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Ready to Serve, Ready to Save: Strategies of Real-Life Search and Rescue Missions
A collection of actual missions from around the world. This book will help rescuers and those intrigued by S & R to understand the different types of missions and what researchers face in terms of varying geographic conditions, etc.
237 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1999
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9 people want to read
About the author
Susan Bulanda
21 books5 followersCertified Animal Behavior Consultant, (IAABC), Adjunct Professor, Search and Rescue Dog Trainer, Search Manager, Author, Lecturer, Keynote Speaker
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 17, 2022
If you are interested in training your dog for Search and Rescue (SAR), this book would be very helpful. If you are just an arm-chair fan of SAR, and SAR dogs, I think you would enjoy the book as they seek to solve the mystery of where is the person. It was published in 1999, and I am sure for those signed up for training with NASAR there are lots of newer resources but even then, a good book.
This book is broken up by different kinds of search and Rescue. The searches range from missing person, possible murder, missing walker, missing child, suicides, plane crash, fire storm, Oklahoma City Bombing, Tornado, Lost Hunter, Drowning, and avalanche. Each search is often told from the Incident Commander or Search Leader version, and then with a version from the Dog handler. Those relating the search details were sent an outline with questions with the following headers and were used to organize each search:
• Mission Type
• The Victim
• Point Last Seen (PLS)
• Terrain Features
• Weather
• Special Dangers
• Any Other Special Information
• Search Personnel and Equipment
• Search Strategy
• Assign Resources
• Suspension
• Results of the Mission
• What are Your Feelings About the Mission?
• Additional Comments
• Search Tips
• Biography (of the person who submitted the information)
A lot of detail is given but there are so many interesting gems. I learned a lot of details including that search dogs often show a vague interest in marshes as all decomposing material gives off methane gas and sometimes a dog will hit on the methane gas. Dogs also may hit on a junked car if it was in an accident and blood is left in the vehicle. Below I will also include some other excerpts I particularly liked and will include what header it was under:
Point Last Seen
“The victim was last seen in the spillway from Lake Charleston into the Embarras River, which is in Coles County, Illinois. Four wrestling team members decided to slide down the spillway during a flood. Two drowned. One body washed out of the spillway the following day.”
“The following day the body was located where Maya had alerted. It was buried at a depth of 3.5 feet, wrapped in a blue plastic tarp, which someone had sealed with lots of duct tape. The snow depth was two to three inches, and the temperature was in the 20 degree Fahrenheit range.”
Search Tips
If you’re not sure if the dog has something or not, don’t ask it if it has anything. You may talk the dog into an alert. Let the dog make up its own mind.
Leave the area of greatest interest, search other areas or take a break, then bring the dog back in. Try to approach from another direction. Observe what your dog does without cueing from you; sometimes the dog will have no further interest in the area. – Marcia Koenig
Problems Encountered
“The first night it got very dark. I do not recommend working an avalanche in the dark, if just for the hazard reason. Even with headlamps, searching avalanches at night is a harrowing experience.”
“When my dog picked up scent he immediately left the main wash and took off up one of the 40’ ravine walls to head cross country. He had been working just ahead of us as we went northerly up the wash. He was not ranging any distance at all before he got scent. When my partner and I followed him and got to the top of the ridge, my dog was already at the bottom of the ravine and starting to climb up the next ridge. He paused to look back and see we were coming and then disappeared out of sight over the next ridge as we were working our way down. He repeated his behavior as we negotiated at least three ravines and ridges in this fashion. When he came again to the main wash he waited only long enough to make eye contact again before entering the narrow slot canyon where the subject was found.” – Susan Williams
What are your feelings about the mission?
“I was elated because this was Gus’ first live find and I feel the victim would have died if we didn’t find him. All of our training paid off. I’d always have believed that I’d be so proud because we (Gus and I) made the find and saved a life. What happened was just the opposite. I was humbled because I realized that we were just a tool. If it hadn’t been for the work of all of the other people on the search, we wouldn’t have been successful. If it hadn’t been for the deputy’s ongoing investigation and canvassing the neighborhood, they wouldn’t have found the neighbor who pointed us in the direction where the victim was found. I realized on that search that we, as the dog/handler team, don’t “walk on water,” everyone is important. A search is a team effort by everyone involved in the search. – David Hancock
When I initially heard a description of the search area and the scenario, I was certain this would be a wasted effort. I suspected there was very little we could do, given the huge size of the search area, rough terrain, terrible weather, age of the track (around 52 hours old), and the lack of resources. Clearly, I was wrong. I underestimated the ability of a trained SAR dog. – Deb Tirmenstein
Technical Notes
Again, it appeared that the location of the victim and the development of a scent cone of the ground. The airscent, being weather initially borne aloft, was picked up as it later descended at considerable distance from the victim by all of the dogs at one time or another. Fortunately, all handlers informed base camp by radio of the location of all of their alerts and noted them on their maps. The developing pattern over the two-and-a-half days eventually led to the victim.
