What is the Search Dog Foundation (SDF)?
SDF is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in Ojai, California. Our mission is to produce the most highly trained DHS/FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Advanced Certified canine disaster search teams in the nation. These teams are trained to search for live victims of natural disasters or terrorist attacks. The teams are provided at no cost to fire departments and other emergency service agencies throughout the country.
How do you raise the funds to do this?
As a tax-exempt charity with no government funding, we rely on support from individuals and private foundations and corporations throughout the country to provide this service.
How did SDF begin?
SDF was founded in 1995 by retired schoolteacher, Wilma Melville. In 1995, Wilma and her Advanced-Certified search dog were deployed to the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. Only one survivor was found by a dog, and it was clear that the country had a severe shortage of Canine Disaster Search Teams. Determined to do something about this alarming gap in our national disaster response network, Wilma founded the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and designed a program based on the recruitment of rescued dogs and on a streamlined, professional training methodology. Her goal was to improve the way search dogs were chosen, trained, and to partner them with firefighters and other first responders. for.
What were Wilma's goals in founding the Search Dog Foundation?
- Choosing the dogs according to very strict criteria
- Recruiting highly skilled firefighters and other emergency personnel as handlers
- Providing professional training for both dog and handler
- Requiring regular, frequent, ongoing training throughout the working life of the dog
- Making a commitment to the Lifetime Care of every dog.
Why do you need a search dog to find disaster victims?
In order to rescue a disaster victim, you first have to FIND them. No technology can match a dog's speed and accuracy in finding people trapped alive under the wreckage of a disaster, thanks to its:
- Remarkable sense of smell (many times more acute than ours) and ability to ignore all other scents and noises- even tempting traces of other animals, food, or people involved in the search;
- Unparalleled ability to quickly and safely navigate unstable and slippery terrain-like a 4-wheel drive on paws!
- Ability to negotiate these dangerous surfaces while keeping absolutely focused on the job at hand: saving a life;
- Ability to work off-leash and get to places humans cannot safely access.
How does SDF compare to other search dog groups?
SDF is recognized as providing some of the most highly trained search dogs in the nation. Using Advanced Certification by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/FEMA as a starting point, SDF-trained Canine Search Teams go well beyond this skill level. SDF provided 13 of the search teams deployed at Ground Zero (33% of the Advanced-Certified dogs). In 2005, 26 SDF teams were sent to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to assist with rescue efforts.
SDF's extensive pre-screening of canine candidates and rigorous training is a winning combination. Prior to SDF's innovations, only about 15% of the dogs in America training to be disaster search dogs reached DHS/FEMA Advanced Certification. Of the dogs in SDF's program, 85% achieve Advanced Certification.
CANINE TRAINING
Isn't a dog a dog? Why do only certain kinds of dogs become SDF search dogs?
Disaster search requires very specific talents and skills in both dog and handler. A disaster site is a treacherous environment: noisy, chaotic, dust-filled, and sometimes dark. Disaster search dogs must have the ability to perform at a high level in the worst setting imaginable. At Ground Zero, for example, the 'pile' was a mountain of debris seven or eight stories high composed of twisted steel and wobbly, uneven surfaces, hot spots and gaps in the rubble where fires were still burning. It takes an extraordinary dog-one with extreme boldness, energy, strength, agility and drive-to approach every training exercise, and every deployment, with energy and determination. These are dogs that LOVE to work, NEED to work, and want nothing more than to be out on the rubble, searching!
What are the canines trained to do and why?
After a disaster, when buildings have crumbled to the ground, dogs can search much more quickly and safely than people can. By training on simulated rubble piles where volunteer victims are hiding, the canines and their handlers prepare themselves to find people who would otherwise remain buried. A disaster search dog must learn to crawl through tunnels, walk up and down ladders, and walk on wobbly surfaces and over debris and rubble. The dog must be able to go in a direction that its handler has signaled and stop and wait for instructions.
Who trains the dogs?
Once recruited, SDF canines stay with a Canine Prep Home family. Their stay lasts anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Here they receive loving care, socialization, further evaluation, and obedience training. When the dog is ready, it travels to Sundowners Training Kennel in Gilroy, California for six months of daily training. Here the dog learns advanced obedience and disaster search skills and acquires the confidence and trust essential to bonding with its handler. We owe much of our success in producing the nation's most skilled search dogs to trainers Pluis Davern, Kate Davern and Sharon Wolfsen.
What happens after training?
As the dogs near the end of their training, their future handlers are also involved in an intensive six-day training course. At the end of the course, Pluis partners each dog with a handler, making certain they are a perfect match and that there is real chemistry between them. The handlers spend ten more days training with their new canine partners.
The dog lives and works with the firefighter, training together daily to reach DHS/FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) certification. Once certified, this highly trained team can be deployed to disasters anywhere in the nation.
What is DHS/FEMA Advanced Certification?
This is the hallmark of achievement for a canine disaster search team. It is a national standard, signifying that the team is capable of going anywhere in the nation and performing at the highest level.
