We are glad you are exploring how to use your dog in search and rescue (SAR) and hope to help you in any way we can, however, most of the initiative must come from you. Understanding what is expected and required to proceed through the process of training with your dog to achieve the goal of becoming certified and deployed on missions to find lost persons is often a challenge for a new SAR dog handler.

Following a K9 orientation session , prospective handlers are expected to join a SCVSAR Unit, obtain a Department of Emergency Management #, complete Washington State required training to become field deployable, and begin introducing their K9 to a prescribed set of preliminary ‘skill building exercises’, at ‘unofficial workouts’ (practice sessions) and at home. During this time, the prospective airscent handler is expected to attend K9 meetings and ‘official training’ without their K9. Upon obtaining ‘field deployable’ status with their ‘Unit’ and attending at least 4 of 6 monthly K9 team meetings and a minimum of 50% of ‘official’ day-long K9 area trainings for a period of six months, Airscent teams, the handler and K9, will be evaluated by the K9 Coordinator, in consultation with other experienced handlers, for entry into ‘official’ training. See: Airscent or Trailing Roadpath for more detail. 
 

After you have reviewed the Roadpath, and the rest of the 'drop down' topics in the "Join the K9 Team" menu and the linked training plan documents, and begun to fill out the application, you will be invited to send an email to become a prospect and begin the process of asking your questions and working through our bureaucracy. We ask your patience with this and there are real live people available to help you along the way. The website is a resource and reference and the longer you are with us the more information we will make available. 

There is a great deal of organizational complexity which you have to plow through resulting from the fact that we have our own K9 Team requirements, your geographic "Unit" requirements, Sheriff's Office requirements, County, State Department of Emergency Management, and the FEDS. We will be here to help you with all this, but you will have to take responsibility for persevering through it. You will soon be given access to a "Prospect" menu on this website where you will find resource documents for all this as well as our required "SCVSAR K9 Team Member Protocols and Airscent or Trailing Training Guidelines".