Shelter Dogs Can Make Great SAR Dogs

High-energy shelter dogs get a second chance in search and rescue.
Rocket going through training paces.
Photo: NATIONAL DISASTER SEARCH DOG FOUNDATION

In August of 2012, an energetic Shepherd-ish dog named Rocket was picked up on Watt Avenue, one of the toughest areas of Sacramento, Calif., and subsequently taken to the Sacramento SPCA. As with so many high-energy dogs, he didn’t do well in the shelter, too stressed by confinement and overstimulation to put his best paw forward. Before long, deemed unadoptable, he was placed on the to-be-euthanized list.

In the meantime, a shelter worker contacted Andrea Bergquist, a canine recruitment volunteer for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) in Santa Paula, Calif. SDF is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 with the mission of recruiting and training dogs from rescues and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders. At the news of a possible new recruit, Bergquist quickly agreed to come out to test Rocket’s potential.




via Whisker Therapy
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