Search and rescue dogs serve on the frontlines locating people missing after natural disasters, lost children, injured hikers and others, being ready at a moment’s notice to bravely endure the elements and save lives. Supreme Master Ching Hai, world renowned humanitarian, artist and spiritual teacher, speaks of her admiration and concern for these devoted canines.

And I saw many dogs, you know, they used for rescue mission. Oh, they just walk in like nothing, but I feel so bad about them.

The dogs walk in the sharp, broken glasses or anything like that. Even chemical leaking or anything, or germs or danger.

And these are precious dogs. They have been trained for years. And they even lay down their life for anyone at command. You have to protect that dog.

To show Her loving support for search dogs and their human partners, Supreme Master Ching Hai has generously contributed more than US$100,000 to search-and-rescue teams in 21 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Iran, South Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Panama, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.

Today’s program features two of these courageous teams, namely American Search Dogs and Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs of Utah, USA. Founded in 1989, American Search Dogs is an Ogden, Utah, USA-based certified professional search dog unit that provides free assistance to families and police who are searching for missing and lost persons. The non-profit group is made up of multiple human-dog search teams as well as members who play a support role to those in the field.

What do you focus on with the American Search Dogs? What are the services you offer to the community?

We actually search for lost and missing people. And our dogs are trained to work wilderness or urban (areas) or water or cadaver (searches); we work all those disciplines.

A common mission of the unit is to locate campers, hikers and adventurers lost in the wilderness. American Search Dogs regularly holds classes to inform both children and adults about essential things they need to pack for outdoor activities. By being amply prepared with such life-saving items as a whistle to attract attention and a reflector to signal searchers, the chances of being quickly found in case of becoming lost increase greatly.

The unit also makes class participants aware of the importance of not panicking in case one loses their bearings in the outdoors and advises children not to be afraid of a search dog who comes looking for them as he or she is their friend.

We give demonstrations; we did over 70 this last year, teaching them basically what to do if they’re ever lost, so it makes it easier for us to find them.

While searching, the dogs of the unit don a special vest and a bell and at night may wear a bright light on their collar. The canine team members can locate someone in a large area such as a forest by air-scenting, or a technique where the dog points his or her nose high in the air to identify and follow the scent emanating from a missing person. Some dogs specialize in trailing based on a scent article, an item the lost person has touched like clothing, and then tracks their movements by sniffing the ground.

To be a part of American Search Dogs, both a dog and their human partner must undergo rigorous training prior to joining a real search. Common breeds of search dogs include German Shepherds, Dobermans, Rottweilers, Golden Retrievers, Giant Schnauzers, and Labradors. Let’s now meet two intelligent and dedicated canine heroes!

This is Murphy.

Hallo, Murphy.

And this is Bert.

Hallo Bert.

Okay. Murphy. Murphy, come here.

We’ll have him take a bow. Murphy, take a bow.

Oh, he took a bow. (Good boy!) Wonderful.

And then we often have him stand up for the kids to see his size. Up!

Good boy.

He’s a Golden Retriever- Standard Poodle mix.

The dogs also contribute to their community in other wonderful ways.

We’re starting to do a program now where the children come and read to the dogs. So it helps the children with their reading and then also there are some other programs that we’re doing; we do go into the old folks homes.

On behalf of Supreme Master Ching Hai, our Association members presented her loving contribution of US$1,000 to American Search Dogs for the care of their altruistic canine team members, along with her international #1 best seller “The Dogs in My Life.”

Oh, we are thrilled. Thank you so much. We look forward to looking at the books.

Thank you.

Oh my gosh! She is totally… oh, look at this.

I know.

These are darling and we love dog people, so she’s … the top of our list. Oh my gosh. It’s nice to see somebody who loves them as much as I do. Oh my gosh, look at this!

Aren’t they cute. We’re going to love the book, I can tell you that.

I think I might have to order my own set.

Thank you so much. We also admire the work that your group does. So, thank you.

Thank you Supreme Master.

