Heroes in Fur Coats

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Apache K9 SAR Unit
Dogs have become our best friends and companions, our therapists and our protectors — and now, our saviors.

I’ve always thought that dogs were amazing animals. The bonds humans have with them extends beyond the scope of the imagination. They have become our best friends and companions, our therapists and our protectors. And now, Michelle Denton, founder of the Apache K9 Search and Rescue (SAR) Unit and Extreme K9s International showed me how they have become our saviors.

The Apache K9 SAR Unit was started in 2002 because the White Mountain Apache Tribal Police Department needed a search and rescue team which could be available to them at a moment’s notice. They have been working with the Tribe now for about 14 years. Denton’s 13-year-old Black Labrador retriever, Stella, was the very first canine member of the Unit —they laid the groundwork. Stella is used by the Police Departments for narcotics detection and, even in her old age, she is still a workaholic, “If she’s not working, she’s not happy,” Denton told me. “She loves her job.” The Apache K9 Search and Rescue Unit continues to work with law enforcement and averages about 50 requests per year. They are available 24/7.

I met several of the Unit’s members last weekend when they set up a practice run for the dogs. Denton and Meredith Eckhardt have the only certified disaster recovery dogs in this part of the state and their dogs are trained to find humans that may be trapped under rubble or, in a worst-case scenario, human remains. They refer to these heroes as cadaver dogs but Michelle likes to call them “recovery” dogs. They don’t use artificial scents. They train them with real human blood, tissue and bones. One of the members is a Phlebotomist and provides blood and they get their tissue and bone from the University of New Mexico.

Abby is Meredith’s recovery dog. She is a yellow Labrador retriever and had a very rough beginning. “She was attacked by her former owner’s family dog when she was a puppy,” Meredith said, “and she was very defensive around people.” The first time Michelle met her she greeted her with teeth and they nicknamed her Kujo. Since she has been training for recovery, however, she is a different dog. While she demonstrated her incredible talent of scenting, I was able to run along with her and take pictures and she was never distracted. They told me I wouldn’t have been able to do that before. The training has given her confidence and she is much more trusting of people.

The testing area was marked with pink ribbon on the four corners surrounding the buried cadaver tubes. Meredith brought Abby to the testing area and, after determining wind conditions (detected by the pink ribbons or grasses), decides where to start Abby’s search. The wind flow helps Abby with the scent.

As Abby starts to search, Meredith continues to motivate her by repeating “Let’s find it, Abby!” and blowing a whistle if she veers off course. Abby will do an alert when there is a scent and notify Meredith. Meredith tells me that every scent has a signature — every scent is unique just like our hand-written signatures. It doesn’t take long for Abbey to find both buried tubes and, when she does, Meredith says “Show me!” — which she then proudly does! Her reward is a toy. “She only gets to play with this toy when we are training,” Meredith commented. And Abby is elated to have her beloved toy again and to play with Meredith.

Chris van der Molen and his four-year-old Belgium Malinois, Boyca, are ready for me — after I leave the cadaver testing area — so they can show me another type of incredible search dog — they are called tracking or trailing dogs. I followed Chris to where they had set up the trail. Jack Richards, a Unit member, went into the woods and hid and Chris hooked a lead line to Boyca’s harness. Jack left a bandana on the ground at the beginning of the trail for Boyca so he could acquire his scent. Once he had the scent, Chris gave him the command to search (“zoeken” in Dutch) and then Boyca was hot on his trail. Chris holds the lead line tightly so he can feel what Boyca is telling him. It’s a quick search and Boyca is intensely focused on his mission to find Jack. “They don’t follow the exact footsteps,” Denton explained. “They’re trailing dogs and scent moves just like a living thing. It tries to find an environment where it can survive and dogs follow where the scent moves.” A good trailing dog can catch a scent from a mile away — five times farther than we can. These dogs can follow scent for many miles which allows them to catch bad guys — or, hopefully, save disoriented hikers.

Again, I follow along with Boyca, who is a certified tracking dog — only it is more like a race and I do not distract him. He is totally focused on finding the “lost" person. When he finds Jack, he shows Chris and then for his reward? He gets to play with his toy and he is a happy dog.

During the 9/11 attacks, about 300 loyal SAR dogs and their brave owners scoured the site of the tragedy for survivors. Bretagne, the last surviving 9/11 search dog, was euthanized in June, 2016 (aged 16) in an emotional ceremony as lines of firefighters and rescue workers gave her a hero's farewell. The golden retriever was also deployed in rescue work following the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Chris and Boyca both wear bear bells so that the person they are searching for can hear them coming. They are particularly helpful in a situation when the missing person has an injury and can’t get to them. When they hear the bells, they can yell for help. In good weather, those bells can be heard for about 200 yards. If they were searching for a fugitive, though, the bells would come off and it would then be tactical tracking and would include two flankers on each side and behind the handler and his dog. Once the handler senses that they are closing in on the person they are looking for, the dog falls back and the flankers step in and pursue the fugitive. They will never put the dog in jeopardy.

I am then introduced to an English Labrador puppy named Winnie who is almost five months old. She is learning to be a scent dog and is doing exceptionally well. Her owner Leslie just had shoulder replacement surgery but it doesn’t keep her from bringing Winnie out for training with the big dogs. If you check around for statistics on search and rescue dogs, you will find that they recommend you start them at around 10 weeks old. However, Denton told me that her breeder started her new puppy at four days old. “They are blind and deaf and the only sense they have is scent,” Denton said. “So, the breeder will hold feathers and leaves in front of their noses and see who reacts to the smells.” She told me that, in her experience, the males are usually not interested and walk away but the females react to the smells.

Some of the Unit’s members are not interested in training their dogs to be search and rescue dogs. They do it for fun and to give their dogs something to do — something they do naturally. “You don’t have to train a dog to chase a squirrel,” Denton commented.

So, if you ever get lost while navigating a challenging trail or get injured out in the middle of nowhere, rest assured that someone will come looking for you and, if you are lucky, they will be covered in fur, on four legs, have an exceptional nose and a wagging tail.

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