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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / The Search Dog Foundation

The Search Dog Foundation

by $8 blue check mistermix|  February 18, 201110:39 am| 20 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links

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Today’s Philanthroper sounds like it might interest Juicers:

The Search Dog Foundation looks for a particular type of dog, one that would “surely be euthanized” because they’re so rambunctious. These candidates have a nonstop drive to play that compels them to dig up backyards and ransack houses. Even loving, active households can rarely satiate these pets.

But limitless energy and that certain compulsion is the perfect combination for a dog that will spend most of its life training for hours a day and that will be asked to climb over smoldering rubble to find a victim buried several stories down.

“It’s a rare combination of characteristics,” explains Development Director Janet Reineck. “But when they have it, they will save lives.”

The Search Dog Foundation scours a wide network of shelters for these dogs, brings them in for initial training and then deploys each animal with a lifelong human companion (generally a firefighter) who will serve as their handler for the rest of their life – a 13 or 14 year “labor of love.”

I assume that most of them are JRTs, but that’s just a guess.

(Philanthroper is a site that puts up a vetted charity every day and invites you to give one dollar to the cause.)

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Reader Interactions

20Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 18, 2011 at 10:43 am

    This is cool! Find these overactive pooches a niche in which their “bad” habits are “good” habits!

  2. 2.

    PurpleGirl

    February 18, 2011 at 10:45 am

    That is a remarkable mission. I wish I were able to contribute.

  3. 3.

    stuckinred

    February 18, 2011 at 10:46 am

    Mostly labs and shepherds, not a JRT in site.

  4. 4.

    Poopyman

    February 18, 2011 at 11:00 am

    Not sure they’d take a JRT:

    ETA : Gah! Blockquote and bulletpoint fail. FYWP. Link has the qualifications.

  5. 5.

    stuckinred

    February 18, 2011 at 11:11 am

    @Poopyman: I realize we have to be gentle here but Jack Russel’s have a place and it ain’t here.

  6. 6.

    CaptainFwiffo

    February 18, 2011 at 11:21 am

    That’s basically the story behind Moose, the dog that played Eddie on Frasier. He was a huge PITA and went through several owners before finally getting the constant attention and challenge that he needed.

  7. 7.

    geg6

    February 18, 2011 at 11:29 am

    Perhaps this is Cole’s solution to his Rosie problem. ;-)

    Oh, and I dropped a dime or two their way.

    Edited to add: The ad that is on the right for Natural Choice dog food with the puppeh wagging his little tail is just too cute for me.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    February 18, 2011 at 11:51 am

    This is a great idea, Philanthroper. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

  9. 9.

    Xoebe

    February 18, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Oh, a friend had a Ridgeback mix that had an insane energy level. Last time I saw her she was swimming back and forth in the pool, from one end to the other. Non-stop. For two hours. After that, she was somewhat like a normal dog for the rest of the afternoon.

  10. 10.

    Andy Hall

    February 18, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    We didn’t evacuate for Hurricane Ike in 2008 (mistake, but that’s for another time), and were able to stay in our home for the couple of weeks before evacuated residents were allowed back onto Galveston Island. There were several of us on our block, and though we didn’t have electricity, we got by just fine.

    Several times during that period, teams of three or four relief workers — firefighter, EMT types — stopped by the house to check on us, find out about us and what we knew about the neighbors (Did they evacuate? Have you seen them since the storm? Do you have any serious medical problems?) Each of these teams had a dog with them, and it wasn’t until long after that we realized those were cadaver dogs.

    Anyway.

  11. 11.

    Libby's Person

    February 18, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    When I was obsessively volunteering at the city shelter in my previous city of residence, an adolescent Belgium Malinois was dumped entered the shelter. He was very alert and a little anxious in the shelter setting (Duh!), always in motion. He was obviously very trainable, but not quite the right personality for a family with kids – he was a good dog, but we knew that he needed a lot of training and a structured life to thrive.

