Dog Talk

The official unofficial newsletter for FEMA dog handlers
March 2003 - Volume 6, Number 2 

From The Editor

Ode to Spring

Is the snow ending – Is it spring yet??

Of course then comes the rain so the ground will be wet…

The rubble’s been slick, but soon will be soggy

But at least when we train, it won’t be so foggy.

Our directional pallets were “froze” to the ground

We were unable to move them from the snow mound.

And the agility course has been kind of rough-

The big icicle chunks made the ladder so tough!

It won’t be too long to shed long underwear,

And I won’t have to get that warm hat on my hair.

My “Smart Wools” have holes, my gloves are worn out-

Spring can arrive any time, I am READY, no doubt.

Anne

Other News: 

"THE SAME CREATOR WHO NAMES THE STARS KNOWS THE NAMES OF THE SEVEN SOULS WE MOURN TODAY"... President Bush, 2-1-03

With these words, once again the FEMA USAR canine mission was faced with a new challenge.

It wasn't the first time FEMA activated only canine teams for a mission.  Canines were sent to Guam after an airliner crashed.  In 1999, eight USAR canine teams, with Search Team Manager (STM) support, were sent to Oklahoma City in the wake of devastating Force 5 tornadoes.

But there the similarity ends. In Oklahoma City, we searched rubble -- blocks and blocks of it. 

In east Texas, the search area was measured in miles.  Much of it was thick woods and brush, thorns, swamps and bogs.  In addition to the terrain, hazards included ticks, javelinas and an occasional snake.

In all, 23 FEMA teams participated.  With the exception of two Texas Task Force teams, who had task force support personnel, the first teams in (from California, Florida Task Force 2, Nebraska and Virginia), came with no STM support.  However, flankers from Search One, a Dallas based SAR group, many of whose members are also Texas Task Force members, provided us with excellent navigational and logistical support.  

Basically, we as dog handlers left the navigation to our flankers, allowing us to concentrate on working our dogs and thus greatly increasing our productivity (and peace of mind  -- only one handler got lost!)

Texas Task Force STMs Susann Brown and Barry Larsen at Hemphill, and Billy Parker and Stan Irwin at San Augustine assigned our missions and interfaced with FEMA IST, NASA, FBI and DMORT to make a seemingly impossible task run smoothly.

Later teams, arriving from Tennessee, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington and Florida Task Force 1, for the most part brought STMs to serve as flankers for their canine handlers.

Another innovation was the inclusion on the IST team of veterinarian and canine handler Pat Grant from California.  Not only were we able to have a vet on site who understand working dogs, but Pat was a valuable liaison between the IST and canines as needs arose and the mission continued.  All canine handlers appreciate the IST's recognition of the need for a canine voice in this "cabinet level" position.

In the field our dogs worked long hours under trying conditions, covering vast areas, often accompanied by eight to fifteen FBI and DMORT personnel, sometimes by an entire troop of Texas National Guardsmen.

Will there ever be another mission like the Columbia recovery?  We pray not.  But we owe it to the FEMA USAR system to provide canines with specialized training.  We owe it to our dogs to not put them in situations they are not trained for or capable of performing.

Submitted by Elaine Sawtell 

NETF-1

AN OPINION...

We've known it since Oklahoma City.  Some of us knew it before.  Death is as much a part of disaster as life -- often in the FEMA USAR program experience, more.  Very rarely have our dogs had the opportunity to fulfill their live find mission.  By the time we get to a site, there are no survivors.  Inevitably, where there is hope of life, there is also death.  In America we've always known the importance of returning the dead to their families.  As the FEMA USAR mission expands, the canine component can and must fulfill specialized roles to meet new challenges.

Standards must remain high for our live find dogs.  Dogs can be trained to search for a spark of life through chaos and contamination, debris and death, noise and confusion until they find that live human scent, then stay with that scent and bark.  It's the whole goal of the mission.  We've been training our

dogs to do it for years.  There is no reason to accept or allow anything but solid victim loyalty from our live find dogs.

