs didn't find him. A State bridge inspector/bell diver went down, said the bottom looked like a plowed field where we had been dragging for three weeks! We gave up after five weeks. I think he was in Mexico the whole time

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

I am amazed at the underwater thing. Is it released gases as opposed to smelling through water?

Yes; according to everything I've read at least.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

The deepest I've seen a dog locate was 30 feet deep where a guy took a little girls life jacket to save himself and let her drown.

Was the guy charged? I mean, if you take someones means of flotation by force and that person drowns (a kid for gods sakes) it should be liable.

 

[roncoop75]

Re: Boats, Divers and Dogs

That's pretty interesting. I, also, didn't know they could smell a body like that.

I may regret asking this but... what's in a "scent pod"? Ewwww.