In the training prior to and subsequent to being a qualified search dog, the dog team will be given a range of search scenario's and as wide an experience as is possible. This is to prepare the dog and handler for any situation they may come across.

Most dogs will cope comfortably with what is required of them apart from the poorly trained dog or dog that has not been trained for particular aspects. For example Mountain Rescue trained dogs do not search buildings as effectively or as safely as Disaster trained dogs.

Due to the type of work they will be asked to do, they are trained to be friendly with people although there might be the odd skirmish with each other if they become restless or tired. This is usually a territorial aspect and most handlers recognise when it might happen and take appropriate measures.

They will be used to being handled by strangers, in being passed around various people both up and down and walked on the lead. They will have been experienced in hauling, lowering scenarios and hopefully helicopters.

When the dog is called to work the handler will go through a particular regime with his dog to trigger the search mode. These are quite different amongst handlers and it is unlikely you will see the same thing twice. The dog will then begin its search. The handler will keep a close eye on the dog's body language, particularly the tail and ears. The reason for this is that the scent coming out of the rubble can be extremely small and as the dog moves it can go through the scent.

If the handler notices a small change at this point he can then work the dog back into the area which initiated the interest. Once the dog has fixed on a spot it will bark continuously and may point it's nose at the spot. Different conditions will present different responses from the scent.

Through brickwork the scent travels relatively easily, but through compacted rubble much less so. In Armenia the conditions were a great deal of compacted dust from poor concrete while in Turkey the manner of collapse was more open in that there were many voids caused by slabs cantilevered against another. When the dog indicates it is telling you that there is human scent of a live body under the rubble. What it is not saying is the body is directly underneath the dogs nose.

As you will appreciate scent will travel along walls, pipes, voids etc dependant on other conditions prevalent at the time. The casualty could be some distance away from the original point.

Working in a hazardous area, the safety man plays a crucial part of the dog search team. The handler needs a person who can look closely, with experience, and decide the safety of the building the handler is working in. Due to the intensity of concentration required to work a dog the handler may not see some of the more subtle dangers present in a collapsed structure and the safety man is crucial in keeping them safe.

He is also in a position to check out the building for any obvious hazards prior to the commencement of the search. It is of great value if the safety man has a basic understanding of how the dogs work. He may see something the handler has missed while moving up after the dog or negotiating an obstacle.

Handlers will listen to others. They then have the option of putting the dog back in the area. The safety man will be able to stand back and mark the areas searched and should there be any missed he can inform the handler. His role is extremely important.

There are a great many claims made through the world of dogs in this area. Essentially our dogs are trained to find live casualties. They are negatively trained for dead body scent. Without going into the science of it all a persons scent changes after a period of time to become, to a dog, a cadaver. The majority of dead bodies in the collapsed area will be likely to have passed through the stages of rigor mortis and be decomposing bodies to the dog by the time we arrive on overseas duty.

In this country we will be searching usually for live body scent due to response times. Some dogs will show interest in a dead body scent but they will not indicate on them. The handler should be aware of the dogs body language which will give him the clues to establishing live or dead.

In Turkey in November we ran a training exercise for both dogs by deliberately putting them into an area with a known dead body. We wanted to know what, if any, their reaction would be.

There was none from either dog. We then went away from the scene and placed a live body. The reaction was a full bark indication.

Our experience shows that a dedicated dog team to a search team carrying TPL's is a very effective unit indeed. Continental teams work independently but this gives rise to a number of problems. Dogs not available when needed, no knowledge of the standard of dog team, team arrives does the search and moves on.

In Turkey working together proved very effective , a double check before committing recovery teams and being able to use the dogs to try and determine the direction of the tunnelling.