Found pictures of my dog luna from when we had first gotten her!

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh that's awesome!
I could TRY calling but only if I feel she is trained pretty well. I still need to work on her temperament. She can be a bit barky at times and high strung.
But I will definitely look into that.

Thank you so much! Means a lot from you

I wouldn't wait until she's calm/you think her training is ready - explain that you're a beginner and just want an idea of where to start. Because you want to train her right from the start, and don't want to accidentally train her in a way that's not quite right for search and rescue, then have to try to un-do that training and confuse her, you know? No dog is perfectly behaved at the beginning of training.
The training is likely to take years, so you just want to learn a good basic foundation to work on with her, aiming to maybe build slowly to being advanced enough to do it, you know? Or google "how to train a search and rescue dog" and see what you find!

Being barky and high strung isn't a downside in a search and rescue dog at all, I don't think! They need to be high energy to work potentially for hours looking for a missing person, lots of them bark to alert when they find them/something they own, and you'd be channelling her energy into a really worthwhile goal! She might end up not being right for search and rescue, but she might well be! Her mix of breeds are really suited to doing that kind f work though, and she's obviously showing promise already! So don't get your hopes up too high, but even if she wound up not qualifying for that, she'd still love the training, would get her "working brain" occupied and burn energy, and you'd learn a lot about how to train a search and rescue dog, then who knows? Maybe a different dog you have later on would be more suited to it.

Before I got Pixie as a pup, I really wanted to train her as a PAT therapy dog. You know those ones that go into hospitals and old people's homes, so they can pet the dog and cheer them up/lower stress? She's super smart and very good at obedience, but as she grew I found she was a bit nervous of strangers, and while she loves a good fuss, she doesn't like it when people put their hand over the top of her head to pet her. So while I would have loved to do PAT therapy, it didn't suit her personality and she wouldn't have enjoyed it, so we didn't. Maybe another dog I have one day will be suited. I'd love to do search and rescue too! I regret that I didn't pursue it when she was a pup. Again, maybe one day!

 

[Rocky998]

I wouldn't wait until she's calm/you think her training is ready - explain that you're a beginner and just want an idea of where to start. Because you want to train her right from the start, and don't want to accidentally train her in a way that's not quite right for search and rescue, then have to try to un-do that training and confuse her, you know? No dog is perfectly behaved at the beginning of training.
The training is likely to take years, so you just want to learn a good basic foundation to work on with her, aiming to maybe build slowly to being advanced enough to do it, you know? Or google "how to train a search and rescue dog" and see what you find!

Being barky and high strung isn't a downside in a search and rescue dog at all, I don't think! They need to be high energy to work potentially for hours looking for a missing person, lots of them bark to alert when they find them/something they own, and you'd be channelling her energy into a really worthwhile goal! She might end up not being right for search and rescue, but she might well be! Her mix of breeds are really suited to doing that kind f work though, and she's obviously showing promise already! So don't get your hopes up too high, but even if she wound up not qualifying for that, she'd still love the training, would get her "working brain" occupied and burn energy, and you'd learn a lot about how to train a search and rescue dog, then who knows? Maybe a different dog you have later on would be more suited to it.

Before I got Pixie as a pup, I really wanted to train her as a PAT therapy dog. You know those ones that go into hospitals and old people's homes, so they can pet the dog and cheer them up/lower stress? She's super smart and very good at obedience, but as she grew I found she was a bit nervous of strangers, and while she loves a good fuss, she doesn't like it when people put their hand over the top of her head to pet her. So while I would have loved to do PAT therapy, it didn't suit her personality and she wouldn't have enjoyed it, so we didn't. Maybe another dog I have one day will be suited. I'd love to do search and rescue too! I regret that I didn't pursue it when she was a pup. Again, maybe one day!

I'm not saying to wait until she is perfectly trained, I'm just trying to wait until I can kinda get her well behaved and to know the basic commands of sit, stay, come, follow, all without a treat. She can be a stubborn female dog, ya know

 

[Rocky998]

The training is likely to take years, so you just want to learn a good basic foundation to work on with her, aiming to maybe build slowly to being advanced enough to do it, you know? Or google "how to train a search and rescue dog" and see what you find!

