Section IV. TRIPWIRE TRAINING 



43. General 



Tripwire training is conducted concurrently 

 with trail adaptation. A typical training day 

 during this phase may consist of several trials 

 of each subject, along with individual obedience. 



44. Introduction to Tripwires 



Tripwires present some unique problems in train- 

 ing mine and tunnel dogs. The most important 

 factor is to instill in the dog a reasonable caution 

 towards tripwires. Simce most dogs will have a 

 natural suspicion of anything across their path, 

 improper technique can change this to fear. This 

 is one reason exploding devices are not attached 

 to tripwires. A dog which has had several booby- 

 traps blow up in its face may become trial-shy 

 and refuse to work. On the other hand, if a dog 



is taught no respect for tripwires, it may acci- 

 dentally break them, or even do so deliberately 

 to show its handler it has found one. A prudent 

 balance must be made between desire to find 

 tripwires and caution about touching them. 



45. Tripwire Lanes 



When first introducing tripwires, special lanes 

 should be used. These may be narrow (6 to 10 

 foot) dirt roads or lanes cut across fields. Each 

 lane should be about 50 meters long and should 

 contain 5 to 10 fixed or movable stakes at least 

 3 to 3 1/2 feet long. Each stake has nails or 

 hooks every 6 inches for a length of 3 feet, so 

 that wires can be placed at varying distances 

 and heights. Tripwires at this point should be 

 heavy white string (easily visible) with weights 

 on both ends to hold it taut (fig 25 and 26). 



Figure 25. Tripwire lane. 



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