Kura was a candidate in the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) program, which trains assistance dogs, but she didn’t work out for them: the high energy and prey drive that work so well for a Search Dog are not traits that make for a good companion dog. Luckily, her foster parents (mother and daughter Kathy and Laura Hall) were able to recognized in her the intelligence, energy and drive that might make her successful as a Search Dog. Kura was the first dog Kathy had raised for CCI, and she knew that Kura needed a job; that she was destined to do more than sit around the house. So Kathy took Kura to SDF for evaluation, and she did terrific! The Halls donated her to SDF and Kura began her journey to a very successful career in urban disaster search and rescue!
Kura, like all SDF dogs, spent several months in formal training at Sundowners Kennel with trainers Pluis and Kate Davern (the second mother-daughter team that was instrumental in Kura’s development) before she was paired with her handler, Greg Gould of the New York State Office of Fire Prevention & Control, in July of 2005. In addition to the time Pluis spent with Kura at Sundowners, Pluis went to NY to train with the team monthly for over a year.
Pluis remembered, with pride, Kura’s work ethic: “She was very business-like – not superfast, but very meticulous.”
Greg became interested in learning to be a canine handler after the tragedy of 9/11. Working for the state and with firefighters, Greg learned that at Ground Zero there were not many dogs in the NY area that did live victim searches; the dogs on the scene had come from other areas of the country.
Greg wasn’t the only one from the State of New York who had an interest in bringing search and rescue dogs to the state. It took a couple years to get the program off the ground but four firefighters from New York State to establish Canine Disaster Search Teams for response in New York State, and are members of New York Task Force 2 (NY-TF2)
When Greg and his teammates traveled to Sundowners Kennel in 2005 to meet the dogs SDF had trained for NY-TF2, Kura came out and sat right next to him – she made her choice and at the team’s graduation ceremony later that week, Kathy Hall’s entire family attended to cheer them on. Kathy knew she had made the right decision by placing Kura with SDF. When Kura saw Kathy and Laura, she turned into a puppy again and even fell asleep in Laura’s lap. It was a wonderful reunion for Kura and her foster family.
Through their hard work and training, Greg and Kura became a closely bonded search team. They deployed many times over the years with NY-TF2:
May 2006 – flooding in Sullivan County, NY
July 2006 – building explosion in Albany, NY
June 2007 – flooding in the Catskills
October 2007 – missing person search in Bethlehem, NY
October 2012 – flooding created by Superstorm Sandy in Long Beach, NY
In what was perhaps their most memorable deployment, Greg and Kura searched for a missing child in East Glenville, NY, in April of 2009. The child had wandered away and could not be found anywhere near his home. For several hours, in the dark, Greg and Kura searched a building the child was thought to be in. Suddenly, Kura insisted on reaching a crawlspace area that the search crews had not checked and alerted with a strong bark. Sure enough, the child was found and reunited with his family.
Most recently, in October of 2012, the team deployed to Long Beach, NY where Superstorm Sandy left many stranded by severe flooding. New York Task Force 2 did boat and aerial rescues of many citizens and SDF Search Dogs swept buildings to ensure that no one had been left behind.
Kura and Greg continued to train weekly with their teammates until she was ready for retirement on December 1, 2012. Kura remained in the Gould family home as a beloved pet for several more years.
In April of 2017, Kura’s health had been on the decline and Greg did what he knew was best for her, though it was a difficult and heartbreaking decision to make. Kura passed peacefully, her best friend at her side, on April 21, 2017. We are forever grateful for her service and she will not be forgotten.
