King County Search Dogs

Hunter
K9 Hunter

Hunter
Certified 1995, retired 2001, passed away 2004
Handler: Bruce Speer

Bruce started training Hunter with NDSD (Northwest Disaster Search Dogs) when Hunter was about 1 year of age. Two years later Hunter became the first FEMA certified Disaster dog in the State of Washington. Bruce joined KCSD a little while after KCSD formed, and Hunter became a certified cadaver search dog, performing land and water cadaver searches in that group until his retirement in the summer of 2001.

Hunter had a passion for the search, and for the victim. He was a hard worker. "I have never seen a dog with such a high work ethic." Said Bruce, describing his partner. Hunter loved the rubble pile, as well as doing agility. He was great at directionals, and was a fearless climber too.

"Hunter taught me more about dogs and training than any other dog I've had" said Bruce. The experience of training and working with Hunter certainly impacted the intensity and passion Bruce has for the proper training and deployment of search dogs, including Bruce's willingness to be involved at the national level with FEMA's Dog program. Hunter's legacy lives on in Bruce's continuing involvement with NDSD, and in Bruce's patient mentoring of other dog teams as they progress in their training.