Training in Turkey Creek preserve to save lives

Geoff White picks a spot to hide in the woods of Turkey Creek Nature Preserve. Minutes later, the “missing person” can hear the faint jingling of a bell, meaning Bri the Belgian Malinois is on the hunt.

Nose hard at work, Bri quickly covers the ground between her and White. She pauses in front of him for a moment, confirming her find, then races back to her handler, Emily Smythies, to lead the search team back to her target.

In this game of hide and seek, everyone wants the searcher to win.

White, Smythies and Bri are all part of the Red Mountain Search Dog Association, a 3-year-old volunteer organization with the goal of becoming the go-to search and rescue team for Central Alabama.

Red Mountain Search Dog Association was founded in 2014 by Mountain Brook resident Kenny Powell, Arthur Powell and Stephen Burton. They specialize in air scent detection for finding missing persons. Kenny Powell and her canine Sadie were the organization’s first pair to be certified as ready to participate in search and rescue missions. Two more dog and handler pairs are working toward their final certification. 

“It’s been slow because we had to learn everything. We knew nothing coming in,” Kenny Powell said. “It takes so many people to make it all work.”

One of the newest members of the team is John Bassler, who moved to Birmingham in August and lives near Railroad Park with his German shepherd, Sparto.

Bassler found the RMSDA because he was looking for a volunteering opportunity that he would enjoy and that could incorporate his dog.

“I wanted to do something that I knew I would repeat,” Bassler said.

Sparto, who is also going through therapy dog training, is active and enjoys “nosework” and search drills. The pair are working toward the certifications they need to be eligible for real search and rescue missions.

“It’s for me because I want to give my time doing things, and I have a dog that is a great listener, loves to work, loves to train. So I have a happier dog at home because we get out and do stuff like this,” Bassler said. “Anything that I do in my life, the goal should be helping someone else.”

In addition to dog handling, the two-legged members of canine search and rescue teams also have to learn about first aid, survival skills, maps, orienteering and reading the wind and weather conditions. Because they communicate via radio, the team members must also have amateur radio operating licenses.

It takes a multiperson team for a search dog to function at its best.

“The handler needs to be able to focus on their dog and what the dog is doing. The support crew is not only handling the navigation and communicating with base, letting them know what’s going on, but we’re watching for things like tracking, evidence,” Shelswell-White said. “And we’re also watching their dog. After training with them for so long, you get to know the different dogs and the different kind of style of what they do and how they’re communicating. So you’re able to help the handler read their dog.”

The RMSDA trains together at least once per week, with each dog handler working individually with their canine every day. Their team includes a German shepherd, several Belgian Malinois, a poodle and a husky. White said a good search and rescue dog has to have the right temperament to stay focused on a task, work off-leash, respond to vocal commands and enjoy what is, to them, a game of hide-and-seek.

“We do this all year round. It’s every weekend, rain or shine. People don’t just get lost when it’s sunny and 80 degrees,” White said.

The dogs learn through drills in which different team members or friends play the “missing person” and hide in the woods. After being given that person’s scent to track, the dogs are let loose, ranging far from their handlers as they search for traces of where the missing person has been.

They wear GPS collars as well as a bell, White said, so the handlers can track them and an actual missing person can hear the dog approach. The handlers track wind currents and guide the dogs toward areas where they’re more likely to catch the scent.

After the dog successfully finds the person and leads the search team to them, it’s time for a “big party,” White said. Toys, treats and vigorous praise from the entire team reinforce that they’ve been good dogs.

“This is her job. She actually loves it,” Powell said of Sadie. “To her, it’s hide and seek, and she just thinks it’s great fun.”

Since receiving their final certifications from the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) in early 2017, Powell and Sadie have not yet been called out to an official search mission. But she wants to show local law enforcement what her team can do, especially as the RMSDA members keep working on their certifications and skills training. While police often have narcotics detection or apprehension canine teams, those skillsets are different from search and rescue detection.

When a person goes missing, the RMSDA wants to be the team that first responders can turn to, without having to wait for a team from elsewhere in the state or region. 

“If [Sparto] and I train for the next 10 years and only help one person, that it’ll be worth it,” Bassler said.

The RMSDA welcomes potential new team members, whether or not they have a dog, as well as anyone interested in seeing how they work. Visit rmsda.org to learn more.