As we can and have trained proficiency and commitment into our live search dogs, we can do the same with human remains dogs.  They can develop the commitment to their job and the endurance to persevere through distractions and confusion.  The can give a solid alert on the object of their mission. 

Agility, off-lead control, directability, all the things we ask of our live find dogs we can ask of our human remains search dogs.

To ask a dog to do both jobs is possible.  Those of us with wilderness search background have done that for years.  But when dead and live are combined in a large-scale disaster, the picture changes.  Careful, consistent, ongoing training and teamwork from canine and handler is imperative.  The alerts must be different, and the dog must be sure of his mission.

In Nebraska, we have set problems with victims unknown to the dogs, with no toys or food, in rubble along with human remains.  The canine is sent on a cadaver search and must switch to and commit to a live find when appropriate.  In training it works, but in the reality of a disaster, with the distractions and scent picture we can never duplicate in training, when dogs and handlers are tired and under pressure, alerts will blur and mistakes will be made.  The "weakest link" here is not the canine but his ability to communicate to his human partner exactly what his nose tells him.

The worst-case scenario is, of course, a missed survivor while someone who did not survive is being recovered.

In east Texas, FEMA was fortunate.  The FEMA dogs in Texas, with some notable exceptions, were our veterans.  Many were wilderness search dogs with cadaver certifications and finds before the FEMA USAR disaster search canine standard was even implemented.  They are used to long days with little or no success, used to persevering and enduring, covering ground.  Some of you may remember 

that a Mission Ready Wilderness Search Dog used to be a requirement for a FEMA USAR dog. But that page has long ago been turned in our history.

If we respond with a knee jerk reaction and throw our live find dogs into cadaver work, we are asking for confusion.  It could ruin a live find dog.  That answer seems obvious. Develop teams trained only on human remains.  Assign them to task forces along with live find teams.

Hopefully, a human remains standard would be more than simply running into a rubble pile and alerting on a scent source.  Hopefully, endurance would be factored in.  Maybe a two-day test with a variety of HR scent sources, blank areas, all areas with distractions.  We have a good live find standard.  We can develop a good human remains standard.

A well-trained canine is still the best search tool FEMA has.  But to use this tool to its best advantage the mission must be crystal clear to the dog.  We owe it to our canines and to the FEMA system to maintain our credibility by careful thought at this critical juncture of our program and our country's history.

Elaine Sawtell/NETF-1                                        

Attn BORDER COLLIE owners:

 Is there some way we can get a rough idea on how many border collies are doing search work in the USA?  I would like to get a database together that we could all use.  Along with the location etc, it would list the dog’s area of expertise.  I need some help to make this work!  Please let me know your name, location and contact email or phone number.  1079k9@911bc.org  

A.J. 

UPCOMING TESTS 

March 29-30, 2003         Harrisburg, PA               Type II Testing   Hosted by PATF-1

TEST FULL – Applications no longer being accepted
For test information, contact Chris Selfridge at: cselfridge@floodcity.net

ERK9 (International Emergency Response K9) will conduct a TYPE I and TYPE II FEMA Disaster Search Canine Readiness Evaluation (DSCRE), and training on April 25, 26, and 27, 2003. Testing teams are invited to stay for a training session with the evaluators on Sunday the 27th of April from 8:00am-2:00pm. There will be an opportunity for approved shadow evaluators. This event will take place at Recycling Technology Center, INC. and is supported by Mazza and Sons Demolition, 3230 Shafto Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07753 (approximately 45min from Newark Airport )

The FEMA Canine Search Readiness Evaluation Application for Evaluation Form and $100.00 fee are due no later than April 7th, 2003.  ERK9 will provide continental breakfast, lunch, tee shirt and training to testing teams.  Applications can be mailed or faxed (Fax # 610 869 3599)
Pat Kaynaroglu, 601 Jennersville Road, Cochranville, PA 19330
phone #  : 610 869 9497 or pkaynaroglu@erk9.org              

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June 7-8, 2003   Virginia Beach, VA                    Type II Testing               Hosted by VATF-2

For test information, contact Bill Dotson sarbill@aol.com or call 434-985-3893

Or by mail 6022 Advance Mills Rd, Ruckersville, VA 22968.

