Yea, you're a curmudgeon...so is my Dad. Thank god for people like you!!

 

"it is hard to find a good dog'- not nearly as hard as it is to find a good team member. Most teams really want someone who will stay and either get a new dog or do something else for the team if theirs does not work out. Each dog and handler usually goes out with at least 2 other flankers and dog handlers are preferred because....they can help read the dog along with other things.

This is my favorite part!!

What has cut almost all of those "I want something fun to do with my dog" and to spend less time and money on folks and their dogs that will no stick long enough to be useful to the team is that the SAR team owns all the dogs. If you are not willing, we will not train your pet for you nor give you something exciting to tell later of "those times when you joined the SAR team" to your friends. Is it all about saving lives? Then all your work and efforts go TO THE TEAM and not for you to have something to brag about. In exchange, we have connections with breeders of good bloodlines here and abroad and if your dog is not cut to the task we will provide you a dog that more likely you will not be able to buy yourself. But if your job changes, if your wife has a baby, if you go back to school (that would be me) then the dog remains with the team doing what was trained to do and what was donated to do.

 

I understand the problem, but I think that is too drastic of a solution. I would not join a team that requires that they own my dog. I imagine most experienced SAR handlers would say the same thing. What an awful feeling it would be to have to give up your parter because of an unforeseen change in your situation. I empathize with law enforcement and military k9 handlers that are faced with those situations, but I didn't know any volunteer SAR teams did that as well.

What has cut almost all of those "I want something fun to do with my dog" and to spend less time and money on folks and their dogs that will no stick long enough to be useful to the team is that the SAR team owns all the dogs.

 

I understand how you feel because I respond to the inquiries to my team and get a lot of the same questions. You make some very good points and anyone thinking about getting involved in K9 SAR would do well to heed your advice.

Most people that inquire aren't prepared to commit to a role on the team, for lots of different reasons. But if they learn what it takes to be a member then they can start preparing for a future time when they will be ready. So I try to steer people in the right direction no matter how uninformed they may be initially. Everybody who does become involved has to start down the path somewhere, and maybe the next person that writes and says that their dog needs a job will be one of the few to actually follow through and become a valued resource to a team and to their community.

 

Our team does not "own" any of the dogs but we have been screening the dogs before they are allowed to training, and if they don't make the cut from the beginning the prospective handler is told that we will help them find another dog or expect them to do something else like flank or work command.

We have spun too many wheels in the past trying to make a dog who is not going to work out do the job-and that is a huge time investment which takes time away from training the dogs that ARE suitable.

Every one of the leaders has learned the hard way over the years and washed out at least one of their own dogs so we have empathy, but it is about using the best tool for the job.

We also have a 3 month probationary period before the dog can come to trainings. During this time, they are expected to complete some of their early training and work on any assignments we have given them with the dog. We got that approach from other teams.

 

I understand it is not THE solution, it is what has worked for us. And I know by first hand experience what is to leave a dog behind. I raised and trained Auka, and when I moved I decided to leave her with the team instead of taking her with me to be an expensive (not in terms of money) pet at home. Actually, it was me who set the precedent that became a rule later. When it was impossible to me due to broken bridges and collapsed highways to attend to the earthquake past year I cried my eyes out. But later, when I saw Auka working and doing findings, even if with another handler... I can't express how it feels.

Here we do many things that are not ideal, like training the same dogs in rubble and wilderness, but when you can count the dogs for 18 million people with the fingers of your hands... you understand that every one of them is too valuable to be lost for any, any reason.