Turning SHELTER DOGS Into LIFE SAVING Search & Rescue Dogs (SAR)- EP.81 

Beautiful story, Catherine. Thanks for sharing. Brought tears to my eyes. How blessed your dog was by you, and you by your dog. ❤🐶❤

Wow! What an amazing relationship and experience you must have had with your dog.

You are so kind

Looking for children scared me absolutely to death.

I love the idea of teaching/training search & rescue for finding lost children, lost elderly dementia sufferers, lost pets in relatively safe tracking environments, but watching a dog I love going into rubble or smoke & fire --- I couldn't handle that.

@@Karina-Loves-Andreas that's exactly what motivated me to train him. Yet despite the valuable information and advice given to me by other trainers and fire fighters, I was not prepared for the amount of burns and scarring my dog suffered. He loved it. I did not.

@@paintedpony2935 Out of curiosity, was he willing to do it again after the first time he got burned? It's really lovely that this SAR organization pairs trained adult rescue dogs with professional handlers. I'm sure the Search & Rescue Firefighters get attached to these dogs, but since they were paired in a "professional/working" context, it's probably different watching the dog go into harm's way. My German Shepherd was eating East Coast Cicadas occasionally over the last month & half (they're pretty much back to sleep for 17 years now). Two days ago, he went after a wasp before I could stop him, ate it but got stung. Has been scratching his nose red ever since. I've been giving dog-safe antihistamines and "doggy motrin" (Rovera, I think is the brand name?) on a regular basis since (I couldn't find the stinger to pull out). There's NO WAY I could handle antually sending him into harm's way, I'd be an absolute wreck (a bee sting or an occasional bump, a yelp, & a short duration limp makes me panic)! It would be "one & done" for me, and like you, I'd probably feel bad or at least conflicted for awhile afterward. Professional Handlers with adult, rescue trained dogs make so much more sense, I'm glad they're doing it this way. Was your dog traumatized & done after the first burn injury, or happy to do the work again? Do you still love and train dogs? I imagine so, as you're tuned into Robert. Thank you and your old chap who's no longer with us for the service he performed. It sounds like there are two adult humans who owe their lives to him. What a blessing he performed for the grateful parents of those kids, as well. Hugs & thanks sent to you!

I had a Schipperke that learned a cadaver alert at 7 weeks and could distinguish between human and pork, beef, chicken, etc. On 9/11, I was picking him up from his breeder who was short listed for the Pentagon search, helping her pack and transferring this puppy. Crazy time!

My pleasure.

Glad you liked it!

@Steven Faulds 🙄

@Steven Faulds i can't understand u my English is fine 😂

??

I'm interested in helping out like being a search and rescue dog team for ex., but I'm not sure what the steps r, does sar have different locations located in different parts of the us? Even help out with my personal dog(s)

If you have a friendly dog and are getting a puppy, you shouldn’t have a problem if you introduce them slowly and correctly. There are videos out there showing how to do this and I’ve heard Robert speak about this as well. Just be sure to be your older dogs advocate and not allow the new puppy to badger him and constantly bite at him. Know when and where to allow play and break it off when things are getting too much. I have a six y.o. Shepherd and a new husky puppy that’s nuts. I’ve taught them both to sit and take a break with treats, then go to their place and relax. The puppy still requires some guidance to go to her place, but she’s getting there.

@@lillieberger2883 thank you, my current dog is highly trained. So it shouldn’t be a problem. Thank you so much. I’ve had high drive dogs for years but never 2 at once. Thanks! Good luck with your puppy!

I've known Jack Russells and pitbulls, and I've thought Schnauzer would be good. They are excellent agility dogs. In the southeast and midwest, tornadoes are a real threat. Those little terriers can go where the big dogs can't. They are tough, have endless energy, and have a longer working life usually. Law enforcement feels silly with a little terrier on the end of a leash. They have an image problem.

@@catherineabramson5460 Yes! But who cares what a little dog looks like in SAR? If you have a small working line scent dog, the kind of dog who performs spectacularly in "barn hunt", for example (terriers & Beagles), I'd think those little ones could handle rubble more safely than heavier dogs. I think about the "Giant Rats" successfully trained for detecting landmines, because they aren't heavy enough to set off an old landmine. ,And these big, beautiful Labs for example, certainly aren't trained for Police "bitework". Their ONLY job is SAR scent detection & alerting on scent. This was a fascinating podcast, wasn't it?🐾🌟🐾🌟🐾🌟🐾🌟🐾🌟

@karina I'm not disagreeing, my Schipperke was trained in forensics. Times are different. When I was working in SAR, dogs were trained in multiple disciplines. After 9/11, FEMA insisted dogs be single purpose dogs (as these ladies are training). Funding was provided to LE for single purpose dogs (many were imported) and LE had to defend their budgets. Consequently, many of the civilians like myself were weeded out as LE added more dogs to their departments. In my opinion, this was a mistake. Time will come when we will need all the handlers and general purpose dogs we can find to track, air scent, disaster, water recovery, article search and so on. These single use dogs will not have the breadth of training needed. I've seen the results in a few cases. Where will they come from? Where will our experienced trainers come from I've? We are importing everything these days. Not good. I've checked into robots and drones but have been told to stick to our dogs. That being said, a good multipurpose small dog is perfect unless covering heavy wilderness terrain over long distances (where mechanics might be better). I'm a small dog fan. LE, on the other hand, is not. I think they are beginning to see the need for cross training. I've taken up to much of Robert's chat but thank you for letting me express my opinions. God bless and stay safe.

@@catherineabramson5460 You too, Catherine! So interesting! I've toyed with idea for my working line GSD, but so far, not showing much aptitude for tracking & scentwork. Have a great rest of your weekend!😉❤

@@Karina-Loves-Andreas People used to say that only 1 out of 30 or 35 preselected dogs could certify. That is 1 out of 30 "working dogs". My dog was luckily an exception. I was fortunate to meet Eagle and his handler Sandy. Eagle could find remains of ancient people, hundreds of years old. As he grew older, Sandy cheated and planted evidence to cover for him. It was a terrible scandal and many cases were overturned. Sandy went to prison and Eagle died. A sad, sad story but Eagle was beyond exceptional. A Doberman cross who had come from the pound as did my dog. Money doesn't guarantee quality at all. Drive, intelligence, and work ethic is the key. Big or little package and pieces of paper don't matter.

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