Hi All,
A little back ground first.  I have been reading this forum for about ten months now and it has been a great learning tool. About eight months ago I joined a K9 SAR team without a dog. I have had pet GSD's most of my life so I am not new to the breed. However, I know that a working GSD is a whole different kind of dog so I am trying to learn as much as possible before I get my GSD SAR puppy. My team which is made up of mostly Labs and Border Collies is typically called out on wilderness searches and on occasion we are called for an urban search. Our training sites are rotated between all of the trail heads in and around the area. When we train we rotate our team members as subjects.
 
Since I have been with the team none of the dog teams (state wide) have found the subject during a mission. I realize that there various reasons for this and that we are also out there to eliminate an area where the subject could be, but I wonder how many dogs (nationally) have actually found  the subject while on a wilderness mission? I asked this question of one of my team mates, who has been in the SAR community for about 10 years, and he said he did not know of any of the statewide dog teams finding the subject on any of his missions. So my first question is how many dogs (nationally) have actually found the subject while on a wilderness mission?

During one of our trainings there happened to be a cross country track team training in the same area we were. One of the handlers had sent his air scent dog out to find the subject and of course the dog found all of the runners first so he had to keep sending the dog back out to find the subject. He did find the subject eventually so he did what he was trained to do but, I was wondering did he reinforce the dog to search for only our team mate? Since the dogs are all very familiar with us and have no problems finding us (very quickly) shouldn't we we introduce a stranger on occasion to keep the dogs sharp? I have asked this question of my team but would like to hear your opinions as well.   

Thanks for your input.

I was in SAR for a while. If I can be of any help to you please feel free to contact me privately. We had several live finds each year such as children/ hunters/ and alzhimers patients. I worked two wilderness air scent dogs, one water and an urban bloodhound for tracking. I was in an area that had lots of children and elderly go missing in urban areas and or drownings but was also close to lots of dismal swamp lost hunters and tourists.

Non live finds are important it does help the grieveing process. I have also been cussed out by a woman that my dog and I assisted finding with the FBI that ran away from her abusive husband one night was diabetic and spent the night in the swamp only next day she was headed for coma due to her diabeties but we found her in time for medical treatment. She was hospitalized a week after she came home I ran across her much later and recognised her asked her how she was and she cussed me out saying she wanted me to leave her to die. You must have a thick skin at times as you will be in spots where others are going to push your buttons. You will not be able to be too meek and will have to fight loosing your humanity in other times.

I had a fabulous dog trained with the help of my dad, long long time ago; a cadavar dog.. they called when there was a huge probability of missing person being dead. I stoped after my father went missing one day and police knocked on my door.....

P

Welcome to the SAR world!  Keep at it!  Very rewarding.
I will try my hand at answering your questions.
Firstly, assigning resources is the task of search management.  NOT an easy task.  Many folks bash mgnt....I suggest never doing this.
If a solid SAR unit is assigned to the area where the lost person is in fact, and misses them then they need to sit down, analyze just what went wrong and fix it.  It happens hopefully rarely.
The lost person may not be 'out there' - some are located later having walke out unawares of any search; some are in someone's house; etc. No fault of the K9 team
As for how many 'finds' occur nationally - MANY!  Your team member who answered that he knew of none isn't in touch with many other teams.  There are several excellent SAR discussion lists - I recommend searching on Yahoo and getting onto 2-3 oth these.  You will read posts from teams all over the country, some from abroad and you WILL read hoorah's about finds and about searches well handled.
Disaster finds are limited - Haiti was an exception - so few people survive massive disasters.
Teams can vary in size.  Most all teams train on each other.  BUT - use other folks!  It takes time to train subject properly so care needs to be taken when using uninformed subjects - always take excellent care of willing scent subjects!
Train like you will deploy - train in terrain that you will deploy in - vary this - open; hilly; dense; cold; snow; pouring rain; hot; day; night; etc.
Now...the air scent gentleman who deployed his dog in an area with X country skiiers.  Many air scent dogs are fielded at night for this very reason - all the people have cleared your search area. BUT...the dog IS correct and should be rewarded each and every time. If team members where with him, then they should be deployed as flankers - train for that so the dog understands this 'group' is part of his come along team.  If you come across someone in your area explain who you are, why you are there and interview them. They might have seen the subject.  Ask them to report any sightings to command base.  They can be an invalvuable help.

