Survivor Kid: A Practical Guide to Wilderness Survival

Survivor Kid: A Practical Guide to Wilderness Survival — page 9 — search dogs and their handlers The dogs can smell people from far away and they can follow the scent trails people leave behind as they walk Search dogs are trained to ride in helicopters and ATVs to be obedient and to follow instructions well In addi tion they are usually excellent swimmers A search dog may be any breed but all search dogs have two things in common they are eager to work and they love to find people There are two kinds of search dogs Area search dogs run free and look for any human who's nearby If they find someone they run back to their handlers and tell them by barking or jumping up on their human partners Then they bring them to the lost person Trailing dogs work on long leashes that are held by their handlers Usually the handlers allow the trailing dogs to smell something that has the lost person's scent on it such as a sweater or other piece of clothing Every person on the planet has a different smell Even twins smell different to a search dog Then ignoring hundreds of other smells the trailing dogs follow that unique scent into the wilderness until they reach the source of the smell the lost person CH RESCUE Most dogs that work in search and rescue wear orange vests called shabracks that identify them as working dogs Also most of these dogs wear bells on their harness The bells help the han dlers keep track of the dogs and they help lost people to know that help is nearby If you are lost and you hear bells start yelling or blowing your whistle to help the search teams find you If they are called in to help find you search and rescue people will grab their search packs load up their horses dogs and

Survivor Kid: A Practical Guide to Wilderness Survival — page 10 — ATVs and report to the search headquarters which is called the command post Your parent or guardian will be asked many questions such as what you look like how old you are what you are wearing and whether or not you have any survival train ing They may be asked for a piece of clothing or some other item that has your scent on it so that the dogs on the search and rescue team can learn your smell Pilots might fly planes or heli copters over the area where you went missing That location is called PLS place last seen or point last seen If there are dangerous weather conditions and it is dark the searchers may not be allowed to search until daybreak or until conditions improve That is why it is important for you to be able to take care of yourself for a few hours or a day until they find you Remember people are coming to find you as soon as they can What if you're not lost but someone that you are with like a little brother or sister wanders away from you and goes missing as you are exploring the wilderness together What do you do You can be a big help to search and rescue by marking the spot where you last saw that person Perhaps you could make a big X on the trail with sticks Then go get help from an adult Lots of kids who are lost do something that could prevent them from being rescued they hide from the people who are searching for them either because their parents told them not to speak to strangers or because they think that people will be angry with them for getting lost There have been cases Where for several days searchers were just a few feet away from the lost kids they were looking for but the cold and hungry children stayed hidden in the bushes because they were afraid of what would happen to them when they were found This kind of behavior is danger ous and it isn't very smart Search and rescue people not only risk their own lives to find lost kids but they often put their horses and dogs in danger too Don't be one of those kids who hide from the people who are trying to save them Your parents want you to be found Just ask

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