New - Interested to hear from working Dutch Shepherd

[Frenchie85]

Hi everybody,

My name is Natacha. I'm originally from France but moved to United States 20 years ago. I currently own a German Shepherd Dog that is trained for Search and Rescue for the state of California and for Mendocino County Sheriff. My dog is about to retire and I'm now researching my next puppy. I have very good knowledge about the German Shepherd breed and would have loved to continue working with them. However, due to all the health problems related to the GSDs, I'm now considering searching other breed. So far,from what I learned, the Dutch Shepherd may be a good fit for me. I'm joining this forum to learn more about them especially about their ability to work scent. Is there any handlers in this forum that works their DSD for SAR, HRD or drug detection? I'd love to connect with those handlers.
Thank you!

Natacha

[vneerland]

Welcome Natacha.
Yes, some DS's work in SAR. There are/were some that are/were FEMA certified in Monterey, CA.
Most of mine are at least detection dogs. I do not know any HRD off hand, but I feel confident that those too, are out there.

[Dutchringgirl]

Welcome !!! I am not into SAR (yet) I do beleive a DS wil be great. Im just biased

[leih merigian]

My DS does baby scent work...K9Nosework, but loves it and excells at it, every bit as much as my GSD did.

[alspyce]

Welcome!

[Lauren]

I am hoping to do SAR with mine when se grows up a bit (7 months) She is very good at airscenting favorite people, and can find my son/hubby in a crowded Lowes in under 5 min. She is absolutely unafraid of any surface and will climb through/jump on or over anything.

DS are not like small GSDs though. You can search for the discussions on the differences.

Hey... there is a lovely DS female up for adoption in CA. Look for Magda under facebook Dutch shepherd handlers or North American Dutch Shepherd Rescue.

That way you can skip the puppy stuff and get right to work!

[GSDNanny]

Welcome! Indeed the DS can do scent work. I esp like their agileness and size for terrain, rubble piles, tight spots, and loading. I agree with Lauren, check out the rescue DS.

[kchristy]

Welcome Also I checked out Magda, beautiful ds. Sounds like the perfect Dutch Shepherd.

[Marjolein]

Welcome!
(I will reply to your mail... bit busy with 7 little brindled rascals at the moment...)

[Frenchie85]

Thank you everybody for your replies, they're helpful.
Marjolein, I'm looking forward to your email... no rush.

[icvanstra]

You can definitely do SAR work with a Dutch Shepherd.

Deb is working on getting Cooper (littermate to my Cino) certified for FEMA.

Judith will know who I'm talking about.. There was a guy in California with a pup from Judith and he did SAR work. ...and I'm sure there are others out there.

[Frenchie85]

Wow! Thank you Eric and Judith.
If Judith could send me a private email about the person who does SAR in California, that would be so helpful. I'd love to watch some Dutch Shepherd working SAR. I'm particularly interested about their focus while working.
I'm specialized in tracking and I've been very successful with my dog who is very focus, slower but extremely precise. I'm looking for the same traits for my next dog but with higher drive than my GSD.

Natacha

[vneerland]

I have not heard from the person in CA for a while. Sadly, his own SAR girl 'Channa' died and we all felt the extreme loss of her passing. She was a truly wonderful dog and great ambassador for her breed. Two more pups of mine remain working as Fema certified dogs in that area, Elske and Indy, but I am not sure how to find them. Deb, the breeder of Eric's dog, has used the same sire (one of my dogs, Nico) as one of the CA FEMA dogs, but that is by no means an exhaustive list of FEMA certified hollanders.
I would love to add one or two myself, one day, but should get off my behind for that.
I can only say that the talent of the dog is only part of the equation. I truly admire the dedication of the handlers who train (with) their dogs for this appliation. They rock!