Mocha was a female Chocolate Labrador Retriever born on March 22, 1999. She started her professional career as a dog-in-training for Guide Dogs of America (GDA).
It was soon apparent that Mocha and her sibling Marc had too much energy to be guide dogs. So GDA decided to contact the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) to see if they might be better suited for a career as disaster search dogs.
Miki Klocke (then an SDF volunteer, later our Canine Manager) had arranged to meet with GDA volunteer Diana Davis in Sylmar, CA. She was to pick up a Border Collie that had been tested and approved to begin training with SDF. So Miki and Diana agreed to test Mocha and Marc, too. SDF had not tested GDA dogs previously to see if they possessed the high energy and vigorous discipline required for a career as a disaster search dog. Therefore, expectations weren’t too high that these dogs would be a good fit for our program. However, Miki and Diana were amazed and delighted at how well the two siblings performed during testing, and Miki snapped them up right on the spot! And the pleasant surprises kept coming. Mocha and Marc had yet another sibling that came to SDF a few weeks later—Modoc aka “Doc”—who also possessed the talent and skill required to train as a disaster search dog.
At Sundowners Kennel in Gilroy, CA, where all SDF dogs were trained, Mocha took to her training like a true pro. Aided by her past training at GDA, when Mocha donned her search vest she immediately clicked into business mode. She had always had lots of spunk and energy. When doing search exercises, Mocha not only found the “survivors” that were hidden and buried in search tubes, but also wanted to try to pull them out of the tubes herself! At her graduation ceremony, Mocha showed off her boldness and drive at the ceremony by tackling “the wobbly monster”, the most difficult training obstacle at Sundowners. She maintained her balance like a pro while walking across the narrow boards as they shifted underneath her paws. Mocha looked like she was walking on water!
After Mocha completed her training at Sundowners, she was paired with John Thomas, a firefighter with the City of Murrieta Fire Department in California. Wherever John went, Mocha followed. Whether at home or going about their daily routine at the firehouse, they were always together, always a team.
John once described Mocha as having two personalities. Off duty, Mocha was sociable and loving, and loved to play tug-of-war with whoever was willing to go up against her. But when Mocha was working, she completely focused on succeeding at whatever task she was presented with. When Mocha practiced finding “survivors” in large piles of rubble during her training exercises, John said that all anyone could see was a huge cloud of garbage flying through the air as Mocha aggressively dug through the pile to find that “survivor”!
In January 2007, Mocha and John achieved Advanced Certification with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the highest level recognized in the United States. During their career John and Mocha were deployed to the California mudslides in December 2003, Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 and Hurricane Dean in August 2007.
In 2010, Mocha entered retirement and spent her golden years at home with John as he trained with his new Search Dog, Jack.
Sadly, on August 14, 2011, Mocha crossed the Rainbow Bridge with John, her partner of nine years, by her side. While we will certainly all miss Mocha, we are glad to know that John is carrying on her legacy with his new Search Dog, Jack, and will continue to train to save lives in the future.