Category: Training

Raise a glass for K9 Syrah!

WOW! On Saturday K9 Syrah and handler Brittney found their first “lost person” in under 5 minutes and the second at 45 minutes to pass the KCSD air scent certification test well within the two hour limit. Brittney is a graduate student in Applied Animal Behavior & Welfare at Virginia Tech and has a Certificate in Applied Animal Behavior from U. Washington. Highly motivated K9 Syrah is a Belgian Malinois adopted from Woof Project Rescue that loves her reward toy. When the team was asked which end of the leash is smarter, Brittney looked at Syrah who just smirked. Let’s […]

Congratulations Team Riley!

We are excited to report that K9 Riley and his handler Mary passed their wilderness airscent certification test by finding two ‘lost’ subjects in 40 acres of woods with plenty of time to spare. It was a challenging wet and cold day with gusty winds that were constantly changing. At one point the soap bubbles Mary was using to check the wind started moving to the north but before hitting the ground they reversed and moved ten feet south. K9 Riley was not fooled for a minute. Such a good dog!

New Kids on the Block!

We are so proud to welcome four new members to the KCSD pack. Nikki, Suzanne, Elisabeth and Liz (along with K9s Alta, Beylon and Lyla who have each begun training In trailing) have completed their candidacy training and are ready to deploy on King County Sheriff’s Office search missions. You can learn more about each of these great volunteers on our website www.kcsearchdogs.org/who/current-members/

Canine Kudos for Max!

Join us in congratulating K9 Max and his handler Linda for passing the National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA) Land Human Remains Detection certification test yesterday. NSDA certification is demanding for both handler and dog but helps establish a search dog team’s credentials for the assignments King County Search Dogs receives. The test is a thorough examination with five parts including searching wooded areas, inside buildings, along roads and vehicle exteriors. Max is a gorgeous german shepherd who certified in wilderness airscent searching earlier this year and we are so very proud of what this team has, and will, accomplish. Go […]

Commander Riker is ready for duty!

Join us in congratulating K9 Riker and his handler Brian for becoming the newest certified King County Search Dog airscent team after passing their field test today! Riker, a black German Shepherd known for boldly going where no dog has gone before, bounded through 40 acres of forest and found both his “lost” subjects well within the two hour limit. It takes years of training, practice and patience to certify a search dog and we are very proud of Brian and Riker’s accomplishment. Look for them at the next KCSD mission where they will be seeking out new subjects and […]

K9 Myka is on the trail!

King County Search Dogs is proud to announce that we have a newly certified trailing team in our ranks. Congratulations to Courtney and K9 Myka for flying through their trailing test this week! Myka is Courtney’s second search dog. They are now certified in both trailing and human remains detection (HRD). K9 Jack, Myka’s older “brother,” is also certified in two disciplines, airscent and HRD. Courtney is one of only a few handlers in the history of KCSD to have certified with a dog in every core discipline – trailing, airscent, and human remains detection. Quite an achievement! The KCSD […]

jet, Ruby, Lincoln, Myka

Kudos for K9s!

It’s been a busy couple of months for new certifications for some of the KCSD dogs! K9 Ruby and handler Jonathan (top right) successfully completed their airscent certification test last weekend finding both “lost” subjects in a 40 acre area in less than two hours. K9 Jet (top left), K9 Myka (bottom left) and K9 Lincoln (bottom right) and their handlers Mathew, Courtney and Jon have all recently passed their human remains detection certification test. Please join us in congratulating all these dogs teams for the years of hard work it takes to reach this level of performance. We look […]

The nose knows!

Congratulations to K9s Coulee, Gilly, Zula, and Tesla (clockwise from the upper left) along with their handlers Greg, Kris, Jen and Chris for recent trailing re-certifications. Biannual certification and frequent training are essential for reliable search dogs and demand considerable commitment and dedication.

Watch all the KCSD Dogs in action!

If you are COVID quarantining or don’t have 8.5 hours to spare on a Saturday you can still catch up with 10 of the King County Search dogs at a recent airscent training. This 3 minute Google Earth time lapse animation of dog GPS collar tracks lets you see how each dog found its “lost” subjects in one of two 40 acre areas. There is a lot of detail in the video so it is best viewed on a large screen at full 1080p/HD. Link to Video: https://youtu.be/ui5Hm_B7xzM

Go Jet Go !

Faster than a speeding bullet, It’s Jet the Search Dog! Join us in congratulating K9 Jet and Handler Mathew on successfully completing their airscent pretest. True to her name Jet raced through 40 acres of forest and found her ‘lost’ search subjects in half the allotted time. Look for them zooming around at the next King County Search and Rescue mission.

Who’s a good dog?

Congratulations to K9 Cleo and her handler Chad for passing their airscent certification evaluation yesterday! They found both their test subjects in 40 acres of dense forest within two hours despite the classic northwest mix of cold April snow and rain.