In February of 2006, SDF was contacted by Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) of Oceanside, CA about a canine named Hattie that they felt had Search Dog potential. CCI knew what to look for in a candidate – they had evaluated and donated Search Dogs Val and Kura in prior …
Brutus, a male German Shepherd was born on June 21, 2002 in Gilroy, CA. Donated by breeder Deleta Jones, Brutus comes from a long line of large, strong canines with intense energy and drive. His father was a national competition-level German Shepherd named Honda; and his littermate, Kona, was also a Search …
Glacier, a fun-loving Yellow Lab who was found wandering the streets of Montana not far from Glacier National Park, owes his good fortune in finding a place with SDF to two “dog nuts,” a little bit of chance and sheer destiny. In January of 2004, Kellee Mathews, a vet tech …
Four Oklahoma Search Dogs deploy to tornadoAt approximately 10pm Wednesday night, four Canine Disaster Search Teams, three trained by SDF, responded to the aftermath of a tornado that touched down in Tulsa, OK. After being contacted by the local fire department, the teams arrived at the scene and covered approximately one …
First Deployment of Mike Stornetta and Rocket’s Career and of our 20th Anniversary YearOur hearts go out to the families and friends of the passengers who lost their lives in a small plane crash on January 28th in Santa Rosa, CA. This was the first deployment for Mike Stornetta and …
It was all hands on deck Saturday night.Nine tornadoes ripped through North Texas. Four SDF-trained Search Teams were deployed with Texas Task Force 2 (TX-TF2) based in Dallas. They searched what remained of two of the hardest hit suburbs of Garland and Rowlett, where an EF-4 tornado left hundreds homeless …
On the weekend of November 17th, 13 Search Teams from Oklahoma and Dallas gathered for a Regional Training hosted by the Tulsa Fire Department and Oklahoma Task Force 1. SDF was proud to send Master Trainer Sonja Heritage and Canine Recruitment Manager and Trainer Darrell Wilkerson to Tulsa to observe …
SDF Search Teams deployed to make sure no one was trapped alive in the wreckageAt approximately 4:30pm CST on October 23rd, Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to the partial collapse of a seven-story parking garage at the Turtle Creek apartment high-rise where a pool deck removal and remodel was underway. The cave-in …
A beautiful Black Lab with loving eyes and a wagging tail, Jezzie had been sitting for many weeks at the Sacramento County Animal Control. Thankfully, Jezzie’s last day at the shelter was different from the others. She was given a second chance at life. On that fateful day at the …
August 24, 2015 Scott Steepleton, News-Press City Editor For 20 years, Wilma Melville has been trying to teach handlers of search dogs new tricks. The vision of the 81-year-old founder of the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is close to becoming a reality with the grand opening next year of …
