Question for K9sar - Page 1

K9sar,

My passion for my gsd's is more in the service lines including SAR - can you point me in the direction of where to start?  My dogs are obedience trained and my girl is a serious tracker - always has her nose to the ground.  I have also considered partnering with someone as I saw a clip on a documentary about SAR dogs where they trained & worked in teams.  I have been searching on google for SAR and have bombed on anything in Florida.  We have plans to have Ivan Balabnov evaluate them in the next month (when it starts to cool down) and I was going to have him train my male in Sch but still hesitate on bite work issues.  He's a rock solid boy with great strength, 92 pounds.

Do you know of SAR trainers?

I recommend that you identify and contact the public safety agency(Ies) which are responsible for searching in the state of Florida.  Each state has it's own set of protocols.

Then you can inquire what teams are used and respected.  SAR work requires a team. You cannot do this as a single resource. Once you learn which teams are withing driving distance for you, contact them and ask to attend a training event, meeting some of their members, etc.

There are several excellent Yahoo search & rescue discussion lists. I would join 1-2 of these and ask if anyone knows of any Florida teams.

Best of luck with pursuing this and with your dog!

Alex WhitelockVSARK-9

I thought about doing this with my girl at first but decided that I was not physically up to the task myself.  Still think that she would have been great.  Here is the website for our Virginia unit.  www.vsrda.org/  You might also want to take a look at their book, "Training Tre K-9 Hero"  Lots of great dog information.

Thanks to both of you for responding! 

I look forward to delving into the research.  I had seen a program regarding the young american girl (Natalie) who had disappeared in Aruba and they were doing a segment on the SAR team that also had brought to my attention the need that the teams sometimes have for dogs.  I want to give back to society where I am blessed and would love to be able to raise and/or train a pup to whatever extent is preferred and donate to a SAR team member.  I know that they also need sponsors as they pay alot of expenses out-of-pocket.  I am not sure I am cut out for the hard work it takes either but I believe I could raise and train dogs that could fill voids lost.  To be involved with such a worthy endeavor would be a blessing in any capacity.

Hi,

First and foremost you need to decide what branch of sar you are interested in. Wilderness, tracking, urban, cadaver or live find. Then you must have your dog evaluated.Some dogs do not have the forcus for Urban but willexcell in wilderness. Some dogs have an aversion to cadaver.

 I have Sch. titled dogs and am currently working towards a SCh. title with my youngest. Different teams have sifferent feelings on Sch. dogs.

If you email me privately I will be more than happy to set you up with some people in your area.

Many times local authorities are not fully aware of the groups in the area and sometimes do not want to work with volunteers. Depends on what part of the country you are from. There is still the "good ole boy mentality" in areas.

Sar is a very big committment of time and lots of $$$$. You must be able to pick up and leave family and work with hardly any notice.It is a large sacrifice and if you do not have a strong support structure behind you, it will be next to impossible to participate.

Hope this helps.