Lakeside, Calif.-
The Women's Club of Lakeside held their monthly meeting on
Thursday, June 25, 2015, and invited Engineer Rich Smith from Station 3 to
give an overview of Lakeside Fire Protection District's search dog
program. The Women's Club has chosen the
National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (NDSDF) for a fundraising event in
September. Bella, a purebred Labrador retriever,
is a member of Lakeside Fire and a part of the NDSDF. Her handler, Engineer Smith, gave an
excellent presentation of the program and the path of becoming a handler.
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| Engineer Rich Smith |
The NDSDF was formed after the bombing in Oklahoma City. A
need was identified by the founder, also a K9 handler, to have more canine search teams, not only
for violent attacks but also for natural disasters. The first training facility was
at Sundowners Kennels in Gilroy, CA. How are the dogs
chosen? Each week throughout the
country, teams go to nearby animal shelters and test which dogs might have the propensity
for focused attention, obedience to commands and a "high drive." Generally, these dogs are from the retriever
family, whether pure bred or mixed breed. Most of the time the dogs are days from being
euthanized. After being rescued from the
animal shelter, the dog is vet checked, hips x-rayed, and sometimes sent to a "surrogate" family to learn
basic obedience for a short period, until they can be delivered to the newly constructed, multi-million dollar National Training Center (NTC) in Ojai, CA to start the formal NDSDF program, which takes
approximately 8-12 months. To fully train
a dog the cost is approximately $100,000. When the dog completes the training, handlers are invited to the NTC to be matched to a dog by the trainers. The dog
then continues to train with their handler and the goal is to become FEMA certified within the following year. Every three (3) years, the search team has to be
recertified. In San Diego, attached to USAR California Task Force 8, there are only five (5) FEMA certified dogs, and are assigned to fire departments in San Diego County. Each month, the handlers meet in various
locations to practice honing the dog's skills by finding people in simulated
natural disasters. While Bella is not a
family pet, she receives much attention (and love) by fellow firefighters
at Station 3.
Bella and Engineer Smith will be demonstrating search skills
during our Open House at Station 3 in October.
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| Engineer Smith, Bella, and Barbara Whitlock of the Women's Club of Lakeside |
Story and Photos by M. Brown, Lakeside LVG
