National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Thirty years ago this coming April, FEMA-Certified Canine Search Specialist Wilma Melville and her black lab Murphy spent a week rummaging through the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma. What stood out was just how few other rescue dogs were on site to search for survivors. When Melville realized only 15 such certified canine-human teams existed in the country at that time, she sprung into action, and a year later launched The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, nonprofit based in Santa Paula aimed at addressing the dearth of rescue canines-human teams. 

Melville’s vision was to formalize and set up a system of canine recruitment, selecting dogs who had been abused or abandoned from animal shelters, partnering them with fire department and other first-responder professionals, and training both in tandem to work together to efficiently serve as search and rescue teams when disaster strikes. 

Nearly three decades later, the idea is still working to help find victims of hurricanes, earthquakes, train wrecks, mudslides and other disasters across the country and even around the world. There are currently 94 SDF-trained Canine Disaster Search Teams located in California, Florida, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Baja California. Through mutual aid agreements between counties, cities and states, those life-saving resources can be deployed regionally and nationally to make sure that when disaster strikes, no one is left behind.

The last couple of years have been especially busy for the SDF-trained teams. 

“We had the earthquake in Turkey, the Maui wildfires, the New Mexico wildfires, then the back-to-back hurricanes in Florida and North Carolina – 27 of the teams that we trained were deployed in the two hurricanes alone,” said Denise Sanders, SDF’s Senior Director of Communications & Search Team Operations. “Unfortunately we know that there are people that are missing after these, whether they’re alive or not. What the dog teams can do is vitally important to the search and rescue efforts.”

The process starts with finding dogs that are suitable for the job, Sanders said. Ironically, what might make them get passed over for adoption as unsuitable for a family pet – high energy, tenacity and boldness – could be ideal for search and rescue duties. 

“The first thing we usually look for is their intense interest in a toy, almost to the point of fixation,” she said. “Then we see them in the yard, and look at whether they just want to play for a few minutes and then give up after having a chance to stretch their legs. Or do they want to continue engaging with us and keep searching for the ball or toy?”

After passing stringent medical screening and testing criteria, the dogs are then trained to harness that drive and tenacity into life-saving skills at SDF’s National Training Center, which boasts 145 acres filled with environments meant to mimic disasters such as collapsed structures, broad swathes of rubble, vehicle wreckage, wilderness ravines and more. After eight to 10 months of professional training they are teamed with a handler, which significantly reduces the time it takes to attain FEMA Advanced Certification 

SDF’s extensive pre-screening of canine candidates and rigorous training have produced remarkable results, flipping the rate of dogs who eventually become certified from 15 to 85%. 

“It’s very intensive. We’re training to the highest level that we can because we never know when they might be called into service,” Sanders said. “They’re ready to be deployed. It’s about making sure when they’re out there at a disaster that they’re ready for anything.”

SDF considers each dog as an individual and tries to determine the animal’s unique needs. 

“We don’t start with what they can do for us, but rather what they need from us to make them successful,” Sanders explained. “We want them to be successful in whatever line of work they go into. It’s a very tricky process. There are all these different little, tiny nuances that the average person doesn’t necessarily recognize. We try to determine what the dog is telling us is more fun for them so that we can use that in the training. Because for them, it’s just a big game they get to keep playing for the love of the game. When they’re engaged, that’s when we know that they will do their job in clearing an area when they’re deployed to a disaster.” 

SDF is always working to improve its training, debriefing the human handlers when they return from a deployment and creating new training “props” new to the facility. Most recently that was an area of rubble from collapsed roof tiling made of shale, material that can be slippery to navigate, which had impeded efforts after the earthquake in Turkey in early 2023.

“We got to work right away designing, figuring out how we could give teams a chance to challenge their dogs on slippery surfaces with pieces at difficult angles with the dogs staying alert to catch the scent,” Sander said. “I wouldn’t try to climb up it, but the dogs do a fantastic job. It’s all part of evolving the training to make sure nobody gets left behind.” 

That philosophy also extends to the canine component of the team: No dog left behind. 

“If they are capable of being a working dog and they have what it takes, we want to be able to turn them into that amazing rescuer that was always there inside them,” Sanders said. “We want to provide those kinds of second chances for everyone, human and canine alike. And when we provide this resource for the fire department or task force, they need to make sure that the dog can be ready to go for weeks at a time.” 

And once SDF selects a dog for training, they’re always part of the SDF family, Sanders said, whether they serve for years, or don’t actually end up being part of the program for whatever reason. Not only are they not returned to a shelter, the dogs are also placed in appropriate homes, and the nonprofit covers medical expenses and often even food.

“We fully commit to each and every dog that enters our program for life,” she said. “That’s our promise, to always take care of them.”