Here: SARDOC handler Robin Anderson and her dog, Toss, train in Lory State Park in early February. Below: Black Lab Taiya, like most SAR dogs, is motivated with a special toy that is reserved for use only during SAR training. Photos: ©Heidi Muller Photography: HeidiMuller.net

By Jill Reynolds

You move gracefully up toward an unnamed saddle in the Rawah Wilderness under a clear blue sky when your sleek, athletic Golden Retriever, Scout, races back with something on his mind. He barks twice with urgency.

“What is it, boy? Tell me!”

Scout barks again you nod your head knowingly.

“What? My God, Scout! A 12-year-old tuba player named Ralph from Minnesota is trapped in a rockslide
1.3 miles from here on the north side of Camp Lake?”

Scout barks an affirmative.

“OK, Scout,” you say, taking charge. “Go back and cover him with a blanket, give him a drink of water, bring me his cell phone. And hey–don’t forget to take his blood pressure this time!”

Scout dutifully barks once and disappears over the mountain back to the injured boy.

Is this a true story of K9 search and rescue? Nah! Dude, you’ve been watching too many repeats of “Lassie” on cable!

The truth about search and rescue dogs is much less exciting, filled with long hours of training for years at a time and, after certification, may result in 5-8 years of searches without ever having a “find.” This is the real (and unglamorous) world of search dogs, and an organization called Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado (SARDOC) has been out there since 1980 in rain, snow, and freezing winds looking for folks in the backcountry who are in pretty big trouble. Just who are these guys?

Prior to 1980, anyone could show up at a search with their Pomeranian, claim to be trained, and be fielded on a mission. Thankfully, the Colorado Search and Rescue Board recognized this as a problem, and asked several skilled canine handlers with Larimer County Search and Rescue to conduct research on dog teams across the country and come up with some agreed-upon performance standards for search dog teams here in Colorado. The result of their work was SARDOC. Today, Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado is often called out of state to assist with missions, and their training standards far exceed those of most national groups such as the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR).

SAR teams can be air-scent wilderness dogs or, as seen in Weimeraner Brie here, trailing dogs who sniff the ground to follow where the victim walked. Photos: ©Heidi Muller Photography: HeidiMuller.net

SARDOC typically has about 40 dog teams at a time spread throughout the state. About half of these teams are certified and half are in training. Team scan be air-scent wilderness dogs (sniffing the air to find the current location of the victim) or trailing dogs who sniff the ground to follow where the victim walked. After teams have completed their wilderness certification, they can begin specialized training in water searches (yes, they can pick up scent from under the water), avalanche detection, and human remains detection. Unfortunately, statistics from SARDOC indicate that requests for human remains detection have been rising consistently every year in Colorado.

All SARDOC handlers are volunteers who pay membership dues, use their own vehicles at their own expense, buy their own gear, take unpaid time off of work for missions, and put in close to 1,200 hours to train their dog. They’re required to pass many competency tests, including following trails up to 36 hours old and passing night tests in unfamiliar mountain terrain. Dog handlers must understand scent dynamics or how terrain, temperature, humidity, and time of day can impact the way scent moves in the mountains. If a handler cannot place dogs where they can acquire scent, the dogs have no hope of locating a victim. Clearly, the dog and handler must work together, utilizing their individual strengths to locate a lost person. It is estimated that, if properly trained and used effectively, a K9 SAR team can clear an area that would take 50 searchers to cover.

K9 Search and Rescue teams certainly don’t exist in a vacuum. Handlers must train in many disciplines basic to search and rescue. Before beginning dog training, they are required to join their local SAR county team (for Northern Colorado, Larimer County Search and Rescue). They must master map and compass skills, navigation, wilderness survival, fitness tests, and understand basic search strategies. They contribute equal time to their county team through advanced training classes, committee meetings, fund raising, and doing public education programs. OK, so we get the dedication and duty thing – now what about the dogs?

What about those dogs? Typical SAR dogs come from the working and sporting breeds – German Shepherds, Labradors, Goldens, Border Collies, and, of course, perhaps the finest SAR dogs on the planet (extreme bias freely admitted), Aussies! You’ll also find Weimeraners, Bloodhounds, Malinois, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Setters, as well as mixed breeds. The dogs are the family dogs of the handlers who work with them.

What makes a good search dog? More than anything else, it is all about motivation. The first thing that little SAR pups need to develop is drive! Some call it “play drive” or even “prey drive,” but motivation is the element consistently needed to develop a good search dog. Throughout the dog’s life, motivational exercises are done – whether the dog is 10 months or 10 years old.

Do dogs have an innate sense to “go find” the victim because it might be someone in trouble? Hardly! Under classic operant conditioning, dogs have the drive and determination to get to the victim because that is when they will get to play. (Reward!) Early on, handlers are encouraged to find the most exciting reward for their dog. This reward is only used during search and rescue training exercises. It could be a tugging a special toy, playing ball, chasing a Frisbee, or getting a delicious Culver’s hamburger patty. Everything about the dog’s future training revolves around motivation and reward. This combined with the canine’s innate and uncanny ability to scent helps these dogs mature into specialized search and rescue dogs.

Black Lab Bachus eagerly follows a scent trail during a SARDOC training session. Photos: ©Heidi Muller Photography: HeidiMuller.net

When the pager goes off at 2 a.m. on a blustery January night, what makes the K9 team get up and into the field? Part of it is the time and effort that went into certifying their dogs. Handlers love nothing better than to put the skills they’ve developed into use. But that is not enough to drop everything you’re doing anytime the pager sounds. All search and rescue volunteers have a sincere desire to be of service. This is the true reward. Helping lost or injured hikers, mountain bikers, horseback riders, skiers, climbers, hunters, and snowmobilers – often times saving lives – is the true reward. Reuniting parents with a missing child is the true reward. Search and rescue work is one of the only volunteer jobs that demands its members constantly train and be prepared to act at a professional level. It is not a game or a hobby. It could best be described as a lifestyle. This is a lifestyle that K9 search teams will always embrace – day and night, rain or shine, any season of the year. You can count on it.

Support Larimer County Search and Rescue at www.larimercountysar.org. Support Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado at www.sardoc.org. Donations appreciated!

About the author: Along with her canine partner, Skid, Jill Reynolds is a member of Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado (SARDOC). She is also a Certified Canine Massage Therapist who owns Canine Massage of the Rockies. To learn more about Jill’s business or SARDOC, contact her at jill@k9massagerockies.com

A SARDOC story: Local SAR group lures Nevada native

Estelle Purvis, seen here with her dog, Thunder, sought out SARDOC and moved to Northern Colorado to join the team. Photos: ©Heidi Muller Photography: HeidiMuller.net

As a kid, Estelle Purvis of Lake Tahoe, Nev., was sent out by her parents one day to hide for a canine search and rescue dog team from a group called “Wilderness Finders.” That day, Estelle found her life passion … a passion that would lead her to choose Larimer County as a permanent home – not because of a job, family, or any of the typical reasons people find themselves moving. Estelle moved to Larimer County because it was the home of a special organization. She came to Colorado to work with a groundbreaking group known as “Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado (SARDOC).”

Prior to 1980, there were no state-recognized K9 search and rescue groups. If a call went out for a wilderness search, anyone could walk up and join the action. Thankfully, Colorado’s state Search and Rescue Board requested that several dog handlers from Larimer County’s Search and Rescue team put together guidelines and testing standards for SAR dogs that would apply to all dog teams throughout the state. The result was SARDOC, one of the first K9 SAR groups in the nation offering certification for wilderness search dogs. This was the group Estelle sought out, and this was where she started her 20-year career as an SAR dog handler.

Estelle and her first German Shepherd, Heidi, arrived in a big way. Heidi was 9 years old when she started training with SARDOC. Most dogs begin training at 1 or 2 years old, as it takes anywhere from two to four years to certify a dog. Estelle worked 12 hours a week for two years to get Heidi certified, and Heidi, at 11, became the oldest dog in SARDOC history to become operational. Despite her age, Heidi worked with Estelle on many missions. Estelle’s dream was coming true.

With her second German Shepherd, Echo, Estelle’s education in SARDOC grew to deeper levels. Estelle traveled to other regions of the state where dog teams were working toward the same standards that she was. She not only trained her dog, but learned more intricate search strategies and, for the first time, became aware of how dog and handler could develop a very unique, special partnership.

Seen here just after being “rescued” by a Bloodhound during a SARDOC training session, Purvis has been an SAR dog handler for more than 20 years – plently long enough to become well aware of the hard work and dedication exhibited by SARDOC handlers. “These people are all volunteers. They’ll get up at 2 a.m. when the pager goes off to help wherever needed. They pay for their own gear, transportation costs, lodging, and meals – not to mention the 1,000 hours or so it takes to get a dog certified,” she said. Photos: ©Heidi Muller Photography: HeidiMuller.net

“Dogs communicate extensively through their body language,” Purvis said. “Echo had a very systematic way of searching, and the more I learned to read her body language, the more information I got from her about where the missing person was. It takes communication and trust in each other to work well. Echo knew I listened to her and believed in her ability to find people. We knew each other so well. Echo was my dream dog.”

Echo was certified at age 2, but when she was just 6 years old, Estelle’s heart was broken. Echo was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to be put down.

“At that point, I didn’t think I could continue,” said Estelle.“I wondered if search and rescue would still be a part of my life.”

A breeder in Wyoming who specializes in search dogs saved the day. She invited Estelle to drive up and watch her puppies’ temperament tests. Estelle was very uncertain about getting another dog, but the innate abilities of the puppies became perfectly clear to her. A special little girl crawled up on Estelle’s lap and promptly fell asleep. Thunder had arrived!
Like her other dogs, Thunder certified in two years. Thunder is 6 years old now and is regularly called out when people get into trouble in Larimer County’s many wilderness areas. SARDOC also allows their dogs to field in other counties when called upon, and Estelle and Thunder have even fielded for out-of-state missions. Twenty years later, Estelle still loves working with her canine partners.

“I know we haven’t reached our full potential,” she says. “I want to always learn how to become a better search team. I love seeing SARDOC get better and get really excited about the new handlers coming up. When you’re able to help someone in trouble, or help families find their loved ones, it makes all those hours of training in the wind, cold, rain, and snow worth it.”

Purvis now is one of the veteran handlers on the SARDOC team and has served as the organization’s president and training director. Younger handlers frequently seek her out with questions or guidance on problems they are having in training. She is frequently on testing teams to make sure SARDOC dogs and handlers in the field are up to the required standards. Not surprisingly, she has a clear educational philosophy.

“The effectiveness of dogs as an SAR tool is directly related to the degree of training of the dog and the skill and knowledge of the SAR dog handler,” Purvis said. “If you’ve got a great dog and a handler without search strategy that is carefully crafted and based on the weather conditions and land features of your search area, you’ll go nowhere.”

Many organizations across the country have adopted SARDOC’s standards for their teams, and Estelle is proud to be a member of the state’s oldest and largest K9 search and rescue team.

Estelle says, “These people are all volunteers. They’ll get up at 2 a.m. when the pager goes off to help wherever needed. They pay for their own gear, transportation costs, lodging, and meals – not to mention the 1,000 hours or so it takes to get a dog certified. This group and this work have given me a wonderful life!”

For Estelle Purvis, Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado was worth the move!