Search and rescue dogs
serve on the frontlines
locating people missing
after natural disasters,
lost children,
injured hikers and others,
being ready
at a moment’s notice to
bravely endure the elements
and save lives.
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
world renowned
humanitarian, artist
and spiritual teacher,
speaks of her admiration
and concern
for these devoted canines.
And I saw many dogs,
you know, they used
for rescue mission.
Oh, they just walk in
like nothing, but
I feel so bad about them.
The dogs walk in
the sharp, broken glasses
or anything like that.
Even chemical leaking
or anything, or germs
or danger.
And these are
precious dogs.
They have been trained
for years.
And they even
lay down their life
for anyone at command.
You have to
protect that dog.
To show Her loving
support for search dogs
and their human partners,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has generously
contributed over
US$80,000 to
search-and-rescue teams
in 18 countries, including
Australia, Belgium,
Canada, Chile, China,
the Czech Republic,
Ecuador, France,
Korea, Malaysia,
Nepal, New Zealand,
Panama, the Philippines,
Slovenia,
the Netherlands,
the UK and the USA.
Today’s program features
one of these
courageous teams,
namely K-9 Search
and Rescue of Texas.
Founded
in September 2000,
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas is
a non-profit all-volunteer
search and rescue unit
based in Houston, Texas,
the fourth largest US city.
Let us now hear from
Mary Jane Boyd,
the training coordinator
and search manager
for the group
who has been involved in
search and rescue work
for 11 years.
We require
all of our search dogs
to be certified, to some
type of national standard,
the National
Search Dog Alliance
offers certifications
on a nationwide basis.
Our primary purpose
of our organization
is for us to respond
with our K-9 partners
to requests
from law enforcement
or other agencies
in the case
of a missing person.
All of our canine handlers
are certified in
ground search and rescue
as well as
K-9 search and rescue.
Team members,
human and canine, must
undergo rigorous training
in various areas before
they are allowed to
undertake a real mission.
We take
crime scene awareness,
so if we stumble
upon something,
we know how to respond.
We all have first aid,
CPR (cardiopulmonary
resuscitation) certifications.
We also have to train
in land navigation
so the searchers
don’t get lost.
And in addition to that
we do a lot of
awareness level courses
such as
swift water awareness,
confined space awareness,
and hazardous materials
awareness, just so that
we can be aware of
certain situations
that we may encounter
when we’re out on the field.
Because
we are volunteers
we all have full-time jobs,
and so (sure) our time
is somewhat limited
as to the time
we can commit
to the dog’s training.
But generally speaking
most search dogs
are trained
within 15 to 18 months,
would be a good average.
Crucial to the success of
search and rescue missions
is the tacit understanding
between each canine
team member
and their human partner.
Some canine
team members are able to
locate a living person
in a large area such as
a forest by air-scenting,
where the dog
works off-lead and
points his or her nose high
in the air to identify
and follow the scent
emanating from a person.
Once the subject is found,
the canine will return
to their human partner
and lead them
to the missing person.
Another common
canine search technique
is called “trailing.”
Trailing dogs are where
you take an article of
clothing or a scent article
from the person
that’s missing and then
the dog is scented off
of the article and then
they will track or trail
the path or the track
that the person walked,
in order to locate them.
What are
some of the qualities
found in a good
search and rescue dog?
We look for dogs
that like to retrieve,
because it shows that
they will pursue
the object that
they’ve been trained to
go after until they get it.
And we like to see
that kind of drive in a dog.
It’s often more difficult
to determine
whether or not a puppy
is going to be successful.
On an adult dog
it’s a lot easier because
you can test the dog
and you can tell whether
or not the probabilities
are there that the dog
will be successful.
Through experience,
and seeing and knowing
what we’ve seen
be successful, we are now
able to predict with a
fairly good rate of success,
what dogs
are going to make it.
These dogs
are working dogs,
they’re a little bit more,
I guess you might say
energetic than
your normal family pet.
We asked Mary Jane Boyd
about the common breeds
that typically serve as
search and rescue partners.
Similar to adopting a dog
as a family companion,
if one wants to take in a dog
that potentially could be
a search dog one day,
the best place to look
is the local animal shelter!
The most common dogs
that we see
are Labrador Retrievers,
German Shepherds;
you’ll see Malinwas,
Border Collies,
Golden Retrievers,
any of the working breeds
are generally the norm.
Sometimes
there are plenty of
working dogs that
are not pure breed dogs,
there are also,
dogs that came from
a rescue situation
or from a pound
that make perfectly good
search dogs.
