The award-winning Balaton fish guard dog is trained with a fish-smelling ball

Gubacs, the wiry-haired dachshund who is a European Cup winner and the “work champion” of the World Dachshund Association, has been helping the Balaton fish guards since last December. The four-legged fish guard has already completed a successful deployment: he managed to catch an angler who was trying to hide a perch in his rod bag.

Gubacs’ training lasted 12 weeks, but according to his owner, continuous practice is necessary for effective work.

“Every search dog must love to play football, specifically be a ball fanatic. Search is built on this skill. The dog does not even know that he is doing work, he is only looking for his toy, i.e. his ball, the smell of which is identical to the object he is looking for. In this case, the ball smells fishy. Regardless, it doesn’t eat fish, only fish food,” Tibor Gáspár, the fish guard from Balaton, told Bors, who also revealed what skills are necessary for a dog to become a good fish guard.

“You have to be good at sailing and driving. It must move at home among people, it must not show aggression or fear, dogs with a particularly good nervous system are suitable for this purpose only,” he explained.

Gubacs does not work every day, he is deployed occasionally, but he only participates in campaigns with his owner, because familiarity and a close relationship are important for search dogs.

“The purpose of using a service dog is to assist the work of fish wardens by helping to find the location of hidden fish stored in open areas and in vehicles and structures legally controlled by professional fish wardens. With the help of Gubacs, professional fish keepers can find batches of fish that the fishermen want to hide. The dog is trained to signal the hidden fish by making sounds, i.e. by barking,” added Tibor Gáspár.

The professional fisher of the Balatoni Halgazdokászi Nonprofit Zrt. also mentioned that Gubacs is an extremely intelligent, hard-working dog with a good nervous system and especially people-loving dog, it is not surprising that the five-year-old dachshund has already won many awards.

“In 2021, Hungary organized the European Dachshund Cup with the participation of eight countries, where the hunting performance of the dogs was judged. We managed to win this and have performed well in several domestic and international competitions ever since. For these achieved results, Gubacs received the prestigious recognition of the world association, the title of work champion”, boasted Tibor Gáspár.

On December 30 last year, Gubacs sniffed out a perch hidden in a bag of sticks. A video was also made about this. Check it out HERE!