Why do the canines require daily training?
Even after reaching Advanced Certification, SDF canines continue intensive training to maintain op deployment readiness. This goes on throughout the working life of the dog.
What happens to dogs that do not succeed in the program, are injured, or retire?
SDF makes a Lifetime Care Commitment to each dog accepted into our program: Once rescued, these dogs will never need to be rescued again. If a dog is accepted by SDF but does not complete the training program it is placed in a Lifetime Care home. The adoption works beautifully for both dog and adoptive family. We closely monitor the needs of all Lifetime Care families and their dogs. If at any time these families are not able to care for the dog, we see that they are placed in another loving home.
When an active dog retires it usually remains with its handler. Should this not be possible, this dog also becomes part of the Lifetime Care program.
HOW MANY SEARCH DOGS ARE NEEDED?
There is a severe shortage of Advanced Certified canine search teams in the U.S. A total of 336 FEMA Advanced Certified canine search teams (12 for each of 28 FEMA Task Forces), and many more State and Regional teams, are needed to adequately respond to disasters in this country. There are currently 150 Advanced Certified teams in the nation. SDF's mission is to produce highly trained teams to help meet the critical gap in our country's emergency response network.
Where are SDF teams located?
SDF has over 60 teams located in California, Florida, Ohio, Washington D.C., and the State of Baja California, Mexico. Thanks to Mutual Aid agreements between states, DHS/FEMA can deploy SDF teams nationwide wherever disasters occur.
What is the current demand for SDF-trained dogs?
The demand for SDF dogs and the training program we offer is at an all time high. In response to requests for our services from across the nation, we are now offering our program on a first-come, first-served basis in consideration of regional needs. Departments interested in becoming part of SDF's program are now being placed on a waiting list.
How does SDF interface with state and federal disaster response networks?
SDF serves FEMA, the State of California Office of Emergency Services, other state emergency response offices and local agencies.
How does sdf work with firefighters? Who can become an SDF handler?
In order to be accepted into our training program, an applicant must meet SDF's five requirements in these areas:
- Support from their department
- A training group of four to six canine-handler teams
- Commitment and a positive outlook
- Physical ability
- Willingness to be assigned an SDF Search Dog
Why does SDF work primarily with firefighters?
Firefighters are the first on the scene in a disaster. They already follow a rigorous training regimen, and can incorporate a search dog into their career and lifestyle. Civilians who are successful handlers must be able to match this training regimen and have a career in which they are able to have the dog with them at all times.
What does SDF offer to fire departments?
- Highly skilled search dogs trained by one of the nation's top canine instructors
- A proven program of training for the canine-firefighter team leading to DHS/FEMA Advanced Certification
- Ongoing support to the team throughout the working life of the dog.
What aspect of the training program does SDF pay for?
It costs SDF $10,000 to produce one SDF canine-firefighter search team. This includes the recruitment and training of each canine and firefighter. Once the teams are partnered, it costs up to $20,000 more for the ongoing training to reach Certification and maintain deployment readiness for the next ten years (the average working life of a search dog). As a non-profit with no government funding, SDF raises funds from individuals, foundations and companies to underwrite the cost.
What is SDF's role once the dog is partnered with a handler?
SDF stays with the handler long after it is partnered with a dog, providing ongoing training throughout the working life of the dog-about 10 years.
What is the timetable for recruiting and training an SDF team?
SDF's six-step recruitment and training program lasts about ten years-the entire working life of the dog. The average timetable-from recruitment and training to retirement-is about 10 years:
- Canine Recruitment and Prep Home Stay for evaluation and socialization (1 to 2 months)
- Canine Boot Camp (6 to 8 months)
- Handlers' Course (16 days)
- First Year Training toward Certification (12 to 14 months)
- Ongoing Training to maintain top deployment readiness (9 years)
Why does SDF work primarily with firefighters?
Firefighters are the first on the scene in a disaster. They already follow a rigorous training regimen, and can incorporate a search dog into their career and lifestyle. Civilians who are successful handlers must be able to match this training regimen and have a career in which they are able to have the dog with them at all times. What does SDF offer to fire departments? - Highly skilled search dogs trained by one of the nation’s top canine instructors
- A proven program of training for the canine-firefighter team leading to Advanced FEMA Certification
- Ongoing support to the team throughout the working life of the dog.
What aspect of the training program does SDF pay for?
It costs SDF $10,000 to recruit, care for and train each new dog, partner it with a firefighter-handler, provide ongoing training to the team and Lifetime Care for the dog. As a non-profit with no government funding, SDF raises funds from individuals, foundations and companies to underwrite the cost. What is SDF’s role once the dog is partnered with a handler?
SDF stays with the handler long after it is partnered with a dog, providing ongoing training up to and beyond Advanced Certification. How long does it take to produce a FEMA certified team?
Using SDF's unique program of pairing a professionally trained dog with a firefighter-handler, the program takes about one year to become certified. Civilian volunteers have often taken up to three years to reach certification and many never succeed. We are very proud of our 85% success record |