Bombproof Alert
When searching for a victim that is out of sight, such as under rubble, water, or in darkness, the handler wants an indication from the dog that is unmistakable, or “bombproof.” However, occasionally you’ll be on a search where even the best trained dog will do the bombproof alert. This is where close observation of your dog’s body language can help you solve the problem. – Marcia Koenig
And a few more bits for fun:
What qualities are essentials for this type of dog? It takes focus, endurance, an ability to scent discriminate, and, some would say excessive drive. For me, Black Labs of working/field trail lines have proven to be very capable in this role. However, I know that many breeds of dogs would work just as well. It takes a dog that is tireless, with a boundless desire to please. The dog must be tough enough for the weather and terrain and just dumb enough to want to do this more than anything else in the world. – Deb Tirmenstein
In March 1999, Deb and Fergus were called to Lolo, Montana to search for “Melvin,” an older man with Alzheimer’s, disappeared. When they arrived at the search, there were people everywhere, everyone was frantic, and it was all very chaotic. Deb asked a deputy to drive them to where Melvin’s hat had been found earlier that morning. On the way to the hat, we spotted Melvin just standing by the road. They pulled over and he hopped in the car with us. Fergus believe she had “found” Melvin in the front seat of the police car and proceeded to slobber all over him. – Deb Tirmenstein
For more practical step by step instructions, I have her other book ‘Ready!: Training the Search and Rescue Dog’. Good reference guide, although if a person was really series they would want to be reading the ones assigned by NASAR, but for them, I would still imagine the more info the better, and definitely great who love to imagine training a dog and doing SAR work without all the work of actually doing it. I look forward to reading other books by her as well.
This book is broken up by different kinds of search and Rescue. The searches range from missing person, possible murder, missing walker, missing child, suicides, plane crash, fire storm, Oklahoma City Bombing, Tornado, Lost Hunter, Drowning, and avalanche. Each search is often told from the Incident Commander or Search Leader version, and then with a version from the Dog handler. Those relating the search details were sent an outline with questions with the following headers and were used to organize each search:
• Mission Type
• The Victim
• Point Last Seen (PLS)
• Terrain Features
• Weather
• Special Dangers
• Any Other Special Information
• Search Personnel and Equipment
• Search Strategy
• Assign Resources
• Suspension
• Results of the Mission
• What are Your Feelings About the Mission?
• Additional Comments
• Search Tips
• Biography (of the person who submitted the information)
A lot of detail is given but there are so many interesting gems. I learned a lot of details including that search dogs often show a vague interest in marshes as all decomposing material gives off methane gas and sometimes a dog will hit on the methane gas. Dogs also may hit on a junked car if it was in an accident and blood is left in the vehicle. Below I will also include some other excerpts I particularly liked and will include what header it was under:
Point Last Seen
“The victim was last seen in the spillway from Lake Charleston into the Embarras River, which is in Coles County, Illinois. Four wrestling team members decided to slide down the spillway during a flood. Two drowned. One body washed out of the spillway the following day.”
“The following day the body was located where Maya had alerted. It was buried at a depth of 3.5 feet, wrapped in a blue plastic tarp, which someone had sealed with lots of duct tape. The snow depth was two to three inches, and the temperature was in the 20 degree Fahrenheit range.”
Search Tips
If you’re not sure if the dog has something or not, don’t ask it if it has anything. You may talk the dog into an alert. Let the dog make up its own mind.
Leave the area of greatest interest, search other areas or take a break, then bring the dog back in. Try to approach from another direction. Observe what your dog does without cueing from you; sometimes the dog will have no further interest in the area. – Marcia Koenig
Problems Encountered
“The first night it got very dark. I do not recommend working an avalanche in the dark, if just for the hazard reason. Even with headlamps, searching avalanches at night is a harrowing experience.”
