Buchen 25th April- 5th May 2007
The weather was beautiful as we all arrived at Buchen near Hamburg to begin my Second mantrailing seminar in Germany and it was to continue with no rain for the whole time of the seminar which although it made things hard for the dogs it was nice to be able to sit and discuss things in the relative shade of the trees.
We were 14 in total with 8 handlers and dogs and also several dog trainers without dogs from the air scenting groups who wanted to know about what and how mantrailing worked.
It was an excellent mix and we had a very intensive week with both practical work, theory and visual aids courtesy of everything from bubbles to chemical smoke, video cameras etc etc.
As the week went on we took the people from the basics of scent discrimination and indication through beginner puppy stages up through finding unknown trails and ignoring cross trails up to working status.
There were lots of discussions especially as to how bacteria multiply etc etc and everyone was left in no doubt at the end of the week as to how much work they have to do in the next year but everyone was also happy that they now have the theory of how to do it the rest is up to intensive training.
After the seminar finished I had the opportunity to watch and test two of my puppies from two years ago now both working in germany and courtesy of two willing ladies I was able to get two trails laid in an area about 25km away from where we were.
10 hours later we turned up to be met and given a story of a missing woman last seen in the village.
Both trails were around 4 kms through streets, forest paths, forest roads, main roads and as it was a nice evening there were lots of people walking dogs and cycling to add to the confusion.
I followed along behind each handler in turn with my judging hat on and was pleasantly surprised at how well and easily the dogs found the scent and kept steadily working.
Both trails took just under two hours to work and both were rewarded with a satisfying conclusion and the two missing women were thankfully last seen enjoying a refreshing drink.
I was quite hard in my judging probably I think because I had bred the two hounds but I had to admit that I was very happy with them and in my opinion they are both capable teams and ready and waiting for the next missing person call out
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Discussing how to start a search
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I just love this weather hope they leave me in peace
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