I hope this helps.  As far as getting a dog - I have 2 GSDs and another which I use for Schutzhund - get a GOOD dog!!!!!  You want tons of drive!  Bombproof nerves, super social and high work ethic, high ball/play drive......  If your team is insecure about a strong working line GSD get on another team!  Try to attent a seminar with a top shelf trainer.  They can help you,

Best of luck<

Alex Whitelock
VSARK9

Nice Post Vermont Lady.

I have been in SAR since 1997 and I could not agree more with the above. I could not even begin to recall the number of live finds within our organizations over the years as well as HRD and evidence recovery.   Anywhere from water, wilderness, urban and avalanche. Most common Searches in our area are for Hunters or Hikers in the wilderness or your alzheimer's wandering away from nursing homes or family residence.... if the subject is not in your area that is one thing ... if the subject was in your assigned areas and teams failed to find them  that certainly would be a training and management issue as well as a huge liability.

It does not sound like the person you asked even if being in SAR for 10 years is really very knowledgeable on national statistics... sounds like a lot of hot air.  If you are new following a few other handlers may be a good idea or checking to see what other SAR organizations are in your area.   I think it is also important to be with a legitimate ORG as well that has to meet state requirements. There are a lot of folks out there that claim to do SAR but they are Private party and not on a call out list with Emergency Management nor are they meeting the requirements.

We have several breeds of dogs in our group. We have about 18 dogs currently 4 from my own breedings. I have worked with Border collies as well as labs as far as beign a subject for them and watchign them work but to me there is no breed that gets the job done better than a GSD designed for the work... I could be just a bit partial :)

I just started my 2nd dog for HRD specifically but have worked and certified in Airscent and my son now is working his dog in trailing.   Good luck and don't be afraid to ask around. There seems to be some rather large  variations in SAR methods and training throughout the US so may be in part where you are located and the group as well you are with. If it just doesn't seem right get another opinion or visit another group.

K9's below are from my own breedings currently registered with DEM in our County.... sorry not to show them off or brag too much!!  I also am happy to pm in RE: to SAR or my number is always on my website.

Thank you all for responding.
I joined SAR with my eyes wide open and so far it has been very rewarding. Since I am dog-less, I get used as the subject A LOT, but I figure my turn to train a dog is coming so hot or cold,  wet or dry, day or night, open or dense, flat or hilly it is all worth it because, I get to see and learn how all of the dogs react to the different situations and how the handlers respond to it.

My team has had GSD's on it in the past so have no problems with a high drive dog.  I have been present during several evaluations for prospective SAR dogs and can say that my team stresses high ball/play drive, super social and bombproof nerves as a must. In fact, we have not accepted a dog into our training program since I joined due to the dogs lacking in one or more of the above requirements.  It may seem a little harsh but, people depend on us to find their loved ones so we can not compromise our standards.

We have the utmost respect for the IC's and resource managers in our area. I think that part of the reason we have not located any subjects in the past  is due to the fact that we have been utilized as an elimination team more than a find team and have not been one of the first resources called. Fortunately, that line of thinking is changing and we are being called first more and more. I can also say that so far we have never missed a subject in our assigned search area. There have been times the dogs have indicated interest towards an area that was not our assigned area (which we then reported) and foot teams (ground pounders) have later located the subject in that area. But, technically we did not find the subject so can not claim it as such. I think this happens a lot.

Still have lots to learn but the day I bring my SAR partner home is getting closer.

Thanks again for your advice.
Stay Safe.

C

JulieM and all other responders.
Wow, you have a right to brag!! They are beauties:) I too am partial and  think the GSD is the perfect dog for SAR work.
I did not mean to imply that the person on our team knew much about how many finds there have been nationally. In fact, I think he is probably not all that aware of the national statistics. It was a curious question on my part. Also, our team is very small and we are the only dog team (within 100mi) locally, but all of our dogs are certified per state requirements and we are a legitimate organization. As to the dog that found all of the runners he was rewarded each time before being sent out again.

C

 

A couple of years ago, a Shiloh shepherd named Gandalf found a missing child on his very first real rescue mission:

landofpuregold.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/sar-dog-gandalf-finds-missing-boy-scout-in-nc/

I think it's great that a novice team did so well.