The rescue in chronological order.

• The dog handlers being alarmed by the concerning emergency central
• Transport to the agreed meet point
• Calling in with leader of the rescue operation
• In form every body about the status of the ongoing (police)investigation and if needed add extra information needed for the dog teams
• Notify the Forestry Commission during hunting season because of the hunters
• Coordinate all needed support that is needed for the rescue operation (dogs, helicopters, police on horse etc…) by the leader of the rescue operation in cooperation with government services
• Search stakes
• Transport home

Questioning concerning the missing person
How more unclear the facts are the more important it is to collect the information about the missing person. These are obtained from the family, friends and acquaintances asking them in a calm and business like way. The interviewer has to realize at all times that the involved people are very worried and feel very helpless.

Make it clear to the people that all is being done to find the missing person. The feeling that you are working with a small amount of information works very soothing on one side and on the other side it is of crucial importance of the rescue operation. The questions asked are about:

• The personality of the missing person
• The living conditions of the missing person
• His circle of friends
• His habits ( walking routes, towns ,etc….)

Things that also should be checked :

• Did the missing person have any big plans? Was he suicidal?
• Does he have any health problems?

• Could the missing person have collapsed from a heart disease or an epileptic fit?
• Does he need medication?
• Is he possibly under the influence of alcohol or drugs?

• Is there (mostly with elderly people)a case of dementia?

• Has it been in the future?
• Is the concerned person often confused?

• Is it possible in the case of children that they have been guided away by their sense of adventure.

• Is this possible?
• What places is the child familiar with?
• On what place does the child like to spend it’s time most?

• The child’s last known location

These and similar questions help the rescue team to form an image of what has taken place and the best way for them to respond.

How long does a search mission take?
A large scale rescue operation is a complex mesh-work. 
Of all rescue teams a large stamina is demanded because it is unknown how long this rescue operation will take. It is impossible to give a time that a rescue operation will take. How more reserves in helping forces ( including dog handlers to relieve) the longer a rescue operation can take. 
The time that you can deploy the average dog is dependant on the weather and the roughness of the terrain. The dog can impossibly search concentrated for several hours. By definition the capacity of the of a dog rescue time is used up after 3 days. In more favourable conditions (cool weather and a good humidity) the limit is reached after about searching for 45 minutes in 1 time. 

After that the dog needs a break to keep on searching completely concentrated. How long the break has to be and how many times there can be searched on a day is dependant on the type of dog and its training. At the beginning of the operation a 10 minute break will be long enough. 
The longer the operation takes the longer the breaks have to be. Are all available dogs exhausted and all places have been searched with no success the search will be called off. This decision is sometimes taken after a few days, often after many days and in very exceptional cases after a few weeks.

The left and right area sweeps – a thorough search operation

• Work in 1 line.

Several dogs search simultaneously patches laying next to each other. The handlers walk even in a straight line. The communication has to be maintained by means of sight or at least yelling distance or walkie-talkies.

Has the dog given a clue or is it being held back by special circumstances the rest of the line has to wait until they can go further together.

• Is characterized by a relatively slow and systematic search pattern
• Is characterized by a very good search coverage of the area through small even searches.
• Can take the direction of the wind and use it positively to make it easier for the dog.

Mostly simple splitting up of the area by making use of natural or unnatural border lines. (edge of the forest, stream, road, etc…)

Usability

• The area that has to be searched is not too big
• How more level and even the terrain is the easier it is to carry out the rescue action
• The area is not heavily forested
• It is good to have a light wind current that blows towards the dog. This can be used to the fullest.
• There are enough teams to form a line

carrying out

• There has to be presumed that the missing person is not addressable or even worse dead. In every case there is no reaction given to the calling of the search teams. Because of this a small search net is needed.( adults that get lost mostly try to find contact themselves, but with children there is the risk that they will hide)
• With elderly or injured people the probability is very large that they can be found in a radius of 1 to 4 kilometres from the last place that they were spotted.

• The rescue action is thorough but in comparison slow.
• Especially when there is a suspicion that the missing person is still moving the area that needs to be searched grows very rapidly.

The area can easily be calculated if you imagine a circle shape search area seen from the last point. Assume that the victim is moving in a straight line than the surface that needs to be searched is: search area p x r kilometres ( p =3.14)

Suppose: expect that the suspect walks 2 kilometres an hour and he has been missing for three hours from the last known sighting.

The search area is than:3,14 * (2*3) ² =113,04 km²

 Special circumstances

• This line can also be used with taking care of special circumstances in more steep areas where there has to be paid more attention to the search direction because of the mountain and valley winds.

• Works in most cases if they are searching alone in an area , and only with very good dogs.
• In the ideal case the dog comes back by itself after he has searched an area. If this is not the case the handler call back the dog with the knowledge he possesses of the working methods of the dog and the difficulty of the terrain. ( mark the area to eventually search it again)
• Preferably put the dog against the wind. With densely overgrown vegetation the air current is almost impossible to calculate.

