My world was rocked, August 2, 2011, when my 27 year old son Nick, was one of three Rapid City Police Officers shot while on a routine public nuisance call.   One officer died at the scene, one was shot in the jaw but has recovered and is doing well.  My son lived four more days before succumbing to his gunshot wound, which struck him one quarter inch from the protection of his bulletproof vest.   These were the first officers shot in the line of duty in our city since 1916.   Both officers were buried August 11, 2011. One in his hometown in Michigan, and my son here, where he was born and raised. 

My first reaction to this event in relation to my search dogs was that this was an acceptable "out".  A graceful way for me to leave my work with Search and Rescue dogs, a very time consuming, expensive, frustrating, emotionally draining endeavor for the most part.  But also, very rewarding when it all comes together.

Near midnight two nights after we buried Nick, I received a call from the local SAR group asking for help in locating three children who had run away, lost in the very rugged Badlands National Park (on a smaller scale, but terrain similar to that of the Grand Canyon).  Having not slept much for over a week, my heart was not in it.  It was a gorgeous, warm night with a full moon, surely the kids could wait until morning. Then they mentioned that the kids were  disabled.........and the adopted kids of a friend of my husband's. 

Auri was already in full working mode, she knows when the phone rings in the middle of the night that she is going to work.   I awakened my youngest son, (an EMT and my flanker), and we set off on an hour trip to the search area.  Upon arrival, we were told the kids had already been missing 12 hours, had left with some snacks, and could be miles away by now.    Had the SAR group known that, they would have waited until morning to call us out.   We were there now so we set off, adding a sheriff's deputy as an additional flanker.  It was wash day at the kids' home and we had only a scent article for one of the three kids, we hoped they had stayed together.   I prayed to God for their safety and asked Nick for guidance.  

Auri started strong on a trail for about a quarter mile, but between the lack of vegetation and and the time factor, she quickly abandoned trailing for more efficient air scenting.  We zigzagged the rugged terrain for more than two hours before she made the first indication that she was in scent, a quiet nose to the wind followed by a burst of energy, moving with determination.  One hundred yards into the indication I called one of the girl's names and thought I heard something, another call and I definitely heard something.  In a matter of seconds we were at the first child.   This was the child for which we had the scent article and Auri was not about to leave her after making the find.  We radioed in the find and asked for any kind of scent articles for the other kids.   Night time in the Badlands is very difficult navigation and when the other scent articles didn't arrive we decided to go on.  There were other searchers in the area, but they were downwind of us.  My son stayed with the found girl as the deputy and I set out again.  Within a few hundred yards we had located the second girl, hiding but relieved to be found.  The deputy took the second girl back to the location of the first, and Auri and I continued to search for the boy.  The boy was tougher, we knew it was his idea to run away in the first place.  Auri pinpointed the area he was in, but because of the ruggedness of the terrain, a dog and handler were unable to navigate it in the dark.   Without a flanker and with no viable form of communication with me, it was pointless to continue on.  We returned to my flankers where rescuers used Gator vehicles to get us and the girls out of the Badlands and back to the staging area near the children's home. 

We had one more area to clear before we left.  The area on top of the steep fingers of the Badlands levels out into the Buffalo National Grassland of South Dakota.   Auri, my son and I walked this top plateau to make sure the boy had not reached the top and left the area.  Nothing.  Auri wanted to go back into the steep crevices of the area she had tried to get into from below, but which were just as, if not more treacherous from above.  We left the search just before dawn, confident the boy was in the area of Auri's indication and that he would be found in the daylight, which he was, hiding and watching the searchers.   

It was a nice find, a really nice find.  But the truth was, the kids would have been fine until daylight. That is what I thought as we left the scene.  After retelling the story of the search to a friend in law enforcement, we agreed you need those finds to keep you going.  That friend called the following day to say that the hiding boy had been admitted to a mental health facility after making some statements about their trip into the Badlands.   He had heard voices in his head telling him to take his sisters into the Badlands and kill them, stabbing them each a specific number of times.  He was found with a knife on him.  Suddenly, that "could have waited for morning" search took on a whole new significance.  It became a very good find.  

I know Nick was with me, guiding us and telling me that I can't quit working my search dogs. That I was given this phenomenal dog, Auri, for a reason.  He was getting me "back in the saddle"  when I wasn't sure I wanted to go, after the most devastating event of my life.  Thanks Nick.  Love you.  Always.

                               "In the rain I feel you, In the wind I hear you, In the stars I see you, In my heart you live forever."   Mom

Pike- DOB 12/23/10.  Black sable, long coated German Shepherd of pure East German (DDR) bloodlines.  Along with Auri and Shodo, Pike has two generations of SAR dogs behind him.  He is from a breeder who had one of her pups go on to work cadaver/recovery at Ground Zero, 9/11. 
"For her 9/11 work, Tango was inducted in the New Jersey "Animal Hall Of Fame", and Tango's picture is in
Search and Rescue Dogs: Training the K9 Hero." 

Pike is performing un-aided tracking on grass and in the snow at 10 weeks old.  Awesome!   

Fall 2011: Pike is a true working dog, enthusiastic, eager to please, with outstanding scenting skill.  Only a pup, this dog has unlimited potential.  He loves the game and WILL NOT give up.  Pike is my constant companion and will be SAR certified in 2012.