Scout & Derek Chaky

Scout & Derek Chaky

 

Team Info

Task Force: Texas Task Force (TX-TF)
Agency: Carrollton Fire
Level: DHS/FEMA Certified
Most Recent Certification: October 31, 2020

Search Dog Info

Breed: Black Lab Mix
Sex: Male
Born: July 2, 2012
Recruited from: James River Humane Society – Jamestown, ND
Recruited by: South Dakota Canine Center
Sponsors: Valerie Roddy, Scott Florance, Patrick Shields
Guardians: Laura Pollick, Clyde Freeman

While visiting family back in his hometown, SDF regional Canine Recruiter Tim Matthews of the South Dakota Canine Center, his wife Kellee, 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!

After arriving at the Training Center 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 14th, 2014, Scout was paired with Captain Derek Chaky of the Carrollton Fire Department. Scout joins Derek as a member of Texas Task Force 2 and the two began their daily training in preparation for their Certification Evaluation held the end of April in Kansas.

April 26th, 2015, Scout and Derek traveled to Salina, Kansas for 2 days of testing towards Certification within the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance (SUSAR) system. Having achieved advanced Certification, the team is now able to deploy anytime disaster strikes in their area!

The first call to action came on June 27, 2016, when a parking structure collapsed near downtown Dallas that evening. A visual search had already been done by Dallas Fire’s regional Urban Search and Rescue team, and Derek and Scout were asked to do a more thorough search and confirm that there was no one trapped alive in the rubble. Scout did not give an alert bark, signaling that he did not pick up the scent of anyone in danger, and the teams were then able to begin clean-up efforts.

We look forward to watching Derek and Scout’s careers blossom!