Things I did

Since a K9 Team never deploys without at least one Field Support or "Follower", I was a follower for many teams. The duties of the follower include navigation, safety and communication. 

• Navigation: This duty has the follower always know where the team is in regards to their assigned area. This is done via compass and map, GPS (Alpha Garmin), and/or phone (CalTopo, Avenza, Gaia Maps). The Navigator should tell the rest of the team if we are approaching on a boundry, if a spot was missed while searching, or if there are incoming impassable geographical features such as a cliff or river. 

           

•  Safety: The duty of this follower is the most important, personally my favorite. This person will constantly be looking around for possible dangers that could effect the team. This includes but is not limited to saying "upcoming car!" or "downed tree 25 yards" or "BEAR! RUN!" which is always fun! It is the sole responsibility of this person to reassess the team's safety. If something becomes too dangerous like searching a heavily wooded area at dusk, it is more than okay to say the search is over due to safety becoming "Red".

•  Communications: This person of the team will have all the radios (although preferably everyone has a radio). This person is constantly listening to radio chatter for new assignments, teams in the area, interteam communication, clues, evidence found, and hopefully the 10-22 Subject Located. Depending on who the Incident Commander is, they will request teams do a check-in every 30-60 minutes on all team's progress, GAR, and findings. An example is "Command-- K9 Team 3 is working the north east corner of our boundry with interest outside of our area, we are going to follow up on that interest. GAR is Green. Three humans, one K9." 

Hiding from Search Dogs (Area) in wooded areas require some planning. I would grab my Ten Essentials (Navigation, sun protection, insulation, illumination, first aid supplies, fire starter, repair tools, nutrition, hydration and shelter supplies) and go out to the area that I was assigned to hide in. I would erect a shelter to hide in for 1-3 hours while teams come to find me. Although not practical, we have to find team mates since new people to hide from our dogs are hard to find. I would report over the radio when I was in position and when a dog found me by saying "Contact with Blu" for the handler to know when the dog starts indicating that they need to take it. Hiding from Airscent dogs includes the hider not reacting to anything the dog does. Like in Jurassic Park, if you stay still and stay quiet, they can't see you. It needs to be up to the dog to find you, leave to find the handler, and bring everyone back. It is important to stay uninteresting to the search dog until its party time!

Hiding from the younger dogs (Foundational) requires less sitting time, at most 20 minutes. When hiding from these dogs, we want small modivational and repetitive assignments. At these trainings, the SAR K9 in training will do Runaways (dog sees the person walk away from them) and Pop-Ups (hider calls for the dog who hasnt seen them and handler releases the dog to search). 

K9 Handler. I work Trailing K9 Maze. She is my own dog and I have been training her since 10 weeks old to find missing people. We did small foundational problems like runaways or 30 minute delays for modivation. We also did harder trailing problems since shes nearing certification. These included unknown subjects, 18-24 hour old assignments, 1-2 miles in length, and trails over a variety of surfaces. When changing one variable in the game, other variables need to be easier as to not completely frustrate the dog when they are still learning. When working my dog, I'm not only training her, but I'm also training myself on how to be a good, reliable, and effective handler. 

 Missions. Although something a community service volunteer wouldnt have the chance of participating in, there were quite a few missions that I attended during this assignment's work period. I would deploy as a Ground Searcher who specailizes in K9 SAR. The K9 Team is always a Ground Searcher above all else. I would go on Pack-Outs, which is when someone hurt themselves and cannot get down the mountain by themselves. Thats where we come in and almost wheelburrow them out on a Litter and Package. This is a long, difficult, physically and mentally draining mission but we are the only qualified personel that can do this type of transportation in Snohomish County. We carry with us everything we could possibly use to survive in the wilderness for up to three days. This makes our packs extremely heavy, mine weighing around 50-60 lbs. 

I also deployed on K9 Missions. Missions need to be kept under the wraps due to HIPPA, continuing investigations, and issues if classified information gets out to the pubic therefore I cannot divulge in the details. SCVSAR cannot share photos or videos from missions either. I can say though that I would deploy with a Trailing K9 Team (K9 Rugby) as Field Support taking on all three roles of navigator, safety and communications. 

Incident Commander. During trainings, we practice like how we would go on a real-life mission. This means that we would have rotations of who gets to have what job (Incident Commander, K9 Handler, K9 Field Support, Ground Searcher). When I am IC, I get to deploy team show I want or however seems best due to geographical landmarks, PLS, probability of detection, and what teams want to work on. The Incident Commander has all radios (VHF and FRS), maps, and GPS locators on all teams in the field. I request that all teams radio in every half hour with a progress report. When a team has something to report like they found the "missing" subject, I will ask for coordinates, the subject's description and status, and ask them to return with or without the subject. When IC, you are the ring leader. It is always good practice to train yourself as IC to obtain knowledge on what to do if one is appointed IC K9 Coordinator at a real-life mission.