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2008

SAR MISSION IN DONJA STUBICA
15/12/2007

On Saturday, 15 December 2007 Sara and Cap participated in rescue mission in Donja Stubica (more).

Cap

RUBBLE SEARCH TEST
01-02/12/2007

At the weekend of 01 and 02 December 2007, Sara was participating in search and rescue tests. With Myf she was taking rubble search test of 1st level (RH-T/A) and with Cap rubble search test of 2nd level (RH-T/B). The tests were held in Zagreb in organization of the club HUOPP. Complete test was judged by the Austrian IRO judge Gerd Thanner.

Sara & Myf

On Saturday Sara was taking test with Myf. Unfortunately Myf failed the search part of the test, because she found only one "body" out of two. Myf located second hidden person and signalized that to Sara by some squealing, but as Myf didn't bark, Sara couldn't report finding and couldn't pass the test. The "body", hidden in a closed wooden box, was obviously too difficult for the young inexperienced Myf. The fact that she couldn't see the hidden person or just have a stronger flow of his scent resulted in that she didn't decide to stick around and notify the finding with barking.
Because they didn't train on ruins for more than two weeks, Sara was less sad with the problem of location of the "body" than with Myf's low intensity and lack of enthusiasm in searching. I feel that the reason for that was Myf's lack of confidence because new surroundings (ruin), the exam circumstances and the "body hidden too difficult (for Myf). For both obedience and dexterity Myf got excellent 47/50 points. Even the judge complimented her for highly motivated and precise performance on that part of test.

Cap negotiating the ladder

On Sunday it was Cap's turn. Cap was brilliant is the searching part. He found all three hidden persons in only 3,5 minutes (from 30 minutes that were allowed) and for that he rightfully earned 196/200 points. The intensity of his work and speed with which he negotiated all three floors and basement left the audience speechless. And his extreme enthusiasm and speed didn't affect the precision and determination with which Cap was searching and marking all three "bodies". In this test Cap didn't show any problems with "microlocation", which was his biggest problem in his youth. It seems that three months of continuous training in ruins were worthwhile :-). In obedience they got 47 points. In dexterity 45 points. Most of the points they lost because Cap, because of excitement, didn't sit completely to the ground in front of a few obstacles. His agility "spirit" overcame his obedience, but who could blame him after such beautiful searching :-).

Sara waiting for her turn

AREA SEARCH TEST
18/11/2007

On Sunday Sara went to Slovenia to participate in an area search test of 1st level (RH-FL/A) with Myf. Mawlch Loch and Lynn - 18 months old brother and sister from Pip's 2nd litter - were also participating at that test. Loch and Lynn successfully accomplished obedience and dexterity part of exam and also found both hidden persons. Sincere congratulations!

Darja & Lynn

Sara and Myf didn't succeed in passing the searching part of test. Myf found the first hidden person without a problem, but unfortunately she couldn't find the second one. For, to Sara, unclear reasons, Myf didn't want to go deep into the searching area at only one place and, of course, there was the second hidden person. It wasn't the problem of tiredness, because Sara was able to send Myf on other (parallel) side so far away that Myf even went out of the searching area. All in all, Sara and Myf were training hard and because of that Sara was very disappointed with that surprising fact that she's not able to send Myf where she intended, but also because of Myf's running speed which was maybe about 60% of the speed and enthusiasm that Myf has on the training. Obedience and dexterity they passed, which was expected (obedience with 41 points, dexterity with 47 points).

RUBBLE SEARCH TEST
17/11/2007

On 17 November 2007 rubble search test of 1st level (RH-T/A) was being held in Zagreb and it was organized by our Club. Sara participated with Cap.
The searching area was a storehouse in the basement of HRT (Croatian national radio and television) building. The size was about 600 m2 and the main problem for dogs was very low ventilation, which made "microlocation" of bodies very difficult. Cap found the first hidden person easily and very fast. The hidden person was in a 2-meter-deep hole in a very dark room. Not before long, Cap was barking at the second "body" in another room. But this time his voice was inconsistent and Sara wasn't completely sure if Cap really found the hidden person or if he was barking at the scent that remained from the previously hidden "bodies". As they were at only 6th or 7th minute from allowed 15, she decided first to search with Cap the remaining area and then to check again that room where he was barking. Because Cap didn't find anybody in other parts of the searching area and he was persistently barking again in that room, Sara reported that Cap found the "body". Cap was barking intensely and confidently with the front paws pressed against the wall with a big hole. Sara climbed the ladder and lightened the hole, but there was nobody inside. Because Cap was so convinced that there is somebody, she looked around and on the opposite wall she saw the hiding place where the person was hidden. The judge acknowledged that finding as valid, because the circulation of the air in that room caused that strongest scent of the "body" to be exactly where Cap was barking and also because Sara and Cap worked as a team and found the hidden person in proximity. Therefore they were awarded with high 187 points for searching. Obedience and dexterity work was held in heavy snow, but even that didn't influence Cap's focus, so they got 44 points in obedience and 46 in dexterity.

