Akaman finally arrived to Angola and has been introduced to the camp and training areas for socialization and acclimatisation. No new handler has been allocated to him as yet, because it has been difficult to find the proper one and get the paper work and food allowance for him. However I am doing the obedience and walks around the surroundings.
The first day of Akaman is seen around the Kennel soon after taking him out. He had to get acclimatized to the African conditions, as this is where he has to spend most of his lifetime doing Explosive vapour detection.
As seen where he is standing it is totally a dry and hard ground area, no more green lawn or grass. Temperatures here goes as high as 37*c.
He started doing his obedience with me but I had to let him do with the new handler whose dog died from the high temperatures and swollen body. He had to come from Luanda and take over Akaman in Xangongo, as can be seen from the pictures. He started his basic socialization, which took him a week.
We started the big program plan for him, which is preparing the dog for resistance while working, long walks for endurances, fat burns, obedience for the specific work.
By shaping the dog, we trim the fat, making sure he is fit to tackle a 5 to 6 hour activity. We have him on imprint as from the week he got his handler and good results were positively reached. He is definitely going to make it as explosive dog detection.
Akaman’ s handler is Candido Eusebio Ndemufufya. He is short but capable of handling dogs in a very soft and delicate reasoning. Has been a handler before but his dogs both that he handled in the past died from sleep sickness. He always has been working in the Northern of Angola. The trypanosome Congolese or Bruccei are transmitted by tsetse fly which are very dominant in the Bengo province where currently they were tasked in road work and area reduction tasks with the Rotar Machine. THIS TIME AKAMAN WILL NEVER GO INTO THIS INFESTED AREA.
Akaman is under orders. He is doing or going through the obedience process and has to learn discipline. At least he is fully obedient to our required level and has already started doing the training on explosives as can be seen below on the pictures.
Both are suppose to be disciplined to be able to get good results or else they can be some differences between them that can cause some late catch-ups. The understanding of the two can roughly tell the trainer a whole training period. How many months can the two last? Who is faster and quicker in getting it right? This normally applies when the two are all new in the trade. With his handler Akaman will take three definite months.
This position is Down, so he has to remain under this command until another one is given. The handler stands in a very mannerly upright figure and so will the dog be able to see the disciplinary process.
At this stage there is no playing and jumping around.
Above here is a layout of the tins on the ground and one of them contains the explosive. You can also see the Imprint tins lined up and Mr Akaman had to find out which of them had the concealed item that we want him to find. He cannot look inside these tins but he is taught to put his nose and take a decision about the smell he gets. These tins are always swapped or changed. We use the clippers to handle these tins and never are we suppose to handle them using or bare hands. Sometimes we use plastic gloves to touch the handle of the tins and not the tin body. No human smell is passed to the tins; dogs can easily use the human smell to figure out which of the one is positive.
This is a starting position just before the lined tins. The dog has to give full attention to the sit position and stop all the playing moods. A metre backwards gives the dog a quick jump to the tins when ordered to sniff. The handler puts his right leg half a metre in front and encourages the dog with his hands pointing to the ground towards the tins.
First tin first hit. This indication by Akaman is so impressing as for the first go he stood up on the tin with his nose inside the positive one. Immaculate isn’t? he is given some time to decide while the handler says nothing and then praise him for the good work. At this time it is important for timing your when to praise, give the ball and body language on let’s play.
Looking at Akaman flat out on the imprint tin is very arousing and you can’t be fooled not to believe him. He is such a sensational to look at and the way he waves his body on a positive tin is an attention motivation. I love it.
He does not want to leave that tin so he keeps his nose on it waiting to get a reward from the handler. The handler is told to go in front of the tin testing him seeing if he leaves the positive place following also, but No he doesn’t. As clever as he is he sticks to the main positive tin and waits for the ball. We will then move on to the boxes where he cannot even put his nose in but has to sniff from the outside. This will also encourage him to get to sniff at different depths.
Up here he learns to sniff in an orderly manner after going through one tin. He is taught not to lift up his head to the next tin but is encouraged to have his head down sniffing to the next one.
However the strategic process is to join the steps in a systematic way so that the team does not get a new thing without relating it to the previous one.
This will be a final systematic sniffing way that will be implemented on the last and used for the rest of his working life.
Look how this dog does when he gets his reward. He stands almost to the height of the handler not wanting to let go the ball he was given. This is the play and motivator the dog needs to remain interested in going through a routine more than eighty times. Sometimes he works on explosive free tinned area and only gets the verbal praise. Sometimes he repeats these process main times to get ride of false sittings or indications. This is very impressing seeing the two doing the tag of war and mainly the handler let the dog win.
Summary of the training.
On the rate at which the training is going it is possible to end within the three months period. Akaman is a very understanding dog and has the intelligence to rule a situation at a given time. If the handler lacks the thinking he barks at him and yes something will be missing. He will be like do it now.
