Yesterday, Duffy and his owner/handler Janet passed their Area Search certification test with
Southwest Search Dogs. The requirements for the test are to find two hidden subjects in an area of 160 acres, within four hours. It only took Duffy one hour, but this was mostly because the search strategy that Janet used put him in the proper locations to make the finds. Duffy is a really fun dog to watch, because he works so fast and ranges so far (hence the blue bear bell you can see on his back, so that Janet can keep track of him when he goes out of sight) and has seemingly unlimited stamina.
This image was made at our regular training session, yesterday morning, before we had decided to put on a test for Duffy and Janet, as well as a simultaneous one for Cache and Terry (who also passed), so I just got lucky to have a fresh photo for the occasion. Training in the morning, plus two tests in the afternoon, made for a logistical challenge and quite a full day.
Southwest Search Dogs is an all-volunteer team of about 25 dedicated people that use their pet dogs to locate missing people, human remains, or articles that were involved in crimes. We work primarily with the San Diego Police Department, but are occasionally called out by other agencies throughout most of Southern California. We are a 24/7 operation, which means that we are frequently called out in the middle of the night. Most of our callouts are canceled before we arrive on scene, but we don't mind because we realize that the sooner we are called, the sooner we can help to find the missing person and, quite frankly, because searching with our dogs is just plain fun.
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