[jocoyn]

Since SAR certifications do not appear on titles you would have to ask the breeder for documentation if you were not sure. Most folks I know nationally certify their dogs and keep copies of those certifications. The requirement for most national certifications is an annual or at least every two years recertification under a competent master trainer.

The only one appearing on pedigrees is an IRO title but the vast majority of SAR handlers in the US do not pursue IRO [which is a whole 'nother discussion that can get quite heated.]

The same can be said for working police dogs who also don't often have "titles" on their pedigrees. Though a lot of departments certify police K9s either internally or to some state, not national requirement.

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It doesn't necessarily matter, though. For Grim I was looking at a 2 year old dog so whatever potential he had was in front of me.

For Beau, I knew on his mothers side his mother was a working/certified trailing dog, aunt 1 was a certified detection dog, uncle 1 was an operational police dog, and uncle 2 was a certified cadaver dog....plus I knew several folks personally who had SAR dogs through his grandfather. For the sire, I just knew he had excellent hunt drive and was a sensible focused dog able to control his drives. The lines in the father were well known Czech lines (cordon-an-sat linebreeding).

Pretty easy to find the SAR dogs if you are already doing SAR and have met a bunch of other SAR folks and talk about who has what where......