Ms. Bennett, president of the organization, later sent a letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai thanking her for the recognition of American Search Dogs’ work and the monetary contribution. When we return, we will travel to the Midvale, Utah, USA to visit with members of Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants and our program featuring two search and rescue dog teams from Utah, USA. In the vibrant city of Midvale located in the Salt Lake County, Utah, we now meet members of Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs. This is a non-profit service organization that provides assistance to governmental agencies to locate lost and missing persons both in urban and wilderness settings. Canines also help find for those unable to be located following disasters such as avalanches.

Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs is the oldest, largest, most experienced canine search and rescue group in Utah. We’ve been around for a long time; we were formed almost 30 years ago and have been going strong ever since then.

Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs offers a number of different disciplines for various agencies in the state of Utah, and outside the state of Utah. In Utah, as in most states, the search and rescue function is overseen by each county where the search is going on and so we are deployed at the behest the county sheriff.

Now is your group strictly a volunteer group?

We're a volunteer, non-profit group, and all of the people in our group have a job that they do other than this. We like to tell people that if you’re thinking about joining the group and training a dog, your first year with a new dog, you’re probably looking at spending anywhere from 500 to a 1000 hours with that dog, and then just to maintain a search dog after that you’re probably looking at anywhere from three to 500 hours a year.

Dave Richards, manager of the group, now describes some of the strategies the search dog teams use to find missing persons.

Our primary discipline that we train the most for is both wilderness and tracking. Wilderness is that you have somebody that's lost, you don’t know where they’re at. You don’t have a point last seen so we deploy in a grid of dogs covering an area, and then after the day is over we download our track logs. You can see where everybody has covered. We figure out where gaps in coverage might be, and then the next day you go back and you either go to the new area that you’re assigned, or you fill in the gaps.

The tracking discipline is you have a point last seen. You know where the person is. You take the scent article, and you present it to the dog. The dog finds the person’s track on the ground and ignores other human scents and follows that track until they locate the victim. We also train in avalanche, which is what we’re training for today, although it’s a bit spartan with the snow. And we do water searches for drowning victims.

Several of our dogs currently are part of the Salt Lake Urban Search and Rescue and have been deployed to the World Trade Center, to (Hurricane) Katrina, as far away as Venezuela, and the Northridge earthquake.

Technology is increasingly playing a role in searches as well.

Search and rescue is taking on a decidedly technological approach these days. Now you need a lot of different GPSs (global positioning systems) and mapping programs if you really want to get out there and do your job as best you can do it.

They now have tracking collars for dogs that come with a GPS, so when I'm out working my dog, if he has a tracking collar on, I can see on my GPS where he is. Our dogs are trained to work away from us and for example, on a night search and my dog is out looking for someone, it's not unusual for you two to get separated and there are times when you’re called on the radio and you need to quickly redeploy to a different area, and you got to find your dog really quick. It’s important to keep track where your dog is, and these tracking collars allow the handler to actually see where their dog is.

Oh behalf of Supreme Master Ching Hai, our Association members presented her kind contribution of US$1,000 to Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs for the care of the devoted and selfless canines who are wholeheartedly serving their community.

Thank you for this support. This is unusual for us and I can’t tell you how much good this is going to do.

Dave Richards was also delighted to receive Supreme Master Ching Hai’s international #1 best seller “The Dogs in My Life.”

That’s wonderful, thank you so much. We’re very proud of our dogs and proud that they’re recognized by the Master. These are wonderful and I look forward to the day that she might able to come and visit with us soon and experience our dogs as well.

Thank you.

Afterwards, Mr. Richards sent a warm letter to Supreme Master Ching Hai expressing gratitude for her donation to his organization. May Heaven bless the human and canine team members of American Search Dogs and Rocky Mountain Search Dogs as well as similar groups all over the world who compassionately dedicate their time and energy to protect and save the lives of others. Their noble deeds are an inspiration to us all.

For more details please visit: American Search Dogs Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs

Thank you for joining us on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, following Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May we always treat other beings with love and care.

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Meet this amazing physician who has excellent advice on how to eat right on “Active Vegan Living with Dr. William Harris,” Monday, April 5 on Healthy Living.