# how do i train my gsd to search



## dracolis (Oct 8, 2008)

i have a 6 month old gsd her name is dixie what im wanting to do is teach her to search things or people by scent i have been using my son as the gunie pig by me holding her with me petting her and keeping her attention and having him run and hide but what happens is she will walk around a lil but if she cant see him she will come back to me like oh well i cant find him i want to train her to use her nose not just her eyes im not in to al lthe competitions i got her for a companion and friend for me and my son im a volunteer firefighter and though maby she could help out if the need ever arised


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## GSDTrain (Apr 21, 2008)

basically you need to start off with runaways like you are doing now. make her want to go find your son.


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## Amaruq (Aug 29, 2001)

Instead of petting her you want to hold her collar and "rev her up" by letting her see your son running off. Have your son wave his arms, calling her and get her all excited (with her favorite toy is a bonus) as soon as he ducks to hide he should be quiet and you let her go excitedly telling her to search, go find or whatever you want to use. When she gets into him have him praise her and then play with her with her favorite toy. 

Not all dogs have the drive/interest to search but this method should work if she has any inkling for the task.


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## kleinenHain (Sep 20, 2007)

She first needs to know what you're wanting. the way I start off my search pups is I want them to see me run off. Once I hide in some tall grass or behind a tree I still call their name when the person holding the dog is getting the dog all excited about coming after me. Then you let the pup go.


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## dracolis (Oct 8, 2008)

thanks for the tips she comes when called and i think i seen her stalkin a gofer yesterday she looked neat doin it she was literaly crawling on the ground and then she jumped up and took off runnin barkin about 10 feet and then looked around like where did it go i was watchin on the porch she looked at me like did you see where it went it was kind of funny


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## BlakeandLiza (Aug 13, 2009)

My dad was teaching my childhood GSD this as a game before he was killed.

He used to do the same as everyone has already suggested, but he would always make us give him an article of clothing (previously worn sock, shirt, etc.) that had our scent on it so he knew who he was looking for. When we would go "hide", he would get Buddy all excited and before he would let him loose to find us, he would make Buddy smell the clothing (put it right in his face so he had to get a good wiff.

Then when Buddy found us, we would do a lot of praise and give him an Oreo cookie as a treat for a job well done. (At the time, we didn't know chocolate was bad for him...and he LOVED them) 

It got to the point that if we didn't have the Oreo, he would give us a dirty look and leave us in the woods where he found us!







But it was a lot of fun!


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## dracolis (Oct 8, 2008)

ok our first training session lasted 5 minutes we searched 3 times the first time he ran away flappin like a bird calling dixie dixie i held her collor and was askin her you want to go get him lets go get him and i had a shirt he was wearing this week i figured it would help what she did was lay donw on her back and look up at me like what do you want so i heard him get quiet and let go of her color and said go get him she rolled over and shot off and just ran past him 2 times i didnt see the path he took but she didnt sniff the ground once she eventualy found he he steped on a stick lol whele behind the tree 

2nd attempt i told him dont run so far just go out strait like you did before and and duck behind of of the trees out there 

i was holding her color and she turned upside down again and looked at me while im trying to rev her up i let her go when i see him hide and tell her go find colton (my sons name) she jumps uo runs strait past him then turns and passes him again then she sees him and goes to him lol now i told him once she finds him to pet her and tell her she found him and she is a good girl 

3rd attemt ok i gother by the color again she is laying on her side this time i tell him take off across the field and duck behind the pine tree beside the travel trailer so he takes off flapping and calling her but this time i let her go when he got to the trailer just before he duckd bahind the tree and i told her the same thing go find colton had her sniff his shirt all 3 times this time she went strait to him 
he praised her and come back told me she was there before he even got hid good lol 

and then she lost intrest she is an out side dog and has her own chair on the porch i called her back he was filling her water bowl and cleaing it out and i told her go find him she went toher chair and curled up and layed down gave me that look like he is 3 feet from you yo go find him lol 

i want to make sure im not doing an of this the wrong way she is only 6 months old and still kind of clumsey which is cute in its own way


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## jake (Sep 11, 2004)

???? what is her reward for making big effort to track?Might want to start with short trail with food treats along the track.Are you alongside to correct -praise -encourage.If you only want a dog that finds family members as a game maybe OK.Just decide what the reward for the dog will be. hate to say but dogs are just like people in thinking -WHY would I do that?


