Piper, affectionately known
as “Panda Bear,” came to be my K-9 Search & Rescue
partner on May 11, 2013. She was five months old when
we brought her home. After a few days of bonding,
we began the first step in SAR training which is the
hide-n-seek game. This is where someone holds the
puppy and the handler gets them all excited and runs
away and hides behind something. Then they let the
puppy go to come find you. After six practice sessions
she was so consistent that it was time to move onto
the next step where she finds people she knows while
she remains with me. By the end June, she had progressed
to find her first stranger in a location that she
was completely unfamiliar with. To say I was proud
of her is a huge understatement…
Piper & I went to a seminar in March 2014 in
Pennsylvania and the instructors were very impressed
with her and told me that she would give me many years
of great service. We have continued locating our “mock”
victims in all sorts of terrains, as well as building
searches, using various props (ex. Tarp) and even
2 victims hiding at a time. Her longest search to
date was approximately one mile long and took us almost
an hour to complete.
Piper is the most expressive and kind-hearted dog
I’ve ever worked with. She is truly a hoot and my
sunshine. We’ve got a little ways to go yet but our
hope is to become a nationally certified team by Summer/Fall
of 2015. If you are interested in K9 SAR please feel
free to contact me by email at sohumm@comcast.net
for any questions you might have. More updates on
our progress to come…
Carrie Gamblin
Alabama
Read more about
the Sylvia's breeding program that began with
dogs from Buckingham Ranch.
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