Diesel & Imelda Cordova

Diesel came to the Search Dog Foundation from a private owner in New Prague, Minnesota, from a long line of purebred dogs in Mexico. Initially brought to the US for a career as a police dog, this German Shepherd/Malinois mix was dropped from that track due to his mixed-breed background. This was great news for SDF, as he had some basic training before coming to us and quickly understood what was asked of him during his evaluation.  

He was a firecracker throughout training, with an amazing personality and unstoppable toy drive! Originally, Diesel was trained in a household with other dogs, so he is both friendly and driven—all the desired characteristics of a search dog! Once he transitioned to SDF, he took on every training challenge with tremendous confidence and completed our program quickly.  

Since deploying to the Montecito Mudslides in January 2018 on Orange County Fire Authority’s Heavy Rescue 6 as part of California Regional Task Force 10, firefighter Imelda Cordova realized how truly remarkable search dogs are. From that moment, when canvasing the hardest hit areas, she realized the search dogs around her were far superior to any piece of technology or tool they had to clear the area, and she wanted to be a handler herself to help make the biggest impact when deployed.  

With 11 years of experience as a firefighter in California, Imelda brought a nurturing presence to the Handler Course at SDF and was initially paired with a canine named Knox. However, Knox was forced into early retirement due to a degenerative spinal condition that was diagnosed soon after their pairing. The two were already bonded and shared a birthday, so Imelda decided to keep Knox as a pet and continue working with Diesel, who was scheduled to graduate soon.   

Since Diesel was at the top of his canine class and fully signed off on all his training elements, SDF’s trainers felt he was an excellent choice to partner with Imelda. Diesel and Imelda were officially paired on January 24, 2019. They continued to visit the NTC weekly after being paired to perfect their skills as a team and to work with trainers on the skills they would need to test at the FEMA level. They initially achieved FEMA certification in Phoenix, AZ, in February 2020, which allowed them to deploy with California Task Force 5 (CA-TF5). Three years later, they achieved re-certification in Salt Lake City, UT, in May 2023.   

To date, Diesel and Imelda have deployed together on the following missions:  

• September 13, 2022 – Mudslides – San Bernardino, CA  

• December 30, 2022 – Missing Person Search – Brea, CA  

They continue to train weekly with their CA-TF5 teammates in preparation for the next time the call comes to assist their community!