Nevada Task Force 1 Attends the Iron Dog Competition

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US&R Nevada Task Force 1's Canine Search and Rescue Team recently attended the Iron Dog Competition in Camarillo, California. This annual event is an intense 12 hour training exercise hosted by the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Iron Dog simulates an actual disaster deployment and gives teams training in several scenarios ranging from rubble pile searches to helicopter transportation.

Nevada Task Force 1 sent four teams to the Iron Dog Competition, one of which was obtained from the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (NDSDF), while the other three were purchased from another Southern California training facility. According to Celeste Matesevac, the Community Relations Manager for the NDSDF, there are two major differences between the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and other canine training organizations. First, other facilities charge the fire departments for the dogs and their training; however, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, which relies on charitable donations from the community, donates the dog and its training to the fire departments, saving agencies $10,000 per dog. Second, many other facilities do not provide departments with dogs that have received FEMA Advanced Certification and do not offer teams continuing training, but the NDSDF does. Matesevac says, "With the other [facilities], they buy a dog that has been trained at a certain level, and it is up to the handler to, with that new dog, get to FEMA Certification. We work with the dog and the handler through their entire career constantly honing their skills."

Some of Nevada Task Force 1's canine search and rescue teams have not received FEMA Advanced Certification yet, and they used the opportunity to train at Iron Dog to move towards that goal. At home they have had extensive training in building searches and avalanche rescues, and so they focused their time at the Iron Dog Competition on other scenarios. Bryan Morgan, the handler of Task Force 1's Jack, says, "We're trying to get all of our dogs certified, so we've been concentrating on rubble and wood searches, not building and area searches. And that is one thing we've learned, that we need to do more of that."

Two of the dogs on Nevada Task Force 1 are related. Both Labrador Retrievers, Jack, who is Morgan's partner, and Ruby, who is partnered with Chris Burr, excelled at the Iron Dog Competition. The team of Burr and Ruby are relatively new. Burr had been in Task Force 1's search dog program for only eight months and had been partnered with Ruby for three months when they arrived at Iron Dog; however, they had already received Type 1 certification. Ruby did very well in two difficult aspects of the training. She and the rest of the dogs in attendance were hoisted by their partners to the second floor of a dark, abandoned motel. They also experienced a helicopter ride. Although Ruby had flown before, she had never been in a helicopter, and Burr said that she behaved excellently, merely lying on the floor of the chopper and relaxing while they were airborne.

To find out more about the National Search Dog Foundation and their Annual Iron Dog Competition, visit www.searchdogfoundation.org.