Have you ever notice Search & Rescue dogs helping out during Emergencies? These dogs play a special role in our life. Search and rescue dogs travel around the world for search and rescue missions. For example, during the earthquake in Sichuan, China, Singapore deployed Search & Rescue dogs to go to Sichuan, China to help search for victims trapped at the earthquake site.

Introduction

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) trains and deploys dogs for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations as well as for Fire Investigation (FI). In Singapore, the Search Platoon (K-9 unit) of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) trains and deploys dogs for Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) operations as well as for Fire Investigation (FI).

Breeds that are suitable for search and rescue.

Some of the breeds that are suitable for search and rescue includes the Labrador Retriever, Bloodhound and

German Shepherd.

They track people lost in the wilderness or those lost after a natural disaster. SAR dogs find Alzheimer’s patients who have wandered away from a care facility or locate people trapped in debris after an earthquake or buried under an avalanche of snow. SAR dogs adapt to a variety of circumstances and work well under pressure.

Roles of search and Rescue (SAR) Dogs:

Training:

Search and rescue dogs are trained to locate missing or buried humans in emergency situations. Search dogs are trained in air scent; it seeks the airborne scent produced by a subject and works the air currents back and forth until it “hits” a human scent.

Search and rescue training relies heavily on two drives: prey drive (the tendency to chase a moving object), and hunt drive (the tendency to search or "hunt" for an object when it stops moving and disappears from sight). Prey drive is easily tested for by tying a toy or small towel onto the end of a string and dragging it across the ground in quick jerky movement.