Search and rescue dog

Red Cross Collie, Italy, 1909.

Austro-Hungarian sanitary dog in WWI, 1914.

A search-and-rescue dog is one trained to find missing people after a natural or man-made disaster. The dogs detect human scent^{[citation needed]} and have been known to find people under water, under snow, and under collapsed buildings.^[1]

A dog and handler search for survivors of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.

Applications

Rescue dog waiting at actual disaster site (2014 Hiroshima landslides)

A cadaver dog searches for human remains at a plane crash site in Greenland.

A dog with aptitude for finding dead bodies or body parts, whether buried, hidden or submerged, may be called a "cadaver dog".^[2] In Croatia such dogs have been used to find burial sites almost 3000 years old.^[3] Police, death investigators and anthropologists may work closely with cadaver dogs and their handlers. ^[4]

Training

Riley at World Trade Center post 9-11-2001 attack

Training of a search dog is usually begun when the dog is still a puppy.^[5]

Organizations

Numerous countries, cities and regions have search and rescue organizations using dog-and-handler teams that can be mobilized in an emergency or disaster. Here are a few organizations.

International Rescue Dog Organisation (IRO) is the worldwide umbrella organisation for training and testing of search and rescue dog work. IRO partners with International Search and Rescue Advisory Group and United Nations for coordinating disaster relief missions worldwide.^[6]
FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, US teams of dogs and handlers which are deployed to emergency and disaster sites within hours.
Emergency Response Team Search and Rescue respond to emergencies and disasters in United Kingdom and Canada.
Special Tasks and Rescue Dog Operations Unit supports the South Australia Police with tracking, searching, and finding lost persons.
Alabama Search and Rescue supports public safety agencies in Alabama with tracking, searching, and finding lost persons using scent discrimination trailing Bloodhounds. www.ALSAR.gov

Notable dogs

Beauty, a Wirehaired Terrier, was a search and rescue dog during the Second World War in England.
Jake, a Labrador Retriever, was a search and rescue dog that worked the disasters of September 11 attacks (2001) and Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Orion, a Rottweiler, helped save the lives of at least 37 people in 1999 from drowning during flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela.^[7]
Rex, entered burning buildings to find trapped people during the Second World War in England.
Mancs, a German Shepherd trained to find people buried by earthquakes.

References

^ Lockett, Michael S. (November 4, 2019). "Keeping a nose out: SEADOGS takes guesswork out of searches". Juneau Empire.
^ Komar, D. (March 9, 1999). "The use of cadaver dogs in locating scattered, scavenged human remains: preliminary field test results". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 44 (2): 405–408. doi:10.1520/JFS14474J. PMID 10097372 – via PubMed.
^ Dogs show a nose for archaeology by sniffing out 3,000 year old tombs The Guardian, 2019
^ Rebmann A., David E. (2000). Cadaver Dog Handbook. Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-8493-1886-3.
^ "Training Dogs & Handlers". Canadian Search Dogs. Archived from the original on 1 May 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
^ "Strong Partners". International Rescue Dog Organisation.
^ "Orión, el perro rescatista en la tragedia de Vargas (Orion, the rescue dog in the Vargas tragedy)" (in Spanish). December 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014.

External links

[1] Lockett, Michael S. (November 4, 2019). "Keeping a nose out: SEADOGS takes guesswork out of searches". Juneau Empire.

[komar-2] Komar, D. (March 9, 1999). "The use of cadaver dogs in locating scattered, scavenged human remains: preliminary field test results". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 44 (2): 405–408. doi:10.1520/JFS14474J. PMID 10097372 – via PubMed.

[3] Dogs show a nose for archaeology by sniffing out 3,000 year old tombs The Guardian, 2019

[4] Rebmann A., David E. (2000). Cadaver Dog Handbook. Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-8493-1886-3.

[5] "Training Dogs & Handlers". Canadian Search Dogs. Archived from the original on 1 May 2006. Retrieved 8 January 2021.

[6] "Strong Partners". International Rescue Dog Organisation.

[7] "Orión, el perro rescatista en la tragedia de Vargas (Orion, the rescue dog in the Vargas tragedy)" (in Spanish). December 11, 2014. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014.

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