    An officer from a state-level law enforcement agency stopped by the shelter one day, looking for drug dog candidates. We showed him the Malinois, keeping our fingers crossed. The officer spent 15 minutes in our exercise pen with the dog, throwing a ball. The dog was a little hesitant at first, but ended up happily and obsessively retrieving the ball. That obsessive interest in interactively playing with a toy was exactly what the officer was looking for – they use toys rather than food as a motivator. We were totally delighted when the officer drove away with that beautiful boy. He was wired to be a working dog, and he had found the right job.

  12. 12.

    Betsy

    February 18, 2011 at 12:23 pm

    @Andy Hall:
    Hey! I grew up on the island. It makes me happy that BJ has a Galveston following. :)
    I hope you and yours have recovered from Ike, that bastard.

  13. 13.

    shortstop

    February 18, 2011 at 12:28 pm

    Once saw a NOVA (I think) on how these dogs are trained and the crazy (but totally understandable) things their handlers have to do to keep them motivated, like occasionally hide under rubble themselves so the dogs can have the reward of finding a “body.” Absolutely fascinating stuff.

  14. 14.

    shortstop

    February 18, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    @Andy Hall: Dude. I remember the NWS kept saying it was “certain death” for those remaining. Turns out they were wrong, but yikes!

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    February 18, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    @Xoebe: Non-stop. For two hours. After that, she was somewhat like a normal dog for the rest of the afternoon.

    Actually, that is a “normal dog.”

    Most of our present day breeds had a job to do, and they were expected to do it all day. Modern life, with its expectations of a couple of hours of activity from a dog, is what is abnormal.

    Then there are dogs who get turned into the shelter because they are “driving us crazy” and it turns out they got one fifteen minute walk a day. If they were lucky.

    Which I why I am tolerant of attempts to create the kinds of dogs that we need now. We don’t need a dog who runs alongside a carriage all day. And these are the dogs who suffer.

  16. 16.

    Andy Hall

    February 18, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    @Betsy:

    We were just fine. Our damage was minor compared to so many others. The city is recovering well, though we’ve lost about half (or more) of the hardwood trees. Broadway and the East End are not the same.

  17. 17.

    Andy Hall

    February 18, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    @shortstop:

    Yeah it was stupid to stay. Bad as it was, it could have been much worse, like a few miles up on the Bolivar Peninsula, on the “dirty” side of the storm.

    OTOH, we were able to get the house opened up and dried out, minimizing damage from the storm surge — immersion in saltwater is not great for wood floors, who knew? — so we didn’t have to return to face a home that had been flooded and sealed up in the summer heat for a couple of weeks.

    So, still ambivalent about evacuating.

  18. 18.

    mafisto

    February 18, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    We adopted a rescue dog a few months ago as a companion to our three-legged cancer survivor. He’s a perfect dog friend, but being a puppy he comes with an incredible amount of energy. For a few weeks we weren’t certain we could deal with his obsessive behavior, as we have young children and he’s pretty big. Then, I discovered treadmill training. It took the edge off of his behaviors, and now we have what can only be considered an ideal dog.

    Anyway, I can see why bright, energetic dogs end up in shelters. I can also see how they’d made fantastic search dogs. Thanks DougJ for pointing out this charity. I signed up and donated, and look forward to future ‘deals’.

  19. 19.

    Andy Hall

    February 18, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    @shortstop:

    Dude. I remember the NWS kept saying it was “certain death” for those remaining.

    Shouldn’t have stayed. But once we did, we were fine. What was most annoying was that I talked every day to a relative in another part of the country, and she kept telling me that the media reports at the time were all, ZOMG flooded sewers toxic stew, as if we were all swimming around in raw sewage and scavenging bloated animal corpses for food. She kept saying, “no, I talked to my brother this morning, and they really are OK.” Almost funny in retrospect. Almost.

  20. 20.

    Betsy

    February 18, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    @Andy Hall:
    Yeah. I was back at Thanksgiving for the first time since the storm, and it was really surreal. In part because of hte holiday, in part because of the population loss, the island felt really empty. And driving along Broadway, Post Office, etc., was so sad – all those trees gone. :(

    But on the bright side, it did seem like at least some businesses were doing well.

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