Intro to Search and Rescue

Hey Tribe,

As mentioned in a previous post, Fly and I have been training with a search and rescue dog team: Alaska Solstice Search Dogs.  We are having a lot of fun, making new friends, visiting new places, and doing new activities.

Some of the team during a weekend training session.

The search and rescue (SAR) dog team is an all-volunteer group (there aren’t any paid SAR groups in Alaska, except for the Coast Guard).  Our State Troopers rely on groups like ours to do a lot of the heavy lifting when people go missing in our vast land.  Members have to love the job, because it requires a lot of time, work, and personal money, with very little recognition or thanks.

Learning low angle rope skills - here, I belay a fellow teammate and her dog.

Fly doesn't mind the ropes or the slopes.

I heard a fellow Barn Hunt competitor talking about training with SAR and I butted into her conversation to ask her questions about the team and the training and ignorantly said I wanted to join a team.  She kindly and gently replied that she’d ask her team if they were looking for more members and perhaps I could visit a session.  Oh.  Team membership is exclusive – not every girl with a dog can join apparently.  That was my first clue that these SAR people take their task seriously.  It isn’t a club.  So, I did get to visit a session the following day and I guess my informal interview went well, because I was told the date and time of their next training session, to bring Fly, and they’d “see how she did.”  It would then be time for Fly’s interview.

Fly tolerates a practice of tying in-the-field makeshift webbing harnesses.

Fastforward six weeks of attending twice-a-week trainings and I was submitting my membership application and member fees.  Fly and I are now on probation for six months after which time the team will vote us onto the official membership roster or tell us thanks, but no thanks.

Fly loves this "find the human" game.

Fly and I train at home, with TheFather and TheMother and whomever visits our house or happens to agree to help.  We do this in the evenings after I arrive home from work and on the weekends.  Fly and I also train with the team one weeknight and one weekend day each week. 

We also participate in community events with our team.

I’ll keep you updated on our progress and go into further detail about what we are doing in later posts, so stay tuned!  It’s a fun new adventure for us and I’m eager for this new phase in our life.