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## dracolis (Oct 8, 2008)

like i had said in the first post im wanting my ultimate goal for her to be able to seach out someone by scent i was told in a previous post i had to teach her what it is im trying to get her to do first by having her look for my son and watch him run away from her calling her so she knows she is supposed ot find him i figured once she gets the hang of that ill have him stop calling her and justrun away to hide flapping his arms once she gets that ill have him just run and hide quietly and see how she does with that i also use one of his shirts to let her smell prior to releasing her
i hadnt thought of running along side her to encourage her but as far as her treat when she finds him he praises her with petting and telling her you found me your a good girl this is her first type of training like this i used the peting and good girl method when i was teaching her to come when called and it worked 

she is an agressive dog when it comes to people food im not sure how to go about giving her a food type treat without getting bit cause you can hear the teeth when she snaps her mouth shut and i know if my son sees me try to give her a treat he will and even though he is 14 i realy would rather not get him bit trying to do what dad does 

i invole my son in her training and care because i want her to for lack of a better word respect us both they play together all thetime she chases him all over the field we live on 10 acers and i am sure they have explored it all and also ultimatly if someone came on our land in a threatening manner id like for her to be a protector of sorts for him i probably need ot get her in to a class but from what i have seen there is none in my area with out driving a long ways off i live in east texas and i am a single dad and money is tight right now so im trying to teach her all i can on my own for now


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## angierose (Apr 20, 2009)

> Originally Posted By: dracolis
> she is an agressive dog when it comes to people food im not sure how to go about giving her a food type treat without getting bit cause you can hear the teeth when she snaps her mouth shut and i know if my son sees me try to give her a treat he will and even though he is 14 i realy would rather not get him bit trying to do what dad does


Is she aggressive or just excited? You can teach a dog to take treats from you gently, and it's a useful skill to teach her, especially if anyone besides your family may ever want to give her something. You don't want her nipping a little kid. The game you're playing sounds like an exciting game for a dog though so even then she might get overexcited and get a finger while going for a treat. You can offer a treat on your flattened palm to avoid her "failing" to be gentle. 

I don't have any help for the search training, but here are some links for training to take treats.
http://trainingunleashed.com/dog-puppy-obedience-training/teaching-your-dog-to-take-food-gently/ 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipT5k1gaXhc


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## TxRider (Apr 15, 2009)

I taught my last dog to find items, never did teach her to find people.

I did it by using her favorite toys. First I named them all, by basically just using the name of the toy every time we played with it.

Then teaching her to fetch each one by name. Picking the correct named one from several toys on the floor.

Then starting the hide and seek part, having her stay, hiding it somewhere in the house, and having her fetch it and slowly switching to "find it".

Then I moved the game outside later.

I would have her stay around a corner, or with her face hidden between my legs, and throw it aay somewhere, then have her "find it". She also picked up hand signals for where to look pretty quickly doing this as well. In the end I could whistle to get her to look at me, and guide her to something with hand(arm really) signals from quite a long distance away.

I never had a reason to teach her to find a person, but I would have started by naming people she knew, by having her take a toy or go to them by name, then after it she had it down having her find them by name.

I've always been big on names. I repeat names of anything we use, rooms we enter, I name each door, back, front, garage door etc. and repeat the names when I go to or through them. My last girl knew all the rooms in the house by name, each door that went outside, the front and back yard, the pizza man, front window, each of her toys, stick, pine cone, tree, cigarettes, my lighter, steak, pizza, van, car, all kinds of things. Once they learn names of several places and things it gets pretty easy for some dogs.

Also it may sound strange, but not all dogs know how to work the breeze by running across it to pick up a scent without help learning.


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