When we return,
Mary Jane Boyd
will give us
a live demonstration of
search and rescue training.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants and
our program spotlighting
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas from
Houston, Texas, USA.
For these enthusiastic
search and rescue
canine team members,
training is as fun as playing.
This is Bosco.
He is a one year old
Black Lab and he is in
training for area search,
which means he is trained
to locate human scent
in a big area.
It’s pretty simple.
So I’m going to go down
here, just a little way
and hide for Bosco and
he’s going to come after me
and when he finds me
he’s going to bark,
so she’ll know
that he found somebody.
When I’m satisfied with
the amount of barking
he has done, then
I’m going to give him a toy
and that’s his reward.
That’s
what he’s working for,
is to play ball.
And so it’s a lot of fun
for them.
Being out in the field
presents many
different challenges
with no two missions
being exactly alike.
Thus a human partner
must also try
and think ahead to
keep their canine friend
as safe as possible.
When you go into
a search operation
you’re briefed
on the hazards
that may be in an area.
And so by knowing
what the hazards are
in the search area,
we can try to anticipate
what problems we may find
when we field the dogs.
We have to be careful
not to work a dog
in an area where
there’s dangerous traffic.
The best protection
we can give our dogs
is to know the area
that we’re in.
And the most important
thing is through
the obedience training
that we do with our dogs
outside of
our search training,
is to be able to
call them back or stop them
when we see them
getting into trouble.
Pete is an eight year old
black Labrador Retriever,
he’s a human remains
detection dog.
And what I want to
show you first is
one of the things
we use to keep them safe
is what we call
an emergency stop.
So what I’m going to do,
in just a second,
I’m going to call him to me.
And so one of you,
you say “when,” but
you’ve got to give me room
to stop him, so
don’t let him get too close.
Whenever you say “when,”
I’m going to tell him,
and he’s going to stop.
Just say “when.” (Okay.)
Or “now” or whatever.
Just tell me
what you’re going to say
so I know when I hear it.
When
Alright we’re going to
try that again,
he was moving.
Pete, come here.
I’m just going to stop him
this time.
Sit! Sit!
Here! What a good boy!
(Good dog!) Yes.
Good dog, that’s a boy.
Being the veterinarian
responsible for
the team’s canines,
Tanya now informs us
how to keep
search and rescue dogs fit,
healthy and happy.
I think the biggest thing
is making sure
that they stay active
outside of their search life.
Whether that’s going
on regular walks
or playing fetch or even
with training outside of
organized training,
they’re getting exercised
in that way.
Also just the proper food
and just making sure
that they’re taken care of,
basically.
In their spare time,
the lovely canines and
the dedicated volunteers
from K-9 Search
and Rescue of Texas
further contribute
to the community
by conducting various
outreach programs
to inform those of all ages
about outdoor survival
and safety.
We offer to go into
schools or Boy Scout,
Girl Scout organizations
to talk about the search dogs
and what they do.
And we have
a couple of programs;
one is the “Hug A Tree”
program for young children,
where we explain
what they should do
if they should become lost.
And often we also will,
for adult groups as well,
we’ll go in and
we’ll do demonstrations
with the dogs
and we also talk to them
about what they should do
should somebody
in their family
become lost or go missing.
On behalf of
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
our Association members
recently presented
her loving contribution
of US$1,000 to
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas for the care
of their altruistic
canine team members,
along with
her international
#1 best sellers
“The Dogs in My Life,”
“The Birds in My Life”
and “The Noble Wilds.”
On behalf of
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas,
I would like to say
thank you very much
to the Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
We appreciate
her generosity.
May Heaven bless
the human and
canine team members of
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas as well as
other rescue groups
all over the world
who lovingly dedicate
their time and energy
to protect and save
the lives of others.
Their joyful,
altruistic spirit is a light
that radiates brilliantly
throughout our world.
For more details on
K-9 Search and Rescue
of Texas, please visit
Thank you for joining us
on Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
following
Noteworthy News,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May all be blessed
by the eternal love
of the Divine.
How can humanity avoid
imminent runaway
climate change?
What can each of us do
to save our planet?
We have to get
to zero carbon.
It means zero meat.
Zero meat!
Good for us,
good for everybody.
It also means zero
fossil fuels, we do that.
It also means
zero deforestation, which
of course is just tied in
with the meat, mainly.
Going veg is now
a matter of survival
for all life.
Be sure to watch
“Dr. Peter Carter’s
Zero Carbon World,”
Wednesday, May 26
on Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home.