Most definitely! This process will take a long time.
And I've already noticed how the bond between us has strengthened.
I've heavily been relying on YT and google to help me. I found this one guy on you tube and he did an excellent job of explaining some stuff.

Being barky and high strung isn't a downside in a search and rescue dog at all, I don't think! They need to be high energy to work potentially for hours looking for a missing person, lots of them bark to alert when they find them/something they own, and you'd be channelling her energy into a really worthwhile goal! She might end up not being right for search and rescue, but she might well be! Her mix of breeds are really suited to doing that kind f work though, and she's obviously showing promise already! So don't get your hopes up too high, but even if she wound up not qualifying for that, she'd still love the training, would get her "working brain" occupied and burn energy, and you'd learn a lot about how to train a search and rescue dog, then who knows? Maybe a different dog you have later on would be more suited to it.

Yah, that's why I'm trying not to get my hopes too high even though I really want it to work out.
What I mean by barky is that she will bark a lot at strangers (not as much when we're out in public but when they come to our house or if the person out in public makes her feel weird, she barks a ton). And she can't be doing that while searching...
And by high strung I mean that she can be really stubborn and want to play. She can get jumpy...

 

[Rocky998]

Before I got Pixie as a pup, I really wanted to train her as a PAT therapy dog. You know those ones that go into hospitals and old people's homes, so they can pet the dog and cheer them up/lower stress? She's super smart and very good at obedience, but as she grew I found she was a bit nervous of strangers, and while she loves a good fuss, she doesn't like it when people put their hand over the top of her head to pet her. So while I would have loved to do PAT therapy, it didn't suit her personality and she wouldn't have enjoyed it, so we didn't. Maybe another dog I have one day will be suited. I'd love to do search and rescue too! I regret that I didn't pursue it when she was a pup. Again, maybe one day!

Aw, sorry it didn't work out...
Yup, sometimes dogs just aren't suited for the job we want them to do.
Or maybe they match the job almost perfectly but there is that one attribute that just would not work at all

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

What I mean by barky is that she will bark a lot at strangers (not as much when we're out in public but when they come to our house or if the person out in public makes her feel weird, she barks a ton).

That's completely normal, Pyreness are a guarding breed! Especially at home, she's protecting your territory. You just need to work with her to say "thank you!" once she's barked to alert you to a knock at the door, and let her know that you're in charge, and that she needs to sit/lie down and wait, and greet visitors politely if you've let her know that they're okay and you're inviting them in. There are lots of solid ways to train that, is she crate trained, BTW?

 

[Rocky998]

That's completely normal, Pyreness are a guarding breed! Especially at home, she's protecting your territory. You just need to work with her to say "thank you!" once she's barked to alert you to a knock at the door, and let her know that you're in charge, and that she needs to sit/lie down and wait, and greet visitors politely if you've let her know that they're okay and you're inviting them in. There are lots of solid ways to train that, is she crate trained, BTW?

Yes we try but she even does it to our family friend EVERY SINGLE TIME. And trust me we have tried nearly everything. Saying thank you, saying no, ignoring her, having rhe friend give treats, but nope, apparently our friend is a big threat

I don't think she was... No. We got her a 10 months old and the previous owners gave her up cause they didn't have enough time to deal with her energy... But honestly she is pretty chill most of the time... Maybe that's cause we exercise her more than they did idk

 

[Rocky998]

Alright @AdoraBelle Dearheart, I tried the sock... She found it INSTANTLY. And no, she did not see where I put it. This time I'm training her to sit and lay down when she finds it though... So far it hasn't clicked that she HAS to do that when she finds something, but she's smart, she'll figure it out

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Alright @AdoraBelle Dearheart, I tried the sock... She found it INSTANTLY. And no, she did not see where I put it. This time I'm training her to sit and lay down when she finds it though... So far it hasn't clicked that she HAS to do that when she finds something, but she's smart, she'll figure it out

If you wanna do search and rescue, see what they train the dogs to do to show an alert. The dogs often range out of view, so barking when they find seems to be common. But google to check first! Sit or lie down tends to be drug alert or health alert training. This is what I meant about finding out how search and rescue train their dogs, before just training her to do stuff herself, because it's harder to un-train something, and confusing for the dog.

