• Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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    3 months ago

    They’re not even good for search-and-rescue? I remember them getting out the dogs to look for lost hikers with decent results but maybe that’s just us mountain people shit. You’re on the money about the aggression / intimidation stuff though.

    • hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Search and Rescue dogs are generally owned and trained by specialized dog trainers, not the cops. The scent-tracking skills for following people are differently trained from drug and explosives detecting dogs Basically a search dog needs to walk towards and follow what they smell, and a detecting dog needs to sit down when they catch a smell so they have different training methods.

      Source; Hung out with Search and Rescue dog trainers and listened to them carefully not directly talk shit about the police dogs.

    • Pavidus@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Generally these search and rescue dogs are completely different dogs. They are highly effective, but trained different than protection dogs.

    • Today@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      A friend of my mom’s used to train dogs for search and rescue and he became an fbi agent. He had great success stories about his dogs working along the waterways in eastern Tennessee.