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Sit, Stay, READ!
September 1, 2009
Welcome to the new Sit, Stay, READ! feature. We're introducing a new feature for our readers that will highlight special people, animals and events that capture our attention and will, hopefully, be fascinating to you, too!
This premier edition of Sit, Stay, READ! was written by Kelly Slocum, a professional canine handler in Oregon. She works with Search and Rescue in conjunction with her beautiful black Lab, Joe. Search and Rescue is one of those efforts that rarely gets the appreciation or notice that it deserves, so we are thrilled to help promote the lifesaving work that S&R teams do!
If you have a story you’d like to tell us about, write me. We love hearing about people or animals or groups that make the world a happier, better place to be, and if we use your story you'll get a free pound of cookies!
Joe makes the find!
Yesterday Joe and I were called to a search near Damascus Oregon for a man who had become lost in a densely
wooded area while in a diabetic state. We've been on dozens of searches this year, but this one carried an unusual level of urgency as the subject was in the midst of a health crisis that would both inhibit his ability to aid in his own rescue, and could cause permanent health damage if not death in a very short amount of time. I was more concerned about the subject of this search than I ever had been before.
As I was harnessing Joe in the vest that identifies him as a SAR dog, he was antsy, whining and quivering, chafing at the delay and scope-locked on the trailhead leading away from the point at which the subject was last seen. Joe is always amped at the start of a search, but he was over-the-top yesterday. When the Sheriff asked me where I planned to start my search I laughed and pointed to the opening in the woods on which Joe was so intent and told him the dog seemed to think that way was a good idea. When I let Joe go with the command "find 'em" he shot off like a rocket down the trail.
We were accompanied by my husband as team support, and two paramedics, and we quickly headed onto the path behind Joe as he ranged in front of me some 50 yards, nose in the air, testing for scent. Roughly 8 minutes into the search Joe stopped on the trail until I could see him, made eye contact with me, then leapt into the blackberries to the east and began crashing through the underbrush. Much of my training in SAR surrounds learning to read my dog's signals, and I knew at that moment he'd caught the scent of our subject. I held my ground and began to call the subject's name so Joe would know my exact location, and waited for the alert I felt sure was going to come. After a few moments, however, I heard Joe barking, a deep urgent call, and instead of waiting for him to come back and alert, I tore through the brush, Roy and the paramedics hard behind me, after my dog. We followed the sound of Joe's bark to a small clearing and there found our subject clinging desperately to Joe's harness, trying to rise from the ground, and my dog, seated next to him, solid as a rock. Upon seeing me Joe stopped barking and the paramedics rushed to the subject. When the man released his grip on him, Joe ran to me and jumped, this time not to alert, but in obvious joy at the job he'd just completed.
Total search time; 15 minutes.
Several things about this search stand out for me; Joe is always amped at the start of a search, but yesterday I believe he had an idea of where the subject was from the outset as demonstrated by his almost manic eagerness to start; though never trained to bark if the subject grabs him, Joe has always done so, and continued barking until I had come to him, clearly aware he was leading us in with his voice; the subject was a 190 pound man, my dog is an 72 pound lab, yet when the man was leaning his full weight on my dog, trying to stand, the dog never moved, nor did he try to move until the man released his hold on Joe's harness. There is only so much we can train into a search dog, for the rest we must rely on the dog's understanding of the need of each individual search. What separates a good SAR dog from a great SAR dog is their ability to think for themselves in service to others. Joe is a great search dog.
The paramedics credit Joe with saving the subject's life. I credit him with taking mine to places I'd never imagined. I hope to someday articulate my pride in him, but that ability continues to elude me; there's just too much feeling to be condensed into words.