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2003 California Test Schedule:

June 21-22      Los Angeles County Area (SoCal)  Apps. Due no later than  5/12/03

September 20-21 Orange County Area (SoCal)   Apps. Due no later than  8/11/03

December 6-7    San Francisco Bay Area (NoCal)   Apps. Due no later than  12/10/03

Applications, with a $25 testing fee attached can be sent to:  Lynne Engelbert, 19327 Northampton Dr., Saratoga, CA  95070-3330.  Checks should be made out to:  National Disaster Search Dog Foundation or NDSDF with CSSWG Account indicated on the "memo" line.

CA and re-certifying (CA & out-of-state) teams have priority with out-of-state testing teams welcome to fill remaining slots, if available.  For information on California tests, contact: 

Lynne Engelbert

FAX  (650) 604-7051 or (650) 604-0994 
Work - (650) 604-3112
Home - (408) 257-1784

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The National Certification List of FEMA Certified Disaster Canine Search Teams is provided by Lynne Engelbert. (Lynne's e-mail: lengelbert@mail.arc.nasa.gov) It is available on this web page.  To view it - click here.

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KUDOS TO.......

                                               

DOGTALK is pleased to announce that the following Canine Search Teams have recently gained certification (or re-certification) as FEMA US&R Type I or II Canine Search Specialists:

Fremont, CA Results – March 2003

Type I Certified: John Dean & Reo (AZ/TXTF), Deresa Teller & Ranger (CA-OES) and Marc Valentine and Val (CA-OES)

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UPCOMING SEMINAR:


For other events see web site calendar

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ROTATIONAL SCHEDULE

see next issue

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FEMA K9 WORKING GROUP UPDATE

Here is the NEW DSCREP document that has been tentatively approved and has a pending effective date of July 1, 2003!

FEMA CANINE WORKING GROUP UPDATE

Now that you guys can read the minutes on the website, things may get a little redundant.  Nevertheless--

HRD dogs for disaster response is a hot topic at the moment.  We are in the process of gathering input from handlers and STMs and TFLs from all of the Task Forces.  If you haven't already spoken, speak now!  

It will be one of the topics for our face-to-face meeting next month at FEMA headquarters in D.C.  Also on the table is the Budget, Training, and an Evaluator conference.

Check out the current Canine Search Specialist Position Description posted on the website--have you met all of the requirements?

All evaluators have submitted their updated information to Lynne Englebert lengelbert@mail.arc.nasa.gov so as to be included on the new roster, right?  The deadline was 3-15-03.  Any evaluator who has not met the requirement of one evaluation in the past two years shall be given a grace period to shadow evaluate by the end of 2003 to remain on the roster.  (Note that pretests will not count after 7-1-03)

Speaking of 7-1-03--that is the projected date of implementation of the new DSCREP.  It is on the website, so take a few days and familiarize yourself with it before then.

Another important date--7-1-04--the projected date requiring canine teams to be certified in order to be deployed.  Most (all?) Task Forces need to beef up in the canine department.   In the case of the Light Task Force Deployment,  4 canine teams may be deployed and (hopefully) 4 remain behind as back up for a Total TF Deployment.  Does your TF have 8 certified dogs???

We need your input as to how FEMA can best help enhance the certified canine component on a Task Force level.  Send your ideas to your Regional Representative in the next two weeks.  Then go train your dog. 

Thanks
Teresa MacPherson
Secretary, CWG
3-14-03

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Please forward any news, scheduled events, letters to the editor, or other info you want disseminated via DOG TALK, the underground canine newsletter to Anne Trout:  amccurdy@clarian.org