With having just honored the recent 9/11 anniversary I received several heart wrenching emails with pictures of service dogs involved in the rescue efforts. I also often get emails with pictures of service men with their trained service dogs. It really touched me how dedicated these animals are to people and their jobs and I wanted to know more about what makes a great search and rescue dog. Why can't more and more dogs be rescued from shelters and be trained as search and rescue dogs.
There are two main things to be considered in finding the best SAR dogs - traits and breed. Since these dogs are needed in disaster recovery, avalanche rescue, water rescue, wilderness tracking and the search and rescue of cadavers and missing persons, one of the desirable traits looked for with SAR dogs is focus. Trainers try to find puppies and adult dogs with such a driven focus almost nothing can distract them from their mission. This focus you and I might find undesirable with our own pet, even annoying. But it is a necessary trait in a service and rescue dog whose job it is to search relentlessly for the "prize" of a body. Not all dogs have this trait so they cannot be considered for this type of work. The other trait that is necessary in SAR dogs is a keen sense of scent since that is what dogs use to track in search and rescue.
The most successful breeds for this job are German Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, Bloodhounds, Australian Shepherds, St. Bernards and Newfoundlands although there has also been success with some mixed breed dogs with a keen sense of smell and focus.
The SARs dogs and their trainers should be commended for their service in catastrophic situations.
While some SAR dogs work at their jobs on a daily basis, many of them spend their non-work time as family dogs, living with their search volunteers and family.
