This Dog Has a Lifesaving Superpower —Discover How Grem Tracks Missing People Against All Odds!
When a trailing canine search and rescue team begins looking for a missing person or practice target, everything starts with a good long sniff. Grem is a trailing search and rescue dog who is specially trained to learn a specific person’s scent, find it outdoors, and track the scent trail to ideally locate the missing person or practice target.
To start a search, search and rescue K9 handlers present their dogs with an article of clothing or similar objects carrying the target’s scent. Experienced, well-trained trailing K9s like Grem are clear-headed and focused, following only the target scent and ignoring other distractions. Trailing search and rescue dogs need to sift through countless intersecting scents and focus on just one.
Imagine how hard this would be in a public park or well-used hiking trail with daily foot traffic. Trailing K9s also need to ignore outside stimuli like other dogs, children playing, or even obstacles that might otherwise deter them. Search and rescue teams tackle hazardous conditions and hard-to-navigate terrain to bring people home safely and give families answers about their missing loved ones.
With an experienced K9 like Grem, the handler’s job is to stand back, hold the leash, and let the dog do the work. The training and dedication that the handler puts in before their dog tracks their first trail is tremendous, but the payoff is a confident, independent-thinking dog. So how can you and your dog get involved in this rewarding profession?
Types of Search and Rescue Dogs
In broad strokes, search and rescue dogs are trained to find and assist missing people and victims of crimes, natural disasters, and hazardous events. For example, if someone were looking for a family member stuck in the rubble of a home after an earthquake and they called 911 search and rescue dogs would likely be deployed to comb over the site and locate the individual.
@searchgrem What are the different types of K9 search and rescue dogs? #workingdog #disasterK9 #avalancheK9 #cadaverdog #searchdogs #k9unit #mantrailing #dogswithjobs #femalek9handler #trackingdog #scentwork #dogsports #k9handler #nosework #searchandrescue ♬ original sound – Search Dog Grem
Several specialized types of search-and-rescue work fall under the general search-rescue dog umbrella including Airscent K9s, Disaster K9s, Avalanche Dogs, Water Rescue Dogs, Trailing K9s, and Human Remains Detection Dogs. Rescue dog training programs may focus on any or all of these specialized programs.
Airscent K9s
Airscent K9s are search and rescue dogs trained to detect a range of scents in the air. Airscent K9s smell for the “warm” scent of humans in the air or on the breeze and can follow it to locate lost or injured people—you’ll see them working with their nose in the air, not down on the ground. Airscent K9s do not need a scent reference but instead search for more general human smells.
Airscent K9s are used to cover large areas quickly and work off-lead receiving only verbal commands from their handler. Because Aairscent K9s work off-leash, they are also trained to find their handler once they have located their target and lead rescue crews to the victim.
Disaster K9s
Disaster K9s are airscent k9s with specialized training to work in disaster conditions. Following the events of 9/11, for example, hundreds of disaster K9s were deployed to search for people in the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
“It is estimated that more than 300 dogs took part in the search, rescue and recovery efforts at ground zero. Trained to search and detect living human scent, their mission was to find survivors buried in the rubble,” says the 9/11 Memorial Museum website. “The last living person rescued from ground zero 27 hours after the collapse was found by one of these search and rescue dogs.”
Trailing K9s
Trailing K9s are trained to memorize and track a specific person’s scent. Trailing K9s work with their nose to the ground and need a scent reference before beginning their search. Trailing K9s work on-leash and start at a specific place—usually the site of the missing person’s last known location—to trace where the missing person may have gone.
Avalanche Dogs
Avalanche dogs use airscent and trailing techniques to smell for living human scent through the snow. Beyond simply locating people missing following an avalanche, avalanche dogs are trained to dig in the snow to uncover the victim if they are buried.
Water Rescue Dogs
Water rescue dogs are trained to detect human scent in the water and alert rescue teams to the victim’s location. Some water k9 programs also train dogs to physically provide rescue to people in distress or tow them to shore.
Human Remains Detection Dogs
Human remains detection dogs (HRD dogs)—also called cadaver dogs—are trained to detect and alert their handlers to the scent of deceased humans. HRD dog certification programs train dogs to find both intact and decomposed human remains in a variety of conditions, and may include airscent, trailing, disaster training, and water dog training in their curriculum.
Trained cadaver dogs may be deployed at active crime scenes or years after a reported/suspected death. Believe it or not, it’s possible for cadaver dogs to find remains in almost any state of human decomposition.
How To Get Your Dog Into Search and Rescue Training
If you are interested in becoming a dog and handler search and rescue team with your pup, you’ll need to be ready to commit to taking regular classes and volunteering your time.
You can find professionally led search and rescue classes for dogs through organizations like Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States and the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation where you can also find fascinating search and rescue dog news from around the world. Keep in mind that you will need to have a dog that is already a good fit for a search team. Search and rescue/cadaver dog training programs seek out dogs with specific natural traits and/or specific dog breeds.
“We go to great lengths to find Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Border Collies, Belgian Malinois and mixes of those breeds with the exceptional characteristics required in a Search Dog: intense drive, athleticism, energy and focus,” says the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. “The traits that can make dogs unsuitable as family pets and land them in a shelter—intense energy and extreme drive—are exactly the qualities required in a Search Dog.”
Want to learn more about dogs with jobs? Explore the wide range of service dogs and discover how they help their handlers lead independent lives!
