Jax’s journey to SDF began when he was picked up as a stray and brought to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA in San Mateo, California. Staff there happened to be familiar with SDF and the traits we look for in potential recruits, so when they noticed Jax’s strong toy drive and love of fetch, they reached out to our team for an evaluation!
Here, Jax was introduced to disaster search training, where he demonstrated impressive confidence and strong toy focus in a variety of environments. This social butterfly made lots of friends—both human and canine—and had a blast in doggy play group. We discovered that on top of his natural intelligence, he loves to learn, and as a result he can pick up new skills very quickly. In many ways, Jax seemed like a perfect candidate for our search program, but after working with him for some time, we realized disaster search may not be his perfect path.
When a disaster search dog locates a victim, they’re trained to stay with the victim and bark loudly to alert their handler to the presence and location of the person in need of help. While some dogs LOVE to bark and take great joy in this aspect of the job, others, like Jax, aren’t so inclined. When he declared (gently, of course) that he would prefer a job with a more passive alert, our team got to work finding him a fitting career.
Jax tried his paw at law enforcement, learning to sniff out contraband in jails, but he didn’t enjoy the jailhouse environment (we can’t blame him!) so we broke him out and kept looking. He then headed to Working Dogs for Conservation for a career trial in conservation detection work, but that wasn’t quite the right fit either. Back at SDF, Jax continued to work with our trainers, go on hikes and enjoy doggy play groups, and the search for his perfect placement continued.
While Jax certainly had working dog potential, our top priority was finding him a great placement where he would thrive, wherever that may be. His friendly, engaging personality made him a good candidate for an active companion home, so we were thrilled when he caught the interest of a sporty family in Oxnard! Arrangements were made, and Jax headed to his new life, where he was introduced to his new dog sibling—another German Shepherd named Lola—took some time to explore his new home, and of course, got to know his new forever humans!
Now that Jax is fully settled in, he’s loving home life and all the fun that comes with it. He has a full basket of toys and lots of big dog beds to choose from, goes on long walks in the neighborhood and on the beach, is best friends with his dog sis Lola, and loves cuddling up to his people whenever he gets the chance. We couldn’t be happier to see Jax thriving in his new life, and look forward to following along with all of his future adventures—there’s no doubt this sweet, fun-loving boy is exactly where he’s meant to be!
Click here to learn more about our Canine Placement Program!