The idea with the nasty old man is to see how the dog reacts if something unexpected suddenly happens during a search. Maybe a cat jumps forward, or a person who has been hiding.
– We make a mental characteristic description of the dogs. To see what you need to work on, with your dog. If you have a dog that is too scared, you need to work with courage and if it is too aggressive, you have to restrain your dog, says John Säljgård, who is one of the course instructors.
In addition, self-preservation and the ability to get angry are also assessed.
Do not test on your own
– Of course they can react, but you don’t want them to explode when things rattle in a warehouse. The nerves must work, says John Säljgård and sends a warning:
– We don’t want “Pelle Persson” to build his own scary old man and try this at home. If you don’t know what you are doing, an exercise like this can have a negative effect on the dog.
The vocational training is the only one of its kind in Dalarna and has met with great interest, after 200 requests, about 40 dogs from all over Sweden have been tested and of these, 16 dogs with handlers have been selected to attend the training.
In a house a stone’s throw away, another group of dogs is training to search. In about a year, the idea is that the dogs will be able to take on assignments as drug detection dogs. Between the physical meetings in Dala-Järna there will be homework to practice on.
“Hope to become resources in the fight against drugs”
– My hope is that our dogs will become resources in the fight against drugs. I think it’s exciting to develop the dogs and see their enormous potential, says Lotta Lindqvist from Sunne in Värmland, who attends the training with the hunting labrador Lisa.
Start the clip above to see how Lisa and the other course participants reacted to the test with the creepy old man!