The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that recruits and trains rescue dogs. It was established in 1996 by Wilma Melville. As of 2024, there are 94 search teams trained by SDF that can be deployed regionally and nationally.

Founding

Wilma Melville, a retired schoolteacher and canine search specialist, and her FEMA-certified dog, Murphy, searched for survivors in the aftermath of the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, on April 19, 1995. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. Perpetr ...

and noticed that few search dogs were on-site. After learning that there were only 15 canine-human search teams certified in the country, she established the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Melville set a goal of training 168 teams, one for each person who died in the attack on Oklahoma City, which she achieved in 2020. By 2023, SDF had trained and certified more than 229 teams. SDF received a $150,000 grant from the PETCO Foundation in 2002, a $30,000 grant in 2003, and a $12,500 grant from AT&T in 2005. In 2007, Melville received a $100,000 Purpose Prize, awarded by San Francisco's Civic Venture for "people over 60 who have made important social innovations", for her work with the SDF.

Recruitment and training

SDF accepts rescue dogs and donated dogs. SDF commits to taking care of its dogs for life, and finds appropriate homes for those that are unable to complete the training program. SDF pays for the training, both for the dogs and the handlers. Most dogs are paired with firefighters and the dogs are donated to the fire departments. In 2003, the SDF provided four trained search dogs to the

United States Capitol Police The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States an ...

K-9 unit. The program looks for dogs that have high levels of energy and drive, traits that might make a dog difficult to place in a home but ideal for search training. The dogs undergo six to eight months of training, starting with learning to bark when they encounter live human scent. The training proceeds through searching, obedience, and navigating an obstacle course. Their potential human partners are trained first with a dog that is already certified, then paired with a trainee dog. Canine-human teams usually achieve their FEMA certification in about a year. Since the establishment of SDF, the rate at which dogs become FEMA certified has risen from 15 percent to 85 percent.

National Training Center

SDF is based near

Santa Paula, California Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa Pa ...

. The training center covers 145 acres and contains multiple settings that simulate disaster environments. Army reservists and Navy

Seabees United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

volunteered to construct structures for the training center, buildings that appear to have suffered a disaster but that are still structurally sound for training safety. The military paid for construction labor and some of the equipment.

Operations

Teams trained by SDF have searched for survivors after numerous disasters, including: *

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

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2018 Southern California mudflows Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number) * One of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short story ''God's Dice'' * ''Eighteen'' (film), a 2 ...

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes On 6 February 2023, at 04:17 Time in Turkey, TRT (01:17 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), a 7.8 earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Ba'athist Syria, Syria. The epicenter was west–northwest ...

2023 Hawaii wildfires The 2023 Hawaii wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out in early August 2023 in the U.S. state of Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations and caused widespread damage, killing at least ...

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References

External links