Search dogs provide a lifeline during disasters

Photo: Xy/Adobe Stock
A working search-and-rescue team are shown in a stock image.

The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization based in Santa Paula, California, that was founded in 1996. Their mission is to strengthen disaster response in America by rescuing and recruiting dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters.

In early 2025, SDF responded to wildfires in Southern California, that started January 7 in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, with the Eaton fire in Altadena and the Hurst fire in Sylmar. Numerous other wildfires subsequently ignited all over Los Angeles County, aided by dry conditions and driven by high-speed and erratic winds. With gusts reaching 100 mph in some areas, air support to combat the fires was severely limited or grounded altogether in the first crucial hours after the fires started, hindering firefighting efforts, and allowing the blazes to spread rapidly.¹

Because of the size and ferocity of these fires, Los Angeles County had asked for and received help from numerous other agencies across the state. According to the Governor’s office, approximately 7500 state personnel were on the ground in Southern California at one point, working with local and federal partners to respond to these historic wildfires. Additional personnel, equipment, and support also arrived from across the country.^1,2

SDF-trained human remains detection (HRD) teams Jon Munguia and canine partner Clifford of Los Angeles County Fire Department and live-find SDF-trained teams Josh Davis and canine Bosco, and Garreth Miller and canine Reva of California Task Force 3 (CA-TF3) and Patrick Easton and canine Linus, and Eric Lieuwen and canine Ridge of California Task Force 7 (CA-TF7) deployed to the Los Angeles fires along with their teammates to assist in the aftermaths of the blazes that devastated the region.¹

Why use dogs in search and rescue operations?

The SDF realizes that no piece of technology or person can match a dog’s speed and accuracy in finding people trapped in wreckage. This is thanks to a canine’s:

• Remarkable sense of smell and ability to ignore other scents and noises- even tempting traces of food and other people involved in the search.
• Unparalleled ability to safely navigate unstable and slippery and terrain.
• Capacity to negotiate surfaces, while keeping focus on the job at hand.
• Ability to work off-leash and get to places humans can’t safely access.
• Insatiable drive to hunt and search.

Search dog rescue mission and dog training

SDF’s mission is to strengthen US disaster response efforts by producing highly skilled canine search teams that can partner with firefighters and other first responders to search for victims of national disasters and terrorist attacks. It is one of the only organizations in the US that recruits rescue dogs, provides them with ongoing professional training and partners them with firefighters, at no cost to the departments.

The SDF National Training Center (NTC) is a state-of-the-art facility occupying 125 acres of donated ranch land that includes specially designed indoor and outdoor kennels for rest and play, training facilities for advanced dogs, accommodations and classrooms for handlers, and staff offices.

Caring for a different king of rescue dog

When rescue dogs come to the NTC from across the country, they’re placed under a temporary quarantine to make sure they’re healthy and disease-free before entering the dog’s population.

The initial screening includes a physical exam, lab work, and since these are working dogs, orthopedic radiographs to look for signs of conformation issues and degenerative joint disease.

Veterinary care and rescue dogs concerns

Veterinary care at the SDF is provided by the Ohana Pet Hospital in Ventura, California. Ohana veterinarians and support staff make house-calls at the campus to perform physical exams, administer vaccinations, perform orthopedic screening radiographs, and provide other basic veterinary care for the dogs in training at SDF. Ohana Pet Hospital also performs predeployment physical exams on the search dogs to ensure they are healthy before they depart for important missions, responding to the aftermath of disasters around the world.

A disaster site is a treacherous environment. It can be noisy, dust-filled, and dark. Over the 28 years since its founding, the SDF has honed a carefully crafted set of evaluations to identify promising canine candidates. “It takes an extraordinary dog—with extreme boldness, extensive drive, energy strength and athleticism, agility and focus—to approach every training, exercise and deployment with energy and determination,” Denise Sanders, director of communications for the SDF, said in an interview. “These are dogs that love to work, and want nothing more than to be out in ruble searching”

The breeds that most likely have these qualities, according to the SDF, are Labradors, border collies, golden retrievers, and German shepherds, and mixes of these breeds. “These specific breeds are ‘air-scenting’ dogs, that sniff with their noses up in the air,” Sanders said. “When they scent a victim, you can see they whip their heads around to get into scent. You can see the dog hit upon the scent and zero-in on it. It will wheel around and zig-zag on it until it gets the strongest scent spot…The dog’s ability is really phenomenal. It is built for it.”

