Miles is a golden retriever who’s just one step away from becoming a certified search and rescue dog.
“My daughter is five and she calls him a hero pet, so it’s kind of neat,” said Semma Burba, Miles’ owner.
Burba is also a member of Michigan Search and Rescue, an all-volunteer missing persons response team. On Sunday, 17 dog and owner teams from Michigan Search and Rescue came together for an extensive training camp. Trainers say canines play a crucial role in finding a missing person.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
“Someone is…covered with leaves…you’re not going to see them. But the dog will find them,” said Pam Burns, Michigan Search and Rescue President.
That’s because dogs have a far greater sense of smell and search dogs are trained to detect a human scent and to tell their handler when they do.
“We give off what are called skin rafts and we shed 40,000 a day and that’s generally what the dogs are smelling,” said Burns.
Dogs can also comb through a larger territory in less time. For example, they can cover 50 acres in about 30 minutes, whereas it’ll take someone on foot about eight hours to cover the same area.
Michigan Search and Rescue currently has nine certified search dogs and they’re looking for more volunteers to join the team. At the same time, they also want to remind owners that training is an extensive process for both the dog and the owner and getting certified can take around two years.
“So you have to be aware you give up a great deal of your life to go,” said Burns
Burba says while it can be time consuming, it’s all a rewarding process and the hard work is worth it.
“I recently had a friend who went missing and I’d like to be someone that could help families to be able to be reunited with their loved ones or have answers to what happened to their loved ones,” Burba said.
