Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dogs Association Dog School December, 2009

    During the week of December 13th through the 19th, Chris Hansen, and his chocolate lab Maizey attended the annual CARDA dog school at Kickinghorse Mountain Resort. in BC, Canada.  Both Chris, and Maizey had a tremendous learning experience, and enjoyed meeting some of the people from the rescue community in Canada.  There were about 24 teams in attendance, split into groups of 4 spread about the mountain in different training areas.
    The first two days were brutally cold with temps around -15 (degrees Fahrenheit) on the mountain, and according to the instructors, some of the most challenging scent conditions for the dogs they had seen.  However, as the temperature increased through the week, so did the performance of all the dogs.  Their form of training for intermediate to advanced dogs centers primarily on searching for scented articles, and the finer scent cone presented by an article buried in the snow.
    After a week of focusing strictly on training, even starting off with such challenging conditions, Chris and Maizey came back to Utah a much stronger team with a new wealth of knowledge garnered from this school.  They are now in the process of using this training daily, and involving a live burial drill weekly in the ongoing task of search training.  The Brighton Rescue dog squad would like to give a special thanks to WBR, and Brighton Ski Resort for sponsoring Chris and Maizey in their trip to Canada to attend the CARDA dog school.