Team Info
Task Force: California Task Force 4 (CA-TF4)
Level: FEMA Certified
Search Dog Info
Breed: Black Lab
Sex: Male
Born: December 17, 2012
Donated by Ann Wichmann
The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) was pleased to welcome Ricochet to the Search Dog family when he and handler Julie Padelford achieved Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Certification on November 1, 2014, in Virginia Beach, VA! Ricochet is the first dog to participate in SDF’s Alternative Canine Training Program, a pilot program designed to allow veteran SDF handlers to select and train their own canines with SDF training methods in close partnership with SDF trainers.
Julie has been an SDF handler for over a decade and was paired with Search Dog Lilly-Belle in January 2005. In addition, she has trained and handled two non-SDF canines in the Live Find and Human Remains Detection (HRD) fields. As a handler with a wealth of training and real-world deployment experience, SDF’s Lead Trainer at the time agreed that Julie would be a great candidate to test the idea of the Alternative Canine Training Program.
In her own words, Julie explains how she chose this partner, “Ricochet comes from my good friend Ann Wichmann, a longtime canine Wilderness and FEMA handler in Colorado. Ann helped write the original FEMA canine testing and Standard Operating Procedures, was a FEMA K9 Sub-Committee member for 13 years, and a FEMA evaluator, mentor and instructor until 2011. Her line of Labs comes from her Labrador, Jenner, who was one of the first FEMA certified canines. Both of Ricochet’s parents come from the Jenner line – Trevor is certified in HRD and Rosie is a FEMA live search K9. There are over one hundred Ann Wichmann Labradors working in search & rescue, recovery, and in other working dog fields. Ann does a very limited amount of breeding and most of the pups go to working homes. She spends a great deal of time socializing and acclimating her pups so they are ready to start being trained at an early age.
“I picked up Ricochet at 10 weeks of age and we have been working towards our FEMA Certification Evaluation (CE) with help and guidance from SDF Master Trainer Sonja Heritage, plus the unending support from my FEMA & SUSAR teammates. Ricochet passed his FEMA CE on November 1, 2014, a month and half before his 2nd birthday. It has been an absolute pleasure to train Ricochet from a pup to a young, (almost) mature adult. This is my 4th FEMA disaster dog, (three live search & one HRD), but the first I have trained from puppyhood and my first Lab. I now have three different breeds FEMA certified – a Golden Retriever, two Malinois, and a Lab!”
As an SDF team, Julie and Ricochet enjoy the benefits that our supporters’ generous donations enable SDF to provide each dog that graduates our program. Julie and Ricochet also help continue spreading the word about SDF’s program across the nation.
Julie was located in the Miami-Dade region and a member of Florida Task Force 2 when she originally raised and trained Ricochet. Their first opportunity to put their search training to work came when most East Coast task forces made preparations for Hurricane Matthew to make landfall on October 6, 2016. Thankfully for civilians in their jurisdiction, Florida was largely spared the destruction that this Category 5 hurricane brought to other states. In the end, there were no reports of missing citizens and therefore no need for Julie and Ricochet and their teammates to search. But we are grateful that they were at the ready should they have been needed to save lives.
Then on March 15, 2018, a massive pedestrian bridge collapsed across Southwest Eighth Street in Miami, killing 6 people. Julie and Ricochet were able to jump in and assist rescuers in the search for anyone else who may have been involved in the collapse.
Julie has since relocated across the country and is now an active member of California Task Force 4 based in Oakland. Julie trains regularly with the search teams in Northern California in preparation for the next call to action! She continues to train multiple dogs in the disciplines of live-find and human remains detection.
It is a comfort that teams like Julie and Ricochet stand by ready to assist when disasters occur. We are so pleased for this team and look forward to following their careers!