I just had the pleasure of spending a couple hours at the FEDSAR Spring Conference that was hosted by Long Island K-9 Search and Rescue. It was great to actually get to meet some of these amazing search dogs and their handlers. These handlers and their dogs are extremely dedicated to their training. They are all committed to learning the skills necessary to respond to emergencies and disasters that require their specialized talents.
Most people are unaware of what these amazing teams can do. I think many of us take for granted that there are search and rescue teams out there that stand ready, willing and able to assist us in our times of need. These teams are the quiet heroes who come in, do their job and then return back to their own lives. Often they receive (nor do they ask for) credit for what they do.
Search dogs and their handlers train for such things as: searching for missing or lost children, hikers, alzheimer’s patients and others, quickly searching disaster areas for survivors as well as searching for the remains of people who have been died.
Through our association with Robin Habeger, a NASAR evaluator for area search, trailing and HRD we are currently helping to support her and her dog Moses (aka DUNDER). Our goal is to make DUNDER the most well known search and rescue dog in the world.
At 1-800-PREPARE.com we are committed to helping raise awareness for these dogs and their handlers. They are such an important component of our country’s rescue community that we need to do what we can to support their efforts.
In the next few days we will post some photos and videos from the training conference.