Wanted to share with everyone on the Eve of 9/11. A partnership BCR became in the Memory of Manny ( one of the Heroes of 9/11 and 24-7 Shane~ one of the NSDF biggest mistake not recruiting and became my heart dog and my partner in rescue). Bobbie BCR As the sun sets tonight, September 10th, and for the next 24 hours, we will light up the Canine Memorial at SDFs National Training Center. Its our way of saying, We Have Not Forgotten. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, on two legs or four. When a siren sounds and the call for help goes out, these heroes rush towards danger, often risking their lives to save others. Each September, SDF honors Americas First Responders and renews our commitment to these heroes. We invite you to take part in this time of recognition and remembrance by telling us what our nations firefighters, paramedics, police officers, and rescue workers mean to YOU. How do you feel when you see rescuers combing the rubble of a tornado-stricken town or the wreckage of a deadly mudslide? What do you feel when you hear the sound of an ambulance in your neighborhood, the minutes ticking by, with a life in the balance? Tell us what We Have Not Forgotten means to you This year we are honoring SDFs three founding Canine Disaster Search Teams - Rob Cima & Harley, Randy Gross & Dusty, and Rick Lee & Ana - who blazed the trail for over a hundred SDF teams who followed. Please join us in celebrating these extraordinary handlers and their canine partners by helping us recruit our next three teams. Our goal is to raise $30,000 by September 30th to train 3 Search Teams for the Canine Class of 2015 in honor of Americas First Responders. Thank you for being part of the search. Make a gift Clockwise from top left: Rob, Wilma, Randy, Rick, and Pluis Meet SDFs Founding Search Teams In 1995, Wilma Melville and her dog Murphy were deployed with California Task Force 2 to search for survivors of the Oklahoma City Bombing. During the deployment it became clear to Wilma that America had far too few Canine Disaster Search Teams, and she decided to do something about it. She founded the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF), a nonprofit that would partner shelter dogs with firefighters and give them the training and resources they needed for disaster search. Our founding Search Dogs were all rescues recruited by Wilma: Ana, from a friend in Santa Rosa, CA; Dusty from Golden Retriever Rescue of Salinas, CA; and Harley from the Ojai Humane Society. She brought these enthusiastic, uncontrollable animals, bursting with energy, to nationally renowned dog trainer Pluis Davern, and together they created a new, innovative methodology. While the dogs were in training, Mike Antonucci, then Deputy Chief of the California Governors Office of Emergency Services, recommended three firefighters as handlers for Wilmas pilot program. Thats how Randy Gross (Sacramento Metro Fire), Rick Lee (Sacramento City Fire), and Rob Cima (El Dorado Fire) became SDFs first handlers. After an extraordinary history as SDF handlers, with life-altering experiences responding to September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, and numerous local deployments, our three founding teams have passed their tremendous knowledge and experiences to succeeding generations of Search Teams. Rick was partnered with Ana, a beautiful Golden Retriever. Rick: She had a Type A, high-maintenance personality - just like me. I had to structure my days to allow for the amount of training needed to keep Ana at her best and keep her from getting bored. Over time I came to understand the importance of the dogs in search and rescue, and the need to attain the highest skill level. Randy was given Dusty, an incorrigible Golden, who quickly bonded with Randy and became a star pupil, reaching Advanced Certification in an unprecedented ten months. Randy: Even in her later years, Dusty had the incredible drive she did as a pup. Shes twice been patted on the head by President Bush, and was the second dog in history to ring the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange. Rob was partnered with Harley, another Golden, and persevered through intensive training, overcoming real challenges associated with abuse at the hands of a former owner. Rob: Harley was an amazing partner. I gained so much from working with him, and from SDFs training program. I have applied the principle of positive reinforcement that I learned from Pluis and Wilma to the rest of my life ever since. Thank you for joining us in saying, We Have Not Forgotten. This email was sent to bcrescue@aol by [email protected] National Disaster Search Dog Foundation | 501 E. Ojai Avenue | Ojai | CA | 93023 Sent from my iPhone
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:22:53 +0000
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