The US&R Canine Unit: A Team Effort
Canines play a valuable role in the world of search and rescue. Their keen senses and endurance make them ideally suited to locate missing persons. Dogs are often able to locate a person faster than human searchers can, increasing the probability that the person will be found alive. The Urban Search and Rescue Canines are owned by individual volunteer handlers. However, it requires a whole group of people to train a search dog. When deployed on a search, a handler/canine team will be accompanied by one or more support individuals who can provide first aid, communications, navigation and other functions. Having knowledgeable well-trained field support personnel increases the safety and efficiency of the search effort, thereby increasing the amount of time that a search team can work in the field.
Both purebred and mixed- breed canines are used as search dogs. Dogs are individually selected based upon motivation, intelligence, strength, size, obedience and temperament.