Ms Helle Kublitz and Billy is certified as Conservation Detection Dog
22-05-2025: Following more than 12 month of dedicated work, Ms. Helle Kublitz has managed to get LP1 LP2 LP3 DKLPCH Ravensbank Nippy (Billy) KRYUS, BOSH and LANTRA accredited as Conservation Detection Dog.
"Conservation Detection Dog" - you are probably asking.... What is that? These are dogs that are specially trained to sniff out odors related to conservation. They work similarly to bomb, drug, or search and rescue dogs—but instead of searching for accelerants, heroin, or missing people, they search for things related to conservation biology. Primarily conservation detection dogs sniff for invasive species. These are plants or animals that have colonized a part of the world that they’re not native to. Because they’ve arrived with human help and without any natural predators or diseases, they can take over an ecosystem. This can be devastating to the native plants and animals. Generally, conservation detection dogs are used to find plants or insects in this category. They may also be trained to find the scat (poop) of invasive animals as a way for scientists to know if those invasive animals are present in an area or not.
The education is based on the certified "Conservation Detection Dog" training from Kryus Ltd in Great Britain, and the examination is carried out by Kryus Ltd. accredited trainers, with a background from military and/or police special search units. Trainers in Denmark have themselves been accredited by Kryus, and carries a solid professional background with dog work from the police. External lecturers are assigned to the course – e.g. a biologist, a veterinarian, a specialst in GPS/mapping etc.. To become "Conservation Detection Dog Team", the handler must pass a theoretical examn in areas such as dog physiology and health, theory of scent distribution, learning models, legislation, biology and much much more. Then there is the practical examn which is a two day event with four steps: Open land seach, Vehicle search, Wood/Moor search, and Building search - e.g. building material / hardware store. A strict 30 minutes of operational time is given to each search. There are 0-3 sources in each search (the handler doesn't know the number of sources in each search). So in an area of 20-50,000 m² the dog must uncover 0-3 sources within the 30 minutes. The margin of error must be 0.
Ms. Kublitz has sent us a detailed description of the entire process with training and final examn. Clearly it is an incredibly demanding training and we can only wish Ms. Kublitz a very warm congratulation with antoher amazing result together with her lovely dog from us.
Training "honesty" with the young dog
15-05-2025: One of the obedience disciplines for the retrieving gundog is what we call "honesty". It means that the dog must focus on the job it is presented with, and shouldn't be opportunistic in selecting other things it considers right. The dog should trust the handler to stop and handle given the the job at hand changes.Probably the best example of honesty is the retriever that spontaneously picks up a bird, and immediately takes a very fast return to its handler, without considering whatever other game it sees on its way. And the dog should not even consider - once it has picked up a bird - to continue sneaking around for other game. To us, training of "honesty" is a completely integrated part of the training of the young retriever. Too often we see handlers, who as soon as the dog has picked up a bird they, make bells and whistles in order to recall the dog. It can develop into training in disobedience, as the dog gets so used to the recall that it will continue searching once the recall is not given. In trails and tests recalling the dog to make the dog come home will be very expensive.
We have made a youtube playlist, where we show some examples of how you may train the young dog towards being honest. Again it should be said, that these are a few examples, and each drill must be trained several times and proofed separately to reach a firm and honest dog.
Click here to see the playlist.. Thanks to Ms. Pia Christensen and Mr. Mikkel Lyndrup for assisting with both the training and the recording of videos. The dog on the video is Ravensbank Carrie (Carrie), who on the latest videos have just turned 12 months of age.
Carrie has been x-rayed for hip- and elbow dysplasia
Nessie has whelped
12-05-2025: On Saturday Squareclose Wendy (Nessie) gave birth to a litter of eight puppies. Six black bitches – one yellow dog and one black dog. The average weight at birth is 399 gr. The whelping took less than five hours. All puppies and Nessie herself is doing splendid. She is such a lovely mum – enjoying her last litter. All puppies are reserved for new homes.Ms. Christensen and Lee becomes 5WT at a great Easter test
17-04-2025: Today Ms. Pia Christensen with her lovely Ravensbank Lee (Lee) became 5th winner at a large Working Test in Novice Class. A very warm congratulations to Ms. Christensen with an excellent result on one of her three dogs from us.
Nessie has been ultrasound scanned
05-04-2025: ....and with a positive result - She is indeed in pups - how many we do not know!
New training gadget
The young dog on the video is Ravensbank Carrie (Carrie), 11 months old.
What is an "aptitude test"?
