Expanded Description:
Kat Albrecht is the acknowledged expert on training dogs to find lost pets - "dog detectives." As the founder of the Missing Pet Partnership and Pet Hunters International, she has devoted years to developing proven methods to train dogs to work as cat-detection dogs and trailing dogs to search for a wide variety of companion animals. The book presents detailed, step by step, reward-based training methods as well as information on how to assess a dog's potential to be a dog detective and what you need to know as a prospective handler. Whether you desire to perform this service professionally or as a hobby, you can help people suffering from the trauma associated with a lost pet. Click here to view an excerpt.
See the video clip below to see Kat in action with her Bloodhound A.J. on the National Geographic show Dogs with Jobs.
What reviewers are saying...
ANIMAL PEOPLE
“Former police detective Kat Albrecht initially trained sniffing dogs to assist in tracking suspects, finding lost people, and finding cadavers. In 1997 Albrecht discovered that her dogs could also help to find lost pets. After an occupationally related disability prematurely ended Albrecht's police career, she became a fulltime pet detective. Of her first 99 searches, 68 discovered the missing animal or the fate of the animal. Eventually Albrecht founded an organization called Missing Pet Partnership to promote and teach the use of dogs to find lost pets, following the "Missing Animal Response" techniques she has developed. Her initial template was the protocol for training the Search And Rescue dogs deployed to find missing persons. Albrecht then adapated the SAR approach to the peculiarities of finding lost animals, whose behavior varies considerably from human behavior. Albrecht trains dogs according to three protocols: Cat Detection, Trailing, and Dual Purpose. These use two different approaches, the area search and tracking. Area searches are typically used either to find an animal who was last seen near home and is probably still nearby, or to find an animal who has been tracked to a specific location such as a park or warehouse, after which the tracking dog can no longer isolate the scent. Area searches are the primary method used to find cats. Tracking is used to find animals whom are believed to have taken a specific direction, for example a dog who panicked during a fireworks display. Relatively few dogs who excel at area-searching are also good tracking dogs. Most MAR dog handlers will need to train different dogs in order to be able to do both kinds of work--and both are often required as part of a single animal recovery. Some dogs can be trained to do both jobs, but Albrecht tends to discourage the idea of trying to produce Dual Purpose dogs unless the dogs themselves demonstrate dual aptitude, partly because different kinds of training tend to produce dogs who may be respectable generalists, but are not as good at either area searching or tracking as specialists. A dedicated handler could produce skilled MAR dogs just by following Albrecht's directions--but Albrecht's methods are also quite rigorous, and require frequent practice. Training and using MAR dogs is not work done casually. Neither is any dog suited to MAR training, though Albrecht notes that dogs of the right personality come in range of breeds and sizes. Albrecht would like every community to have a trained MAR dog team on call. How many MAR dogs any given community could support is open to question, since MAR work is not lucrative, if compensated at all. However, almost every shelter director and animal control officer encounters frequent situations in which a MAR team could help."
Merritt Clifton
NORTH SHORE NEWS
“When Kat Albrecht’s dog escaped from the yard she called a friend for help. Albrecht’s missing dog, AJ, was found by a talented tracker, which was somewhat ironic because AJ was himself a trained tracker who worked with police officer Albrecht on a daily basis. This incident prompted her to ask the question, “If we train dogs to find missing people, why not train them to find missing pets?” From that thought came the pet detective idea. Albrecht went on to establish a training procedure and set up courses to teach others who were interested in learning how to work with their dogs to be able to help locate missing pets. Drawing on her years of police work experience, she recognized that what was needed was a complete system. The book is divided into three parts, beginning with an overview of missing animal response work, then the three main search disciplines (scent, lost pet behavior, and the science of searching), and finally training plans and case studies. Albrecht’s techniques apply to finding pets other than cats and dogs. Once a dog has been taught to scent discriminate and follow the scent trail, they can then use those skills to track other animals such as horses, llamas, and ferrets. There are many useful diagrams and plenty of black and white photographs throughout the book. Even if you only peruse this training as a challenge for your pet, there will be plenty of rewards, and along the way you may help someone who has lost a beloved companion.”
Terry Peters
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