Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue (SC-SAR) has a special new team member, a male German shepherd named Kaiser.
Kaiser was certified for search and rescue last March with his handler Kevin Flynn. Hundreds of hours go into training a search and rescue dog, according to Flynn, but you need to start with the right dog.
“High drive, that’s important. The biggest thing of all is to know what you’re doing,” Flynn said. “It took me a couple of years just to figure out the road map to get to where I wanted to go.”
Flynn ended up training under the BC Search Dog Association, which helps handlers like Flynn train SAR dogs to RCMP standards.
Sue Duxbury of SC-SAR said that adding Kaiser to the team has been a huge help. Before Kaiser was certified, SAR dogs had to be called in from either the mainland or Powell River.
“They have to deal with ferry schedules, etc. It’s a pain in the butt because you need to get that dog in early, before your scent gets contaminated by people,” Duxbury said. “By having our own dog on scene, it means as soon as we get the call, the dog can go in. It’s a huge time saver for us.”
Flynn works with another handler, Joyce Tattersal, who is training her dog, Echo, for SAR. The two spent about four hours a week training their dogs for certification. Tattersal is going for Echo’s certification this fall.
The key to training a SAR dog, Flynn said, is in the diversity of terrain you train them on.
“You go out and look for this kind of bush, that kind of bush, urban terrain, darkness, river, creek. You have to expose your dog to all this, and yourself, and that’s just the basics,” Flynn said.
Flynn would get articles of clothing from his friends, hide the clothes in the woods then return with Kaiser a day or two later.
“When the dog finds the article, you just go berserk. You look like a lunatic jumping up and down, and the dog just thinks this is the greatest,” Flynn said. “Then the dog gets the game. After that it’s just exposing the dog to different situations.”
Kaiser has already been out on one search and rescue mission. A person with limited mental capacity left their home at night and wandered into the forest. Although Kaiser wasn’t in the area where they eventually found the person, Flynn and Duxbury both said that Kaiser is a valuable asset to the team.
“The search dog is just one of the tools that SAR uses,” Flynn said. “Everyone is equal, and there are no stars. Kaiser is treated as an equal member.”
