500 Club!
During our recent 2024 holiday celebration we honored three members who have each surpassed 500 search missions: An amazing milestone! Joan Hitchner, Heather Jo Cutting and Greg Varney (L-R) have responded to 503, 529 and 614 callouts, respectively, from the King County Sheriff’s Office since joining KCSD. 500 missions is an extraordinary achievement for any SAR volunteer especially a K9 handler. Please join us in congratulating the inaugural members of the KCSD 500 Club; Greg, Heather and Joan for their combined 79 years of commitment as well as thanking them for their continuing community service.
May Matching Madness
Here’s your chance to support K9 Alta and the rest of the KCSD dog pack during our fundraising campaign called “May Matching Madness”. The REALLY BIG NEWS is that a generous donor has offered to match every dollar we raise during the month of May including the annual GiveBIG event. What a great way for you to leverage your gift and Give Bigger! See our donation page for more. Thanks to the very talented Nikki Frumkin for the watercolor of K9 Alta.
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 raise a glass to celebrate Team Syrah’s accomplishment and wish them success on all their future KCSD search missions.
Farewell K9 Oso
We grieve: K9 Oso died peacefully at home last week after a conspiracy of health problems overtook him far too young. Named in honor of the tragic 2014 Snohomish County landslide where his handler Heather Jo Cutting worked along side so many other rescuers, K9 Oso lived up to his name responding to over 160 search missions and making several important finds during his career. He earned KCSD and National Search Dog Alliance certifications in airscent and human remains detection and also used those skills searching from boats and in the snow.
Whether jumping out of a helicopter at first light to search a remote mountain side or jumping off a police boat to indicate a submerged find, Oso was always ready to go. Heather and Oso had a beautiful, almost fluid partnership when working on a search assignment or when adventuring around the Pacific Northwest. They were a role model K9 team, each one seemingly knowing what the other was thinking.
It’s small comfort to know your K9 partner is finally at rest when the loss is so fresh and painful but Oso has left a legacy as a teacher. Following Heather and Oso on a search mission or in training was always an inspiring masterclass. There is a piece of Oso that persists in what he taught Heather as well as in everything Oso helped teach a generation of search teams in KCSD, around the PNW, and overseas. Please join us in sending deepest condolences to Heather, her husband Josh Gerstman and Oso’s K9 family Natick and Tika.
Farewell K9 Oso 12/30/2014 – 3/19/2024
Thank you for your service and for being our friend.
There are no words…💔
King County Search Dogs mourns the loss of a legend. K9 Jackson, known to all as “Jack!”, died suddenly last week after a decade of service to our community.
Full of life and a bit full of himself, Jack was a beautiful German Shepherd Dog who was certified in wilderness airscent and human remains detection. Jack was an instant hero when he found a missing 9 year old girl on his very first search. He was so happy to find her and so eager to play that it startled the girl and other searchers had to chase after her while his handler Courtney distracted Jack with reward play. Jack had a special bond with Courtney that was evident on both their faces whenever they trained and on over 150 subsequent mission deployments. As mentors and role models Jack and Courtney helped shape a generation of KCSD search dog teams.
Jack loved everyone. He will forever be remembered for laying his slobbery toy at the feet of each and every person at training asking for a vigorous tug or a game of fetch. It was always a joy when your turn came because it was clear by the look in Jack’s eyes that he did not just want to play, he wanted to play with you!
Cherished memories alone can’t mend broken hearts but we hope you will join us in sending condolences to Courtney and Jack’s protégée K9 Myka.
