Raven was purchased by a family in Salt Lake City, Utah, with hopes of raising her to be a support dog for their child. However, it quickly became clear that Raven’s rambunctious personality would not lend itself well to that role—in fact, her off-the-wall energy was simply too much for the family to handle, and they decided to list Raven for adoption. An SDF recruiter reached out to the family, and before long Raven was headed to SDF with the help of our friends at Angel Flight West!
After arriving on campus and taking some time to acclimate to her new home, Raven was evaluated and officially accepted into our program. It didn’t take long for everyone to fall head over heels in love with this adorable ball of wiggly energy, and just as quickly, Raven fell in love with her training! As she mastered her foundational skills, literally jumping with joy at every opportunity she got to work, it seemed as though she was made for disaster search.
However, when Raven progressed to searching on the rubble pile, her future as a disaster search dog didn’t look so certain. While she loved searching for the hidden “victim” in barrel fields and buildings, and moved effortlessly across the more solid rubble, she was hesitant to traverse unstable surfaces, which presented an obstacle when it came to higher-difficulty rubble searches. Raven’s trainers got to work helping her build her confidence through fun, low-pressure play activities involving unstable surfaces, but while she did make some good progress, she still wasn’t completely comfortable on the rubble.
Because she loved and excelled in all other aspects of her training, our team knew she would be a fantastic candidate for a search and rescue career in a different environment, so we were thrilled when she caught the interest of an avalanche search and rescue handler! 
Raven’s future handler traveled to the NTC, where he had the chance to get to know Raven and train with her alongside other handler candidates who were on campus training and preparing for their upcoming graduation from SDF’s handler training program. Following the fun and memorable weeklong visit, Raven departed for Utah with her new handler to begin her new life and new career!
Raven is loving life in Utah, where she now lives with her handler and dog siblings, and is currently working toward certification as a live-find avalanche search and rescue dog. The team hopes to certify in the next few months, so when the snowy season begins, Raven will be ready for duty! We’re so thrilled that Raven has found her dream job, and we can’t wait to follow all of her adventures out on the mountain!
Click here to learn more about our Canine Placement Program!