Search and Rescue Dog handlers are often some of the most dedicated people in the world. The often train, search and work with their dogs constantly on a volunteer basis with absolutely no credit or thanks. Unfortunately, however there is a small percentage of handlers and teams that do search and rescue dog work only for the notoriety or simply to boost their personal egos.

The handlers and groups typically do not train as often as they should or their training is poorly regimented. They often do not possess valid certifications and they constantly make excuses for their dog’s poor working abilities. I have had the experience with working with both types of handlers and dog teams during my travels and teaching seminars.

In my opinion, the biggest issue with these handlers and teams is the liability that is attached with working a search and rescue dog. Police patrol dogs are obviously the first thing that comes to mind when discussing canine liability and search and seizure issues with detection dogs generally comes second. Generally, no one considers the liability or potential liability of training and handling search and rescue dogs.

For instance, a dog team responds to a call of a missing elderly person that suffers from dementia and begins a search. They employ poorly trained dogs and handlers to sniff out the missing person. The dog leads the handler in the wrong direction and all available resources are then focused on the area and direction of the Search and Rescue dog. Valuable time and resources are now being wasted when time is critical. The dog and handler continue to disperse these resources presenting them with bad information. The dog handler and other searchers follow the dog for miles away from the scene searching for the victim. Later that day, the person is found dead, 100 yards from their home while the dog is continuing to “track” them in the opposite direction.

In cases like these, the family of the victim would have every right to raise questions about the competency and training level of the search dogs and handlers that are used. I believe that the handler and the organization that employed them would have some serious questions to answer. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that dogs are not perfect and that people make mistakes. But when you portray yourself and your dog team as something that it is not, and you take peoples lives into your hands, you should never be allowed to perform in any search and rescue function. If you currently work a search and rescue dog or if you are considering starting with a search dog, take the training seriously, train to a nationally recognized standard and don’t take an active role in searches until you and your dog are prepared and capable of doing so.