“When my dog picked up scent he immediately left the main wash and took off up one of the 40’ ravine walls to head cross country. He had been working just ahead of us as we went northerly up the wash. He was not ranging any distance at all before he got scent. When my partner and I followed him and got to the top of the ridge, my dog was already at the bottom of the ravine and starting to climb up the next ridge. He paused to look back and see we were coming and then disappeared out of sight over the next ridge as we were working our way down. He repeated his behavior as we negotiated at least three ravines and ridges in this fashion. When he came again to the main wash he waited only long enough to make eye contact again before entering the narrow slot canyon where the subject was found.” – Susan Williams
What are your feelings about the mission?
“I was elated because this was Gus’ first live find and I feel the victim would have died if we didn’t find him. All of our training paid off. I’d always have believed that I’d be so proud because we (Gus and I) made the find and saved a life. What happened was just the opposite. I was humbled because I realized that we were just a tool. If it hadn’t been for the work of all of the other people on the search, we wouldn’t have been successful. If it hadn’t been for the deputy’s ongoing investigation and canvassing the neighborhood, they wouldn’t have found the neighbor who pointed us in the direction where the victim was found. I realized on that search that we, as the dog/handler team, don’t “walk on water,” everyone is important. A search is a team effort by everyone involved in the search. – David Hancock
When I initially heard a description of the search area and the scenario, I was certain this would be a wasted effort. I suspected there was very little we could do, given the huge size of the search area, rough terrain, terrible weather, age of the track (around 52 hours old), and the lack of resources. Clearly, I was wrong. I underestimated the ability of a trained SAR dog. – Deb Tirmenstein
Technical Notes
Again, it appeared that the location of the victim and the development of a scent cone of the ground. The airscent, being weather initially borne aloft, was picked up as it later descended at considerable distance from the victim by all of the dogs at one time or another. Fortunately, all handlers informed base camp by radio of the location of all of their alerts and noted them on their maps. The developing pattern over the two-and-a-half days eventually led to the victim.
Bombproof Alert
When searching for a victim that is out of sight, such as under rubble, water, or in darkness, the handler wants an indication from the dog that is unmistakable, or “bombproof.” However, occasionally you’ll be on a search where even the best trained dog will do the bombproof alert. This is where close observation of your dog’s body language can help you solve the problem. – Marcia Koenig
And a few more bits for fun:
What qualities are essentials for this type of dog? It takes focus, endurance, an ability to scent discriminate, and, some would say excessive drive. For me, Black Labs of working/field trail lines have proven to be very capable in this role. However, I know that many breeds of dogs would work just as well. It takes a dog that is tireless, with a boundless desire to please. The dog must be tough enough for the weather and terrain and just dumb enough to want to do this more than anything else in the world. – Deb Tirmenstein
In March 1999, Deb and Fergus were called to Lolo, Montana to search for “Melvin,” an older man with Alzheimer’s, disappeared. When they arrived at the search, there were people everywhere, everyone was frantic, and it was all very chaotic. Deb asked a deputy to drive them to where Melvin’s hat had been found earlier that morning. On the way to the hat, we spotted Melvin just standing by the road. They pulled over and he hopped in the car with us. Fergus believe she had “found” Melvin in the front seat of the police car and proceeded to slobber all over him. – Deb Tirmenstein
For more practical step by step instructions, I have her other book ‘Ready!: Training the Search and Rescue Dog’. Good reference guide, although if a person was really series they would want to be reading the ones assigned by NASAR, but for them, I would still imagine the more info the better, and definitely great who love to imagine training a dog and doing SAR work without all the work of actually doing it. I look forward to reading other books by her as well.
June 23, 2018
Ready to Serve, Ready to Save!: Strategies of Real-Life Search & Rescue Missions By Susan Bulanda
I have read fictional stories about search & rescue but this book is about real-life cases with real search & rescue teams. The layout of the book is easy to follow as each case is set out in specific steps and the outcomes. I like the way it is broken down in sections so that the reader is able to get a glimpse of what the search team leader has in mind and what the searcher’s point of view is. An interesting and informative book.
~I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author (no monetary gain were exchanged), this is my honest review~I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255~
I have read fictional stories about search & rescue but this book is about real-life cases with real search & rescue teams. The layout of the book is easy to follow as each case is set out in specific steps and the outcomes. I like the way it is broken down in sections so that the reader is able to get a glimpse of what the search team leader has in mind and what the searcher’s point of view is. An interesting and informative book.
~I received a copy of this book from the publisher/author (no monetary gain were exchanged), this is my honest review~I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255~
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews