Team Info
Task Force: California Task Force 8 (CA-TF8)
Agency: San Diego Fire-Rescue
Level: In training to certify
Search Dog Info
Breed: Labrador Retriever/German Shorthaired Pointer mix
Sex: Male
Born: January 15, 2021
Recruited from Tooele City Animal Shelter
Sponsors: The Joel and Dena Gambord Family
Lennie was discovered after several residents in the community contacted the Tooele City, Utah, Animal Shelter to report a cute chocolate Lab running through the area. One reporting party shared that Lennie was stretched out on their front lawn and greeted them as they pulled into their driveway, but as quickly as he said hello, he resumed his travels through the neighborhood. The shelter knew of Lennie’s escapades because their animal control officer had been trying to capture Lennie for a week! Finally, Lennie decided to join the officer for a ride back to the shelter, where staff introduced a tennis ball and immediately knew they had a potential candidate for SDF. An SDF recruiter confirmed Lennie’s potential, and he was soon on his way to our campus.
Lennie is a high-intensity dog and a force to be reckoned with, but his adorable “ready to go” face makes everyone laugh! It took trainers a while to shape Lennie’s bark alert so he would move in closer to the hidden person, but he progressed nicely and soon moved on to succeed in all aspects of the search program, including his downtime when he shines as a social butterfly, romping with all his canine friends in doggy playgroup. Lennie is an all-around great search dog and a very good boy, and he was paired with Alma Lowry of California Task Force 8 on June 1, 2024.
Alma Lowry started her career in public service at age 16, working at a pool in the city of San Diego. From there, she worked at the busiest beach in San Diego as an ocean lifeguard at Mission Beach. She loved lifeguarding, but after going through hypothermia teaching at Lifeguard Academy, she knew she had to find a different career and began looking into the fire service. She asked a close friend who was in the process of becoming a firefighter how to apply and was told, “You’re so silly; girls don’t do that.” Challenge accepted. Alma has been a firefighter with the city of San Diego since 1992.
Alma had been interested in becoming a canine handler with USAR for many years, but she knew she couldn’t devote the time between her advancing fire service career and raising three children. After her kids were old enough to be self-sufficient, she returned to something she’s always wanted to do. She began attending trainings, listening to handlers, and watching them work their dogs, and finally felt it was the right time in 2024. She had heard about SDF from Aide Barbat, a veteran SDF- canine handler and battalion chief of San Diego Fire, as well as other SDF handlers in her department. A huge proponent of animal rescue, Alma loved that most of SDF’s dogs are from shelters and rescues.
As a first-time handler, bringing home a high-drive dog was a bit of an education for Alma. Lennie escaped a wire kennel and a plastic crate in his first week at the Lowry house. Alma now has a steel crate that her son calls “Alcatraz,” which has held up to Lennie’s tricks so far, and things have become more settled. Alma says,’ Every day is a huge learning experience for me. Lennie is so sweet and kind and loves to snuggle. He Is a social butterfly when it comes to people and other dogs. The Lab comes out of him when he sees a basketball, volleyball, water polo balls, or tennis balls. The GSP in him always keeps me on my toes—hence the Houdini action!”
The next steps for Alma and Lennie will be to train to pass their Foundational Skills Assessment and then their FEMA certification test so they can be an asset to their department. Alma says to accomplish that, her cohort wants to come back to SDF together a few times a year to do training. “We as a group absolutely love this place and never wanna leave when we’re here!” Alma plans to have a long, prosperous career with Lennie, all the while raising awareness of what they do as a team and the fantastic things that SDF does as a foundation for both canines and humans so that “Wilma’s vision lives on through every single canine/handler who comes through this program. “