But congrats that she's scenting so well! She's a smart pup. Keep raising the difficulty, and give her tons of praise and treats, especially when she does it really well!

 

[Rocky998]

If you wanna do search and rescue, see what they train the dogs to do to show an alert. The dogs often range out of view, so barking when they find seems to be common. But google to check first! Sit or lie down tends to be drug alert or health alert training. This is what I meant about finding out how search and rescue train their dogs, before just training her to do stuff herself, because it's harder to un-train something, and confusing for the dog.

But congrats that she's scenting so well! She's a smart pup. Keep raising the difficulty, and give her tons of praise and treats, especially when she does it really well!

Ok... So I need to learn how to get her to bark
That'll be a tough one

 

[Rocky998]

See, I always thought they just would lie down when they found something because even with human remains or items they lay down to alert the officer there is something there

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Ok... So I need to learn how to get her to bark
That'll be a tough one

LOOK. IT. UP.

I'm not a search and rescue trainer. So what the dogs do to alert might vary, I've just seen some that bark frantically when they find, others that will curl up with the missing person and provide warmth. Don't rely on me for your training methods!

Having said that, teaching a dog to "speak" is easy. Just add the command and treat/praise when she's already barking. Do that a few times and she'll soon catch on. Mine also knows a hand signal for it, she reads my mouth movement and relies on my opening and closing my hand like a puppet mouth moving, and barks.
Teaching them to reliably stop barking on command is tougher.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

See, I always thought they just would lie down when they found something because even with human remains or items they lay down to alert the officer there is something there

Search and rescue dogs go out looking for missing people. Usually the aim is to find them alive, but sometimes sadly they do find them and they've passed away. But one benefit to using dogs for search and rescue is that they can cover a lot more ground than a person can, and aren't always close next to their handler. So I urge you, look up how search and rescue trainers prepare dogs for this sort of work.

Training dogs to find drugs/money/weapons, or cadaver dogs, or hunting dogs and retrievers even, are different skills and different handling.

 

[Rocky998]

LOOK. IT. UP.

I'm not a search and rescue trainer. So what the dogs do to alert might vary, I've just seen some that bark frantically when they find, others that will curl up with the missing person and provide warmth. Don't rely on me for your training methods!

Having said that, teaching a dog to "speak" is easy. Just add the command and treat/praise when she's already barking. Do that a few times and she'll soon catch on. Mine also knows a hand signal for it, she reads my mouth movement and relies on my opening and closing my hand like a puppet mouth moving, and barks.
Teaching them to reliably stop barking on command is tougher.

I trained a deaf boxer sign language... I might be able to train Luna with silent commands as well. I have trained Luna to stay with just a hand gesture and no words.
Thank you for all the advice!

 

[Rocky998]

Search and rescue dogs go out looking for missing people. Usually the aim is to find them alive, but sometimes sadly they do find them and they've passed away. But one benefit to using dogs for search and rescue is that they can cover a lot more ground than a person can, and aren't always close next to their handler. So I urge you, look up how search and rescue trainers prepare dogs for this sort of work.

Training dogs to find drugs/money/weapons, or cadaver dogs, or hunting dogs and retrievers even, are different skills and different handling.

Yes. The dog does need to learn to bark on things like that. I guess I was more thinking of weapon finding or drugs maybe remains. Search and rescue would be the best skill to learn for her though I think.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yes. The dog does need to learn to bark on things like that. I guess I was more thinking of weapon finding or drugs maybe remains. Search and rescue would be the best skill to learn for her though I think.

So research how they do it! It's a different, and particular set of skills than plain scent detection. If she needs to alert that she's found a missing person and she's fairly far away from you in deep brush, then the bark alert might be needed. Or perhaps it isn't, and they just GPS track the dogs now and have them stay and huddle up with the missing person for warmth. I have no idea, and I don't have the time to research it for you, so while I'm happy to help where I can, you're gonna need to do some digging on this! And I highly recommend doing it before teaching her a specific alert.