Special SDF dogs

What does it take to successfully transfer a shelter dog to a highly trained search and rescue member?Some innate abilities and characteristics, and a lot of hand work. The process has 5 stages:

The right rescue recruits

Because the SDF uses shelter dogs, timing is of the essence, as a dog seemingly ‘right’ for the job can end up on the ‘unacceptable’ adoption list for having an insatiable work ethic. “With their level of excessive energy and toy obsession, some of these dogs would not make great pets,” Sanders said. “They’re more likely to chew up a couch, than be a couch-potato.”

First things first
Assessing a dog’s innate energy and endurance is critically important, as these qualities will need to carry the dog through its career for the next 8 to 10 years. “We’re looking for laser-like focus and a huge toy-seeking drive (or a drive to hunt and search in general),” Sanders said. “The dogs at the NTC come to know that their toy is their ‘reward’ and there are the kind of dogs that will play fetch until they collapse. These dogs will not quit unless you make them, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for. We look for those qualities at the outset and continue to enhance them during the training period.”

In fact, the first thing the dog learns at the NTC is that it can bark to get the toy it loves. “The dog tends to have a lightbulb moment in which it realizes that not only can it bark for toy, but it’s also encouraged to bark for a toy- and is rewarded when it does,” Sanders said. “The dog learns that it can use what was originally concerned bad behavior to its advantage.”

As soon as this concept ‘clicks,’ the canine trainee starts picking up on the rest of its training, like locating hidden people in barrels. “We line up several barrels together, and only one contains a person. Once the dog barks at the barrel that contains the person, the toy comes out as the reward,” Sanders said.

As the dog progresses, the trainers make the challenges increasingly complicated. For example, the barrels are next spread apart, so the dog has a greater area to cover, and then the barrels are placed haphazardly throughout the training area. “Each step of the way, the dog is rewarded and told it is a fantastic dog- that it is doing great work,” Sanders said. “The dog is learning and building it’s confidence at the same time.”

The goal is eventually to get the dog on a ruble pile that’s similar to an actual disaster situation. Volunteer ‘victims’ hide in the rubble, and the dog is tasked with finding them to earn a toy.This simulation equips the dog to find people. “If the dog isn’t willing to go up on a rubble pile- especially one with precarious or uneven footing- or even footing that’s moving-for a toy reward, it won’t make it. If the dog’s drive isn’t enough, it’s not going to workout during the training. We don’t ever want to force a dog to do something it’s not comfortable with.”

Obedience work

The dog has to learn to mind its handler, making obedience training a necessary part of the NTC program. Whether the dog is at home, at the fire station, or the disaster site, it has to mind its manners.

Handling Handler Recruitment

Picking the right handler can be just as important as picking the right dog. “The dedicated men and women have to love the process and the training to be ready to deploy when disaster strikes,” Sanders said. “We want to ensure that they understand the commitment and have a full support network in place.”

The firefighters volunteer their off time to search-and-rescue training, with a small stipend from FEMA or the State for disaster deployment. During this time, the handler is evaluated on skill level, personality, and mannerisms, all of which are important aspects of the team.

At the end of the two-week course, the SDF’s training team passes the leash from trainer to handler. Then the firefighter takes the dog home, continuing to train under the SDF’s supervision.

FEMA/State Certification Training

After graduating from the SDF, the handler-dog team goes through an additional year of training to achieve Type-1 certification through either FEMA or the State. The process consists of a foundation skills assessment that tests the dog’s agility, obedience, and basic search skills.

The dog needs to negotiate two 10,000-square-foot piles of wood, ruble, and debris, locating victims during a certain timeframe determined by FEMA or their state. Success in these tests is that no victim is left behind, which at the end of a given disaster day is the dog’s ‘job.’

Takeaway

To date, SDF has trained more than 200 teams that have been deployed to 281 disasters and missing person searches. There is currently 95 SDF teams located in California, Florida, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Baha California. Still there is a shortage of canine disaster search teams in the US, as it is estimated that 450 teams are needed to adequately respond to disasters.

References

1. Search dog teams deploy to Los Angeles fires. News release. National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. January 11, 2025. Accessed March 28, 2025. https://www.searchdogfoundation.org/los-angeles-fires/
2. More than 7,500 firefighting, emergency personnel deployed to fight the unprecedented Los Angeles fires. News release. Governor Gavin Newsom. January 8, 2025. Accessed March 28, 2025. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/01/08/more-than-7500-firefighting-emergency-personnel-deployed-to-fight-unprecedented-los-angeles-fires/#:~:text=Jan%208%2C%202025-,More%20than%207%2C500%20firefighting%2C%20emergency%20personnel%20deployed%20to%20fight%20unprecedented,historic%20wildfires%20in%20Southern%20California.