Team Info
Task Force: Virginia Task Force 2 (VA-TF2)
Level: In training to certify
Search Dog Info
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Sex: Female
Born: June 2, 2022
Donated by a private owner
Sponsor: Julie Croker
Goldie was raised since puppyhood by a young couple who were hoping for a mellow, yellow Lab. They got two out of three on their wishlist: Goldie is a yellow Lab! She is far from mellow, however. Unable to cope with her energy, Goldie’s owners listed her for adoption in the local paper. An SDF recruiter noticed the ad, contacted Goldie’s owners, and soon approved Goldie for recruitment into our program.
On our campus, trainers found Goldie to be as sweet as they come, but when it’s time to search—look out! She kicks it into high gear and searches with intent and purpose. Goldie’s bark alert is beautiful: she locks on the odor, works her way to the strongest source, and, without hesitation, barks rapidly into the mousehole! Goldie has the brawn to match her brains, too. She’s so strong she can pull the hidden person out of the barrel when tugging! Goldie is a treat to work with; she successfully graduated from search dog training in May 2024. She was paired with handler Trinity Mauer of Virginia Task Force 2 on June 1, 2024.
Trinity Maurer began working with dogs at age 5 when she was involved in dog shows. Since then, she has volunteered or worked in animal hospitals until she went to Veterinary Technician School in 2015. She is currently a Vet Tech Supervisor at a small animal emergency hospital. Although she is not a firefighter, she was the Operations Manager for a Veterinary Tactical Group for almost seven years, which included teaching and training pre-hospital care of working dogs injured in the field to canine handlers and first responders. She found this work rewarding, leading her to work in emergency medicine, where she continues to work in the field, deploying with law enforcement to provide pre-hospital care to canines injured in the line of duty. She currently deploys with many canine handler teams across North Carolina.
While doing vet support for a USAR canine workshop in Virginia Beach, Trinity was asked to hide in a rubble pile for the final exercise, a tornado involving several housing complexes and a school. The exercise lasted over an hour, and Trinity was in awe of the canine teams that participated. She says, “Hearing the sniffing of each dog, the barking of an alert, and the hailing of the rescuers hit me in my gut and brought tears to my eyes. I knew after the first bark that this is what I wanted to do.”
She began volunteering with Virginia Task Force 2, learning to train dogs for disaster search. She got her first disaster search dog, Quinn, in 2019 and continued to train at home through COVID. She certified with Quinn in July 2021. Trinity had heard about SDF through friends in the USAR system, and then Virginia Task Force 2 also began adding SDF-trained canines to their task force. After Quinn passed away, SDF was top of mind to help pair her with another search dog.
Now that she and Goldie are partners, Trinity’s goal is to continue building their team bond and work towards certification. Trinity says that her long-term vision is for her and Goldie to “continue to build and support each other in a career that is meant to bring light and life to people trapped in disasters across the country. We will have a long career as a family and a team.”