A nose for the job

In this day and age of disasters, both natural and man-made, and the threat of terrorism, dogs have become more than just man’s best friend, and are increasingly important in saving lives. Search-and-rescue dogs have a crucial role in detecting human survivors as well as weapons and explosives that could potentially harm innocent people. ALLAN KOAY talks to a dog trainer, the Fire Department and the K-9 Unit of the police force, to find out more about these canine heroes. 

DOG TRAINER Carlos Huertas says he used to have a deaf dog, which he trained using hand signals.  

“One of my friends was doing roadshows and, during the shows, he would give the dog voice instructions but do the complete opposite using hand signs,” Huertas recalls. “So the dog would do the opposite of what he said, because it could not hear but could only see the hand signs. So, when he told it to sit, it ran. When he told it to run, it sat! People thought it was funny and laughed!” 

Although deaf dogs are not very suitable as working dogs, hand signals are, however, sometimes used along with voice instructions for dogs in search-and-rescue efforts. 

“Sometimes when the dog goes far up the rubble, you have to use hand signs to indicate what you want it to do,” says Huertas, who owns the G-Pet Animal Training Centre (www.g-pet.com) located in Bukit Rimau, Shah Alam. “Sometimes, at a disaster site, it might be too noisy, with helicopter and machinery sounds, so the dog cannot hear and will look to you for hand signals.” 

Huertas hopes to start a private club of owners with search dogs which can be called upon to volunteer in rescue operations.

Huertas, who is originally from Spain, has been training dogs for more than 30 years, and also has experience in training search-and-rescue dogs. 

He says not all dogs are suitable for search-and-rescue work, as certain characteristics are essential for a dog to be effective in such work. Most importantly, the dog has to have a strong prey drive, that is, “the desire to chase and grasp.” Also, the dog has to have a friendly disposition, love to play and is willing to work. 

“The nose is very important,” Huertas explains. “And you use something that it likes, such as a ball that it plays with. You hide that ball and let the dog search for it. It will be crazy about what it likes. It will always be looking for its ball frantically and, little by little, you replace that scent with the human scent. You can hide an item, such as a piece of tissue paper with someone’s scent, and let the dog search for it. And when it is successful, you reward it with its ball. It doesn’t want the human scent; it wants its ball. But it knows that when it finds the human scent, it will get its ball.” 

Huertas says the best time to train a search dog is when it is nine months to one and a half years old, as that is the best period for them develop their full capabilities. After the dog gets its certification (from the Fire Department) as a search dog, says Huertas, it still needs to go for examinations every year to determine whether its capabilities still meet the required standards. 

The dogs should also be taken out for general training and exercise their faculties at least once a week. 

“Their memory is very good although not as good as an elephant’s!” Huertas laughs. “But it is their noses that need to be kept sharp. The best area for them to live in is a natural environment and not in an air-conditioned place all the time. Don’t use any strong shampoos on them, don’t use any deodorants. And of course, don’t use any strong-smelling chemicals to clean their kennels. They need to be (in) natural-smelling environments.” 

For air-scenting dogs, he adds, their noses are more sensitive, and therefore they cannot be kept in air-conditioned environments but must be kept outside. 

Carlos Huertas training a young German Shepherd at his G-Pet kennels in Shah Alam. – Pictures by KAMAL SELLEHUDDIN

While tracking/trailing dogs are trained to pursue the scent left on the ground and need an item belonging to the lost person for scent identification, air-scenting dogs scan the air for human scent and do not need scent articles. While the handler of a trailing/tracking dog usually leads the dog to an area where the victim might be found, for air-scenting dogs, it is the other way around. The dog will lead the handler to the victim. 

“It is a different approach, as you must follow the dog because you don’t know where the person is, but the dog knows,” Huertas says of air-scenting dogs. “You must let the dog work and let it do its job.” 

During air-scenting training, a person first walks a path through an area which is not known to both dog and handler. Sometimes that person may retrace his own steps. 

“But the dog will always know and will follow the whole path taken by that person,” says Huertas. “Sometimes it can take months to perfect, because of the climate. It is difficult to find a dog that can do both ground- and air-scenting, but there are indeed those that can do both.” 

What Huertas wants to do now is to create a small club of people with their own search-and-rescue dogs, like the clubs he used to be a part of in Europe. 

“These are private, non-profit clubs that do their jobs for free,” Huertas reveals. “When anything happens, they can be called on to help in rescue work. They are trained and qualified to do rescue work with search dogs. Qualification is given by the government. That’s my wish, to create a club of people who have dogs that they think can do something more than just lie on the couch.” 

Huertas says he has been involved in rescue work in avalanches in Switzerland and landslides back home in Spain. 

“In Madrid, we had a very good team at the Rescue Department, and they were all volunteers, and were a part of the government departments,” he adds. “We used our own dogs, and we got together to carry out training once a week. When the authorities needed our service, they would call us. 

“That’s what I want to do here in Malaysia. If people have dogs that they really think can perform and be of service to society, then together we can train the dogs and the owners. It is very rewarding to see that your dog has been able to help in catastrophes.” 

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