• very small areas
• especially with heavily vegetated terrain

  Execution

• Always, especially when there is a possibility that the missing person is hiding
• If it is expected that there is a corpse hidden

  Disadvantages

• The work that the dog does can not or nearly not be checked
• You cannot tell if the dog really searched everything( you could have a verification done with same dog or another dog immediately or later)

Searching on roads

• The searching of roads and areas that lay immediatly next to it like curbs , trails that go into the woods
• 1 or 2 teams walk by the side of the road . One team concentrates on the leftside and the other on the rightside
• The dog does not work on a leash, the handler pays attention and reads the actions of the dog. The handler also looks for trails with his eyes. 

Usability

• A measure that should be taken directly if the walking route of the missing person is known.(or roughly known)
• In the case that possible locations like home etc… have been checked
• Collecting information

• Mostly with walkers.

Disadvantages

• It is no special disadvantage for the mentioned above
• No coverage of the area

The counter wind search methods in very large areas without a specific searching schedule

• The handler can work fast and get an overview fast. The gathered information is useful for the planning of the further rescue action
• The dog does not work on a leash in a certain radius around the handler
• The search direction is focused on the assumed actions of the missing person
• The searched area has to be drawn on a map very carefully. This way places are marked that have not been searched and need to be searched more precisely ( for example by searching through small rivers left and right) 

• With few search teams a very large space has to be searched.
• The missing person is probably very mobile
• More information of the area is needed
• During a rescue operation during the night, orientation is very hard
• The area has to be searched as soon as possible ( for example a dangerous place or the coming of darkness)

• People who are presumed to be lost
• These people are often able and willing to respond to calling. Because the coverage of the area is not very large due to the fact the handler and the dog keep advancing. The handler has to try and make contact through shouting This way the missing person can be found very fast. In the case that the odour field is not perceptible for the dog .(because the dog also has better hearing than humans), it also has the advantage that he will hear the missing person give an answering shout It’s a plus point if the dog has been trained to respond to this. The initial training puts the emphasis on working with the scent, this is the most important.

• If the victim can’t or won’t respond to calls, the effectiveness of the search operation decreases very fast, if the smell field of the victim does not reach the dogs nose any more.
• The chances to gain a quick result must outweigh the dangers of defecting.

 Search in the dark

A lot of distress calls come in to the rescue dog teams in the evening or night. During the day they have been hoping for the missed one to come back. Also many friends and family members have searched themselves before reporting the missing person.

Now the rescue dog team has to take the decision if the rescue mission will take place in the morning or immediately. In this case the urgency of the matter has to be set.

• Can the missing person withhold the night?
• What are the weather conditions like
• Are there certain dangers in the suspected area

A special risk group are children, the elderly, people with disabilities, wounded people and acutely suicidal people. In all these cases there will also be a night search, if the risks are not too great for the rescue teams. Searching at night does not give any problems for the dogs because they work with their nose and not their eyes. There is more trouble with the orientation of the handler. The dog can wear a flashing light. It offers the handler a way to control the dogs work during a rescue operation. Avoid flashing a light at the dog because it can be blinded by of it.

• Searching is favourable during a cool night
• The air humidity is higher and the temperature distinguishes the victim even more from its environment. The conditions are also better for the dog. ( medium air humidity, no heavy rain is much better for the sense of smell )
• There are usually no other people present in the search area
• There can be worked in teams. A team searches in the night and gathers information. A fresh morning team takes the work over and receives for their preparation, specific information from the night team.

• During the night it takes longer to search a certain area than during the day. Even with light it is not easy to find the way. During the night you underestimate distances and proportions easily.
• The use of a map is limited or not possible.
• During the day parts of the area can be thoroughly searched if desired.
• Special dangers e.g. an abyss can obstruct the night search.
• If there is decided for a left –right system the strokes have to be decreased to gain a better contact with the dog.
• If the dog stays away for an unusually long time the handler should not just call him back but convince himself that the dog might have discovered something ( for example a place that has been occupied by the person being searched for)

The left – right system with divided search fields just as during the day is done. The only difference is that it is of a smaller form. For the searching without schedule they have to get a better complete picture and of the size of the area. The best thing to do is to walk around it with the dog.

• The best is to try and get a map of the area. In case of emergency you can make one yourself where you draw the land points and the estimated distance.
• You can better orientate during the rescue at special land points and look for trails, roads and rivers.
• You can call the missing person often unless there is the possibility that the victim moves himself further from you.
• After the search there has to be pinpointed exactly where and what has not been searched thoroughly.

Statistics

The following concerns the numbers below:

• The missing person was on a place known to him before his disappearance
• The missing person disappeared during a walk from the road or known route
• The victim walked straight through an area ( hunters, photographers and nature lovers)

Disappearance during a walk

• 22% stayed on a road or trail
• 61% left the main road
• 34% took a short cut
• 22% went towards civilisation without following a road
• 5% got lost in dense woods
• 11% were found in dangerous areas
• 5% had on the road or close by it , health problems
• 1% other

Disappearance in the wilderness

• 62% found and stayed on paths etc.
• 23% stayed in highly vegetated areas
• 8% looked for signs of civilisation
• 4% were in dangerous terrain
• 3% other

What distance does the average missing person make (radius).

The chart shows that in a flat terrain most victims are found within a radius of 1.6 to 3.2 kilometres.