Archive for Friday, March 30, 2007
Locals 2007: Duke the rescue dog
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Duke, the search and rescue dog
Duke, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever, would rather find people than a ball.
"He is always willing to work," said Scott Havener, Duke's owner and a member of Routt County Search and Rescue. "It is his first love - other than eating. But it's a really close second."
Duke began training to be a trailing dog for Search and Rescue when he was nine weeks old, and he has been certified for about four years.
"The national standard takes about 10,000 hours of training to get a dog certified," Havener said. "But it is a continual process. We do between 300 and 500 hours of training per year."
Duke can track missing persons with only a scent article.
"It can be a piece of clothing recently worn by the person or a hat or a pillow case," Havener said. "We can send him off of a driver door or can put a pad on the seat where the subject sat, and use it as a scent article."
Humans leave a scent behind every time they breathe, blink or move.
"If you take a step, skin cells fall out of your pant leg," Havener said. "They are called 'rafts,' and that is what he follows."
Duke has already found three people and completed three assists. Duke and Havener are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"We are called out about seven times a year and that is not counting local stuff," Havener said. "We usually try to search later in the evening when it cools down, in the morning or all night long."
When Duke finds the missing person, he is rewarded with his favorite toy - a Frisbee.
Duke is training to learn how to follow people in cars.
Often, he is the better half of a Duke and Havener team.
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