Many thanks to Nancy May and her wonderful Trailing Cattle Dog, Quest, for their successful years of service to SARDOC and Grand County SAR in Utah. Quest worked for 6 years and helped save several lives in the rugged desert terrain. Please see Quest’s page on “Past Heroes” for more info on her career.
Many thanks to Linda Gruver and Dante for their years of service. Dante has retired after many missions, trainings, and educational demonstrations. He is an 11-year-old Flat-Coated Retriever, named after the poet Dante Alighieri because he is “poetry in motion”. Dante is now enjoying his retirement at home with Linda while she trains his successor, Eden.
SARDOC is saddened by the passing of Baloo, 8 1/2 year old black Lab handled by Janie Merickel.
Thank you, Baloo and Janie, for your years of service and dedication to the world of the lost and missing.
Determined Airscent, Water, HRD, and Avalanche dog, Baloo lost his fight with cancer this week. Baloo was also certified with Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment. In addition, Janie and Baloo fielded with Summit County Rescue Group.
SARDOC Welcomes Tom Germain to the ranks of Certified Personnel. Tom has passed all requirements for Certified Support to navigate for dog teams in the field. Congrats, Tom!
Dale Culver, head ranger of the Great Sand Dunes National Park, invited SAR Dog teams back for a second year of great training at the Dunes. The Multi-Agency training offered a mock search, HRD, and Wilderness problems throughout the 3 day weekend. Many thanks to Dale and his awesome crew!
SARDOC invited instructor, Wayne Bryant, from NecroSearch to train and give presentations on Human Remains Detection on Grand Mesa. Teams trained on imprinting, Rubble fields, and HRD scenarios. Many thanks to Mr. Bryant and NecroSearch!
SARDOC and the SAR Community are devastated to lose Recco, a longtime SAR dog. Handled by Andrea and John Reller with Summit County Rescue Group, Recco was a key player in Colorado Rapid Avalanche Deployment, certified for many years. She worked in Air Scent, HRD and Water in her trainings with SARDOC as well. Recco simply loved her work.
The SAR world is greatly saddened by the sudden loss of K9 Vozco. Vozco was the amazing partner of Greg Slavit. They were certified with the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) and Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States (SARDUS). They contributed so many things to SARDOC. Vozco will be greatly missed.
SARDOC welcomes Bob Lovelace into the ranks of Operational Support! Bob has completed his requirements to field as a certified navigator for SARDOC dog teams.
SARDOC enjoyed a great water training at Ridgway Reservoir. Many thanks to State Park Personnel and divers who facilitated this training so the dogs could hone their skills at searching for drowned subjects.