While visiting family back in his hometown, SDF regional Canine Recruiters Tim and Kellee Matthews of the South Dakota Canine Center, and their son Colton, decided to stop at shelters and see if they could find any potential Search Dog candidates.
While walking through the James River Humane Society in Jamestown, ND, Kellee explained, “The shelter was pretty full, 4-5 dogs in most runs, mostly like friends in little packs”. As Kellee & Colton made their way down the runs they came to the very last run and there was Scout! Kellee told us later, “A beautiful young lab locked on to the ball toy Colton was dangling in the air. As we got him out of the run we could not get the toy from him! We wrestled through an evaluation and adopted him on the spot.” Scout spent the rest of the Matthews’ vacation with them and proved to be just as sweet as he was driven!
Soon after, Scout officially passed SDF’s canine screening process and arrived at the National Training Center in Santa Paula, CA, in November of 2013. Trainers reported that Scout was “absolutely amazing! Such an A+ student and he is just amazing over the rubble. He searches so quickly and is so direct in his paths to the scent/victim. He is doing so well and will be an amazing Search Dog.”
On November 14, 2014, Scout was paired with Captain Derek Chaky of the Carrollton Fire Department. Scout joined Derek as a member of Texas Task Force 2 and the two began their daily training in preparation for their Certification Evaluation, a requirement to deploy with their agencies.
On April 26, 2015, Scout and Derek traveled to Salina, Kansas for certification within the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance (SUSAR) system. Upon achieving certification that weekend, the team became eligible to deploy anytime disaster struck the region!
The team served their community in the following deployments throughout their careers:
- April 25, 2016 – Tornado pre-staging – Dallas, TX
- June 27, 2016 – Parking Structure Collapse – Dallas, TX
- April 2, 2017 – Tornado pre-staging – Dallas, TX
- April 29, 2017 – Tornado – Canton, TX
- July 31, 2018 – Parking Structure Collapse – Irving, TX
- September 8, 2018 – Building Collapse – Dallas, TX
- June 9, 2019 – Building Collapse – Dallas, TX
- October 20, 2019 – Tornado – Dallas, TX
In 2017, Texas Task Force 1 in College Station absorbed the members of Texas Task Force 2 and, in accordance with their requirements as a part of the federal system, Derek & Scout re-tested and achieved FEMA certification. They deployed several more times in Northern Texas in the next few years.
In 2024, after nearly 10 years of service, Scout officially retired from the Carrollton Fire Department and Texas Task Force 1. Now in his senior years, Derek reports that Scout remains healthy and active, enjoying retirement life in his home and taking daily swims.