Darko and Asja negotiating unpleasant surface

AREA SEARCH TEST AND COMPETITION
24/03/2007

From the fall last year, when Vilim grew up a bit, Sara again started to train search and rescue with Myf. Her plan for this year was for Myf to pass at least one SAR test and that she become our new SAR dog. But, because Myf was pregnant and she's with pup at the moment, Sara decided to restore the fitness of her champ Cap.
On Sunday, 24.03.2007, our Club was organizing an area search test and competition. Because the competition was held so close and because Sara was planning to participate in at least two SAR events this year anyway (so that she keeps her active status), she entered this competition. Sara didn't have big expectations, because she didn't train more than 5-6 times with Cap and, what was more important, Sara felt that she is also not quite fit. After all, there was over 20 months from the last competition.
When the competition started, first on the schedule was searching. Sara was happy that she'll first deal with "the biggest stress", searching is for her the biggest challenge. Searching was in the forest that looked like it was made for competitions. The forest road was going through the complete searching area and the handler was obligated to walk only on that road. First 200 meters of the forest was very dense and impenetrable and the last third was better, but the ground was all covered with Bear's Garlic (Alium ursinum) whose stench was intense even for handlers. The weather was good for work. The temperature was about 10 degrees Celsius and it wasn't oppressive. But there was no wind, so the dogs really need to cover all the area to be able to catch the scent. The judge was Mr Stanovnik from Slovenia.
Cap was concentrated and ready to rush into the forest. The moment Sara slipped of his collar from his neck over and said "search", he disappeared in the bushes. Most of the time Sara neither saw nor heard him, because forest was really dense and after first 5-6 meters a dog was out of sight. Sara lost a lot of time for searching the beginning of the searching area, because she suspected that there could be one of the "bodies" hidden. This is one of the critical parts of the area on which handlers, in a hurry, usually don't pay enough attention. And later, when the dogs are far from the beginning's edge, it is a slim chance that they'll be able pick up the scent if the hidden person is really hiding there. But, there was nobody in the beginning. Sara heard the first barking when she was on the 80th meter of the forest road. Through really impenetrable bushes she barely managed to reach the hidden person. The girl that was hidden, through the laughter, said that she was really worried that nobody would find her, because the first two dogs didn't manage to find her. When returning from that first "body", Sara literally got lost in one moment and she needed the "voice navigation" from the search area steward to find her way back through that dense vegetation. Cap found the second "body" around the 250th meter of the search area. The person was lying excellently hidden in that Bear's Garlic behind one tree. After the second finding of a "body" Sara felt that maybe she missed somebody, because the searching area end was so near and there was still one person not found. She suggested to the judge that if there is nobody there, in those last 50 meters, that she could end her search in order not to tire Cap unnecessary and also not to waste time for other competitors. But the judge said that she continue with the search. So Sara released Cap again and after a few minutes, two minutes before the time ran out, they found the last "body". Sara was thrilled with happiness, Cap quite exhausted but good. For search performance they god excellent 198 points out of 200 :-). Judge was obviously very pleased with Cap's willing to please, independence and enthusiasm. They lost two points because one small part of the area was passed too quickly, without thorough examination.
Next part was obedience. It was judged by a young Slovenian judge, Ms Jerneja. They got 48/50 points. Sara was very pleased with that. They lost half of a point for one Cap's sit a bit slow and for extra visual command at "crawling" exercise. They lost another point because Cap twitched when he heard a gun shot in "sit" exercise. Sara would personally take a point more because Cap shortly lost his concentration when they were passing through a group of people, but obviously the judge didn't see that as a mistake because Cap was in the "heel" position all the time.
In the last part, obstacle work or dexterity, Sara and Cap got 47/50 points. They lost one point because Cap jumped off the table a little before Sara actually called him, because in one moment Cap deviated from the heel position when they were walking over unpleasant surface, and because, in “carrying and handing over the dog” exercise, Sara called Cap to frontal position and not the heel position by mistake.
There were 13 competitors from Croatia and Slovenia in that competition. "Fight for the throne" was very intense and exciting, because all Croatian and one Slovenian competitor had a high score in the searching part. Therefore, in the end, the decisive fact was the score at obedience and obstacles. When all the points were calculated, Cap was announced as the winner and on second and third place were Cap's nieces, Mona Bartolovi Dvori (daughter of Cap's sister Cal) and Mawlch Gunna (daughter of Cap's sister Cass). And so members of KOSSP Zagreb (although the forest where the searching took place was completely new and unknown to them too) took all three first places and showed again that they are excellent rescuers with great dogs :-).

2006

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