Cody, an 11-year-old Airedale terrier, went to work on Friday morning searching for avalanche victims on Dollar Mountain. The search simulated a realistic avalanche situation, testing the proficiency of canines and their handlers to find buried avalanche victims.
Cody took part in the National Association for Search and Rescue Canine Avalanche Responder certification program. The course is a new, specialty avalanche certification program. Program leaders piloted the certification course last weekend in Sun Valley.
"You have a lot of potential for avalanches. It's good to have a good group of dogs," said Terry Crooks, a NASAR canine avalanche evaluator.
Cody was the first of nine dogs to be evaluated during the staged avalanche event. He approached the scene with his master, Cam Daggett, Sun Valley police chief and member of the Blaine County Search and Rescue team.
Daggett assessed the scene with a witness, who gave no indication on the victims' locations. Instead the team was left to blindly search the avalanche staging area, one acre square, marked with bamboo poles.
"Cody, are you ready to go? Cody let's go! Search!" Daggett said. Handlers give a specific command to indicate a dog must search for buried victims.
Cody began his search bounding uphill with his nose low to the ground. Within minutes, he circled disturbed snow, leaving for a moment only to return and scratch the snow with confidence.
Daggett marked the snow with a flag indicating "an alert" to the evaluator. An alert indicates a dog is 100 percent certain that victim is buried under the snow. During an avalanche search, dogs alert on general human scent. The canine searchers may indicate "an area of interest," which may be a glove, hat or jacket.
In the event of a real avalanche, witnesses use the canine's alert signal to dig the victim from the snow, while the dog continues to search for other victims.
During the test, the dogs searched for two buried volunteers hidden in snow caves. After they were buried, other volunteers walked the surface to contaminate the staging area with tracks and other human scents. Snowboards, ski equipment and other volunteers lingered in the testing area.
Despite the distractions, Cody maintained his concentration sniffing the snow's surface. The dog searched meticulously, with gentlemanly attention to the task. The hunting skills are common to all dogs, and any breed can be trained to become an avalanche responder.
"Basically, it has to be a dog with a good attitude, a drive to hunt, gets along with people and other dogs and be able to accept some challenges like riding a ski lift, a helicopter and a snowmobile," said Chuck Rumpf, the owner of a yellow lab. Rumpf is a canine handler with Blaine County Search and Rescue.
After finding the first victim, Cody paused at a mound of snow and continued his search downhill. A considerable distance from the first victim, Cody again scratched aggressively at the snow. The team finished the search in 12 minutes, generously ahead of the 20-minute maximum time limit.
At the end of the search, Daggett pulled a toy from his coat as a reward. The game associates celebration with a successful search.
Sun Valley Ski Patrolman Marc Boudart follows the lead of his dog Buddy during a simulated search for avalanche victims. Photo by David N. Seelig
