Post by kg5388 on Jan 13, 2011 21:32:05 GMT -6
http://www.commercialappeal.co...jan/13/the-rescuers/
Some of the article
A few years ago, four kids lost in Shelby Forest were visited by an angel.
The kids, 8 to 10, wandered from their families on an afternoon and, cold and hungry, spent the night sleeping huddled together. About dawn, one boy was awakened by something licking his face. A small light danced in the fog above him. It was Angel, a search-and-rescue dog, dressed in her official jacket, equipped with her glow stick. She gave a little bark to alert the following searchers. One boy thought he was dreaming.
Wood trains her dogs continually to keep them sharp. She has worked nearly 200 searches. “Good results outhweigh all you put into it,” she said.
Wood trains her dogs continually to keep them sharp. She has worked nearly 200 searches. “Good results outhweigh all you put into it,” she said.
Such moments bring joy to folks like Patty Wood, 63, Angel’s handler and owner and a volunteer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, Canine Search and Rescue Unit.
Wood, who lives in Collierville, owns two Labrador retrievers, Angel, now 10, and Joy, 2, certified by the National Association for Search & Rescue. With these and other dogs, Wood has worked nearly 200 searches.
“Good results outweigh all you put into it,” she said. “Finding someone alive and getting them back is a really good feeling.”
Of course, many are not found alive. On one of her first searches, around 10 years ago, a young duck hunter missing for a week in Tipton County was quickly located by Rascal, one of her earlier dogs, working from a boat. The man’s body was trapped under debris in the Mississippi River.
Wood remembers the hunter’s father, standing on a hill, tears tracking
his face, thanking her and others for finding his son. It made her realize that even when the lost are found dead, the search is necessary and appreciated.
“I’ll take dogs any day over a helicopter,” said Debra Barlow, chief of Emergency Services. “They can cover so much area and do it quickly.”
They work in any weather and find people even when they are hidden underwater. With the dogs, missing persons are usually found if they are still in the area, she said. The unit now has five handlers and 10 certified dogs.
One is Chloe, a bloodhound and “trailing” dog that follows scent on the ground, said her owner and trainer, Lisa Hiatt-Todd of Holly Springs. Bloodhounds are known for their keen ability to discriminate among scents, she said. Trailing dogs work in harness because they focus so hard they forget about everything else, including their handler, she said.
Hiatt-Todd said merely seeing search-and-rescue dogs on the scene is a comfort to families. It reassures them that everything is being done to find their loved ones.
The 125 or so Emergency Services volunteers “are some of the best people in the world,” said Barlow. “They get up in the freezing cold or on Christmas and try to find somebody’s grandmother who wandered from the house. They just care about families they don’t even know,” she said.
Some of the article
A few years ago, four kids lost in Shelby Forest were visited by an angel.
The kids, 8 to 10, wandered from their families on an afternoon and, cold and hungry, spent the night sleeping huddled together. About dawn, one boy was awakened by something licking his face. A small light danced in the fog above him. It was Angel, a search-and-rescue dog, dressed in her official jacket, equipped with her glow stick. She gave a little bark to alert the following searchers. One boy thought he was dreaming.
Wood trains her dogs continually to keep them sharp. She has worked nearly 200 searches. “Good results outhweigh all you put into it,” she said.
Wood trains her dogs continually to keep them sharp. She has worked nearly 200 searches. “Good results outhweigh all you put into it,” she said.
Such moments bring joy to folks like Patty Wood, 63, Angel’s handler and owner and a volunteer with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, Canine Search and Rescue Unit.
Wood, who lives in Collierville, owns two Labrador retrievers, Angel, now 10, and Joy, 2, certified by the National Association for Search & Rescue. With these and other dogs, Wood has worked nearly 200 searches.
“Good results outweigh all you put into it,” she said. “Finding someone alive and getting them back is a really good feeling.”
Of course, many are not found alive. On one of her first searches, around 10 years ago, a young duck hunter missing for a week in Tipton County was quickly located by Rascal, one of her earlier dogs, working from a boat. The man’s body was trapped under debris in the Mississippi River.
Wood remembers the hunter’s father, standing on a hill, tears tracking
his face, thanking her and others for finding his son. It made her realize that even when the lost are found dead, the search is necessary and appreciated.
“I’ll take dogs any day over a helicopter,” said Debra Barlow, chief of Emergency Services. “They can cover so much area and do it quickly.”
They work in any weather and find people even when they are hidden underwater. With the dogs, missing persons are usually found if they are still in the area, she said. The unit now has five handlers and 10 certified dogs.
One is Chloe, a bloodhound and “trailing” dog that follows scent on the ground, said her owner and trainer, Lisa Hiatt-Todd of Holly Springs. Bloodhounds are known for their keen ability to discriminate among scents, she said. Trailing dogs work in harness because they focus so hard they forget about everything else, including their handler, she said.
Hiatt-Todd said merely seeing search-and-rescue dogs on the scene is a comfort to families. It reassures them that everything is being done to find their loved ones.
The 125 or so Emergency Services volunteers “are some of the best people in the world,” said Barlow. “They get up in the freezing cold or on Christmas and try to find somebody’s grandmother who wandered from the house. They just care about families they don’t even know,” she said.