By Kat Bergeron
The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.
Copyright 2007 The Sun Herald
BILOXI, Miss. — Stevie wears four boots when tromping over dangerous debris piles in search of “skin rafts,” scents that indicate to his super-sensitive nose a live or dead person lies underneath.
Stevie wears four boots because he has four feet.
He’s a German Shepherd, certified nationally as a search and rescue, or SAR dog. He’s the canine that gave the strongest indication of where the drowned construction worker was in the Bay St. Louis bridge accident last month.
Studies show a trained SAR dog-and-handler team can be as useful as 20 to 30 human searchers in looking for a missing person. Dogs’ ultra-sensitive hearing, night vision, endurance, keen sense of smell and the ability to be trained to use all those talents make them invaluable first-responders.
Stevie is one of 10 dogs in various stages of training for Gulf Coast Search and Rescue, a certified volunteer group called out by local law and safety agencies to sites of accidents, fires, drownings, murders, hurricanes, tornadoes, kidnappings and other incidents that cause people to go missing.
“It’s a lot of work, but we all are passionate about it,” said Barbie Balyeat of Long Beach, who is handler for Stevie and another certified SAR dog. “We spend our own time and money and train our own dogs because we know this is a necessary service to local agencies that don’t have their own dogs and don’t have the budgets for them.
“We all work together to find the missing, and if they’re already dead, we know that locating them helps bring closure to the family. But sometimes there’s good news and we can bring someone home. We know that what we do is an important service.”
For the Bay bridge drowning, Stevie didn’t wear boots because he was in a boat. He also won’t publicly be given credit because he was part of the broader team of human and canine first-responders who helped when the bridge scaffolding collapsed in mid-June.
Since the 1980s, SAR dogs have come into wider use in the United States, and took on a very public persona after 9/11. Law enforcement, prisons, such government agencies as FEMA, border patrols, the military, fire and other public safety agencies now use dogs, either their own, through a contractor or through volunteers such as Gulf Coast SAR.
The local SAR, whose members come mostly from the coastal counties, has grown since forming in 1984 from “one dog and one girl with a compass,” as founder Carlos Redmon likes to describe the beginnings. Currently there are 20 human members and 10 dogs, but their goal is to field 10 three-person teams, each team with a dog, a handler and at least two support people.
New members and new dogs are welcomed but inquirers are forewarned this is time-demanding volunteerism. The rewards are great -- just imagine returning a lost child to his mom -- but the training is exacting.
Coast SAR joined dozens of other dog-and-handler teams brought in from across the country to locate missing men, women and children after Hurricane Katrina.
At that time, while investigating 25-foot-high piles of debris on Second Street in Gulfport, Stevie wore boots. Many handlers don’t put them on their dogs because they worry boots compromise maneuverability and traction, but Balyeat takes the other side of the argument because she lost Stevie’s sire, Logan, to hepatitis.
Balyeat believes Logan contracted hepatitis when he walked through filthy water with a puncture wound on his foot pad. Before he died after 11 years of service, Logan was presented at prestigious Parade of Shepherd Greats as the first SAR dog to be recognized at the national German Shepherd specialty show.
Handlers, dogs and other personnel are matched as dog-handler-support teams within the bigger Coast SAR team. In turn, SAR is part of the much larger collection of law enforcement and security agencies that are the Coast’s first-responders.
“There’s no question that Gulf Coast SAR is a valuable asset,” said Gulfport Fire Chief Pat Sullivan. “They are a tool we can use. They make our jobs easier.”
Coast SAR depends on public and corporate donations and does not charge agencies that call the dog teams into action. The handlers and other support-team members also specialize in search management, map making and tracking/search techniques, for themselves and the dogs.
“The bottom line is that the dog is only as good as the training,” Sullivan said. “The handler has to know how to work with the dog and with us. They have to be able to take care of themselves, to know what they’re doing and not complicate a mission. This group does an outstanding job.”
On the job, the dogs are identifiable by red vests emblazoned with the Coast SAR logo and slogan “Working Together to Save Lives.”
The dogs often shorten search time. At the least, they can indicate whether a missing person is in the area, which saves time.
Each dog develops its own way of indicating a possible location of a missing person. When it does, the alerting gesture can be instinctive, such as pawing the ground, or taught, such as sitting down. Most SAR dogs also wear bells so handlers know where they are when off their leashes.
It’s a lot for a dog to do.
“We look for a good all-around dog capable of concentration; an intelligent utility dog with herding instinct and agility,” said Carlos Redmon, who, in addition to being a founder is SAR’s current president. “We don’t want aggressive dogs because this is teamwork.”
A good example of the proper temperament is Redmon’s own Tyson, a German Shepherd who flunked out of police academy training because he wasn’t aggressive enough. Tyson, however, has proven effective for SAR.
Handlers choose all breeds, but bloodhounds are particularly coveted for their superior noses, even by dog standards.
“Our dogs are our family,” is an echo heard among SAR members, and the dogs’ personalities are as varied as the humans’ on the SAR teams. Stevie is a bit shy; Bumper, a Newfoundland youngster being trained for water rescue, is affectionate; Katie, a German shepherd who will soon receive certification, is a bundle of energy.
They have their individual talents, too. Tyson, for example, has located three live persons but he’s not as good at being a “cadaver dog,” or in politically correct language, “human remains detection,” or HRD.
“Some dogs become depressed when they see a dead person, just like we do,” said Redmon.
One of the most notable aspects of these canines is their trained noses. Each missing person has a unique scent that creates a trail to follow, even in water.
“We might sniff the air and say ‘spaghetti (sauce) is cooking.’ A dog will sniff the air and say ‘Oregano, basil, tomato and pepper,’
” said Redmon. “Their noses are so much more refined than ours.”
Bottled scents, such as those that mimic death smells, along with hair, bones, blood and skin are used in training.
Redmon explains three basic ways of locating missing people: Air scenting, or following the scent off-lead in a generalized area; trailing, or scenting the area where the person walked; and tracking, which can literally be footprint to footprint.
“Our dogs only look for people who want to be found, so we don’t carry guns or look for missing people like escaped prisoners,” Redmon said.
Nonetheless, it can be dangerous work. Certification through NASAR, the National Association for Research and Rescue, comes after months of training. Redmon jokes that sometimes the dogs “get it” faster than the humans.
Coast SAR has located murder victims and drowned children but also many people alive. It has been called out for several hundred missions since 1984.
“Most of us do this to do our part to help the community we live in,” said Redmon. “What would happen if we all just stopped caring for each other?”