Rescue Dog Training

The science and art of cadaver dog training

“A dog is an amazing thing,” says Orval Banks, smiling wryly and adjusting his faded gray ballcap.

He’s explaining the techniques he uses to train dogs, but really, he says, you don’t train a dog. It knows what it’s doing, and you’re just teaching it to communicate with you and teaching yourself to understand its subtle language. Because, you see, a dog is an amazing thing.

Banks runs a company called Southern Pride Search and Rescue Dogs, so he knows something about dogs.

He’s a wizened character, in plaid shirt and jeans, whose name often gets mistaken for Wilbur. He’s not sure why. He’s pretty soft-spoken but knows more than most in his field about what makes a good search dog.

“Train, train, train,” says Banks, chuckling slightly.

And he’s been training dogs now for more than 20 years. His dogs are cross-trained, both in search and rescue and what law enforcement refer to as search and recovery, when they’re looking for remains instead of people.

Rescue, though, says Banks, is his first job.

“I like to get them trained on finding the live people first because that’s a priority. Dead people are not going anywhere,” says Banks.

Still, though, recovery of remains are accounting for more and more of his calls these days, around 50 percent.

Banks isn’t a Haywood County native — he was born in Yancey County and moved around in his younger days — but he’s lived here now for 35 years, and it was 40 years ago that he got into search and rescue, mostly as a volunteer.

A few weeks ago, Banks helped out at a training day for cadaver dogs and their handlers held at Western Carolina University, though he’s loathe to use the word ‘cadaver,’ favoring the less abrasive ‘human remains detection.’

Unlike a lot of that crowd, and the cadaver dog world generally, he’s not from a law enforcement background. He keeps at it four decades later for the love of finding that which was lost.

“If you ever find a little four-year-old kid that’s been out there a couple of days and it’s getting dark, and the temperatures are about freezing, it makes it all worthwhile, you get kind of hooked on it,” says Banks.

And he’s good at it, too, which he puts down to the intensive amount of training that he does with his dog, about twice a week.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t train but once every two or three months and then wonder why they never find anybody,” says Banks. “Every time you go out with your dog, you learn something about your dog.

Boxer puppy or rescue? - Dog Training Advice | Dog Training Advice

My dog is a purebred rescue and is the sweetest dog on the planet.

The good thing about rescue is that often you know the history of the dog. You’ll -know- if they don’t like kids, cats, or whatever.

Another good thing about breed rescue is that the groups work VERY hard to make sure you are a good match.

And you are right, training once you get them is the key.

Young boxers can do VERY well with new families, given you are gentle and loving and accepting. Of course, with structure and rules.

I think that if a rescue is an option, that it’s what you should go with. With the holidays passing, more and more dogs will start showing up in shelters – XMAS gifts that the family couldn’t handle.

I hope this helps. : )

I think a rescue is definitely safe plus you avoid the puppy issues. People aggression and dog aggression are entirely seperate issues and one does not relate to the other. The attack on the smaller dog could have been a “protect my family” move. A young but mature dog should already have some training and you can more quickly teach the rest. Just be sure to tell the rescue what you are looking for in a dog’s personality and temperament and they usually work really hard to make the right match. Their goal is to find the best fit for both of you so that the dog has a loving, forever home that will be able to keep him for life. BOL!

Go RESCUE!

Any good rescue will thoroughly evaluate a dog before taking it. I am a volunteer for a lab rescue that has evaluated a number of dogs. If we see the slightest bit of aggression, we won’t take them – that means growling, nipping, any resistence to taking away their food or a treat, any reaction to have their tails grabbed or feet held.

Also go with a rescue that uses foster homes – these dogs have been living in homes with kids, cats, other dogs, so you will know how they should react when you get them to your home. And a good rescue will tell you EVERYTHING about the dog whether good or bad. I review applications as well and we recently had a dog that had been severely beaten and neglected before we got her. She was a beautiful, sweet lab mix (looked like a perfect blonde lab but full grown and only weighing about 40 lbs) and we got lots of applications specifying her as the dog they wanted. She was a doll, but was very scared of men and had already had one failed adoption where she didn’t eat for a week, bit the adopted (a college guy) multiple times requiring stitches twice, and finally ran away.

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