By Sandra Stokley
The Press Enterprise
Copyright 2006 The Press Enterprise, Inc.
All Rights Reserved

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — In their years volunteering with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Tammera "Tammy" Belmonte and her Labrador retriever, Booney, and Peter Sellas and his Labrador, Hunter, have faced tough assignments.

They searched for bodies after the 2003 Christmas Day mudslide in the San Bernardino National Forest.

They performed similar duties after the January 2005 mudslide in La Conchita in Ventura County. They worked in the area ravaged by the Esperanza Fire in October.

Belmonte and Sellas and their dogs will embark on their most dangerous mission yet: searching for human remains in war-torn Iraq.

Belmonte, a captain with the Riverside County Department of Animal Services, and Sellas, who works for the Riverside Fire Department, said Monday that they are under a gag order which prevents them from revealing details of their 30-day assignment.

The only thing they could say is that they will be working for a Florida-based company, American K-9, under a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.

Belmonte said that when the call came, there was no way she could decline.

"They need our skills," she said. "This is a small part of what we can give back to our country."

Although the dog/handler teams will be under military escort while they do their jobs, Sellas said he is well aware that the assignment will place them in a dangerous environment.

"I couldn't be human and not feel some fear," he said. "But this is the pinnacle of these dogs' careers. It's an amazing opportunity."

The high-profile overseas assignment in support of the U.S. effort in Iraq is particularly remarkable in light of Booney's past.

A stray picked up in the Perris area in 2001, Booney was deemed unadoptable because of her hyperactive temperament.

She was days away from being euthanized when she caught Belmonte's eye.

Booney's energy and her desire to hunt a toy, to the exclusion of everything around her, made her a natural to be a detection dog, Belmonte said.

"We look for a dog that has a strong hunt drive," Sellas said. "The dog will look for something until they find it. They won't quit."

Booney became a certified human-remains detection dog in six months.

Belmonte said it usually takes a dog about 14 months to be certified.

Belmonte has been a volunteer with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Search Dog Team for about five years. Sellas has volunteered for 12 years.

Sellas and Belmonte, who are on leave from their jobs, will be in Iraq for 30 days and return to the United States for 30 days. They may be asked to do another stint, they said.