The "National Training Camp for Search and Rescue Dogs – CST 2013" brought together, at Izvoare in Maramureș, 19 volunteers and professionals with their dogs for a training session for search and rescue teams. To organize this camp, CST had the support of the Serviciului Public Salvamont Maramures (Maramureș Public Salvamont / Mountain Rescue Service), Hipermarket Cora Cluj, Purina Pro Plan and Banca Română de Dezvoltare (Romanian Development Bank).
We were glad to be able to bring together, for four days of training, search teams belonging to various organizations involved in search and rescue with dogs. Besides the 13 CST volunteers, the camp was also attended by 3 employees of the Catedrei de Misiuni apartinand Centrului Chinologic Dr.Aurel Greblea din Sibiu (CCS) (Missions Department of the "Dr. Aurel Greblea" Dog-Training Center in Sibiu), and one member each from the Serviciilor Publice Salvamont (Public Salvamont / Mountain Rescue Services) of Maramureș, Alba and Satu Mare.
Camp participants had the opportunity to actually work with their dogs in 3 workshops: Search/Direction, Motivation/Signaling, and Handler/Helper. The workshops were run by mixed teams, each made up of an experienced CST volunteer and a CCS employee. Every evening, each handler-dog team's performance was discussed and important information for search work was presented. Discussions about the real missions carried out by participants, about training techniques and other search techniques filled the camp's evenings.
As we have come to expect, the CST camp ended with the traditional question: "When will we meet again?" CST's answer is: "Soon!"
Here are a few photos from the "National Training Camp for Search and Rescue Dogs - CST 2013"