Submitted by Debra A. Jones

Lead K9 Handler/Navajo County Search and Rescue

This past April, Navajo County Search and Rescue (NCSAR) and Navajo County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) hosted the 2025 Arizona Multi-County K9 Training up here in the White Mountains Show Low area. Eight Arizona Counties came together with their Search and Rescue (SAR) K9 Teams to train, network, and learn from one another. 

K9 training covered three methods SAR dogs and handlers employ when looking for the lost. Tracking/Trailing techniques can be similar to what you see on TV in many cases, where the bloodhounds use an item of clothing to follow a subject’s scent trail. Some K9s don’t even need a scent article to start with!  

Area Live Find methods are used to find anybody in the search area other than the searchers on the mission. K9s range in front of handlers and communicate their successes in finding people through various specific actions, like running back and forth between the handler and the found subject. 

The least pleasurable but sometimes most important role for SAR K9s is Human Remains Detection. If SAR efforts are not successful before the subject passes away, these K9s are specially trained to find human odors, even underwater or buried underground.

The importance of the Multi-County K9 Training is to recognize the importance of being able to work together in the event a disaster takes place. Each K9 discipline had the opportunity to train in remote forested areas, urban areas, and with a helicopter. The camaraderie seen in this three-day training showed the passion and dedication each K9 team has to find the lost and missing. Each team was eager to exchange their experience and knowledge to help each other be the best handlers for their K9s. 

Thank you to Linden Elementary School and Sequoia Village School for allowing us to train at their facilities, honing our skills training in an urban setting. The teams ended their last day familiarizing their K9s with the helicopter. This allows the K9s to be comfortable and be able to work in an environment with loud noises and chaos. They were able to do cold loads with no rotors spinning as well as hot loads with rotors creating plenty of wind and noise. The Arizona Department of Public Safety Service (AZDPS) did an excellent job demonstrating how to approach the helicopter, how to assist the K9 into the cabin, and how to depart the cabin. A big thank you to AZDPS!

To see a Nationally Certified Handler and K9 working together as a team, searching for those lost or missing, brings a tremendous asset to Law Enforcement and the community. These K9 teams are volunteers that take no monetary compensation, are on call 24/7, attend K9 workshops and seminars, and train regularly with their local teams to keep themselves ready for a “call out” anytime, any day.



The NCSAR team is composed entirely of volunteers and answers requests from the NCSO with K9s, OHV’s UTVs, Ground Trackers pounders, and Drones. If you need assistance, call your local Law Enforcement immediately. “So that others may live” is a motto widely used in SAR operations, reflecting the dedication and selflessness of SAR personnel. This phrase encapsulates the core principle of SAR, which is to prioritize the lives of those in distress, often at personal risk.