Saturday, April 10, 2010

Avalanche Rescue Dogs

The other day I had the opportunity to be involved in a demonstration with an avalanche rescue dog. Lots of ski resorts keep dogs around because in the event of an avalanche they can sniff you out from underneath quite a bit of snow. The bad news is that it takes some time for your scent to waft up through the snow, so a dog rescue is still a last resort. The best plan is not getting caught in the first place. In any case, here's how dog rescues work.

Step 1: Get in a hole in the snow
Step 2: Get inescapably sealed in
Step 3: Let Jake the avalanche dog sniff around and dig you out. (Kind of a bad picture.)
Step 4: Play tug o' war with Jake the avalanche dog. That's his reward; the promise of getting to play keeps him motivated. Plus he pulls really hard, which can help you get out of the hole in the ground.
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2 comments:

Adam said...

Cool!

RockDr said...

Glad the dog found you - it would be uncomfortable to be left inescapably trapped in a hole in the snow.