Page 34 - RAVC Centenary Parade

body with speed and purpose requires a high degree of skill and courage to assist in the dog’s development and avoid injury.
A DETECT MWD’s primary role is to detect a target scent. This requires a highly developed sense of smell, focused mind and a drive and willingness to work. CTS have supplied trained dogs for use in many diverse environments such as the jungles of Brunei and the deserts of Afghanistan. Theyaretrainedtodetectsubstancessuch as narcotics, explosives, or any other target scent. There are different disciplines, and care is taken in selecting the correct breed for the right job. The breed of dog selected is predominantly gun dog breed as these have a proven track record, although this is not
always the case. The Belgian Malinois breed does make extremely good and reliable search dog; they are the breed selected for the High Assurance Search Dog.
Dogs are trained using operant and classical conditioning. A dog that gets rewarded at the right time is a dog that understands better that it has done a good job. If a reward is withheld from the dog this informs it that it must work a little harde.r The keystone to training is, of course, relationship between dog and trainer; this does not come easy and takes time, which is a commodity with a high price. From this however comes the trust and respect that will assist throughout the dogs training at the DATR.
LCpl Taylor RAVC
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MELTON MOWBRAY / FRIDAY 27 JULY 2018