Hi Sarah...Also in regards to the dogs, they are chosen for different jobs by using the results of a battery of tests...not every GSD will make a good search dog and the same goes when choosing a dog for narcotics detection, detonation device det., protection, companion dog, etc....we begin testing just weeks after birth, we test the dog's prey drive, herding instinct, temperment...etc. and we start developing the areas that we detect promise in and it's a continual training and reinforcement of training for life...also the dogs are recertified annually, that's a requirement to ensure that the dog is still on top of his/her game. One more thing that I want to share with you...when choosing a dog to utilise in search and rescue or search and recovery, it's not a matter of picking the dog that finds objects the fastest, you want to find the dog that doesn't give up when he doesn't find the decoy...I don't care if the dog ever finds the search object that I've hidden...I'm going to keep the dog that will search until the end of time for what I want him to find and then I'll take that dog and develop his/her talents and teach him/her how to follow my instructions/direction, that's equally important because you don't want a dog to contaminate a search grid.
