Michigan Search and Rescue had special rappel training with the Lyons-Muir Fire Department in Lyons, Mich. The teams rappelled down East Bridge Street bridge over the Grand River.
Dropping down from more than 50 feet is an exciting, but intimidating prospect, even for some experienced climbers. Imagine how it must seem to a dog.
Michigan Search and Rescue partnered with the Lyons-Muir Fire Department for training maneuvers Thursday in Lyons, Mich., that involved rappelling down a bridge. About 20 handlers and their partners participated in the training session.
“These folks with the dogs, they do the real work,” Lyons-Muir Fire Department Lt. Gordon Bernstein said. “We are practicing putting their body and their dog into a spot that they can’t (normally) reach.”
Michigan Search and Rescue, or MSAR, is an organization that primarily responds to missing persons using teams of handlers and rescue dogs. MSAR worked with the Lyons-Muir Fire Department to set up a special training program for rappelling down a bridge. The team rappelled off the north side of the bridge over the Grand River on East Bridge Street in Lyons. On the south side of Bridge Street, another team was rappelling down a steep 75-foot embankment.
“We prefer to have a dress rehearsal before the real thing,” said David Holcomb, a fellow handler and co-founder of MSAR. “If we have to go look for a kid in an area that can only be reached by rappelling, I’d prefer our handlers didn’t freak out when they have to be dropped about 50 feet.”
MSAR coordinates with local fire and police departments to locate missing persons, and in some cases, the search calls for the handlers and their dogs to go into areas that are difficult to reach on foot and force them to use other means of transportation.
“Minutes count,” Bernstein said. “If we are the first ones on the scene, we know we need trained dogs, so we call (MSAR) immediately.”
Rescue dogs and their handlers are highly trained to search for missing persons and human remains, as well as tracking and trailing targets.
“Dogs have an amazing sense of smell,” Staci Sharp, research assistant with MSU’s College of Education, said. “They use that heightened sense to locate a (missing) person.”
Sharp is the handler and owner of Sam, a 19-month-old golden retriever. Sharp and Sam have been training with the program for the past six months.
“All of these people are not professional handlers — this is a volunteer program,” Holcomb said. “These are all everyday people who answer the call for help with their partners.”
Common bonds
The current MSAR group was established in 2006 by Holcomb and three other individuals with 20 years of search and rescue experience.
“There’s a lot of work, and a lot of paperwork in general, for this,” Holcomb said. “You don’t get paid for this, you pay money to do this.”
Still, the membership has grown to about 45 members, who are called upon between 25 and 35 times a year, Holcomb said.
Training for MSAR occurs once a week in the evenings, and one to two weekend nights a month. The regular training not only helps the handlers and their partners sharpen their skills, but also strengthens the bonds between them, and among members.
Melissa Kwiatkowski, the assistant manager of the MSU Bikes Service Center, has been involved with MSAR for the last year and a half.
“I saw a video online where a handler was interviewed,” Kwiatkowski said. “I was really excited and wanted to get involved, and so I just came to a Sunday training and decided it was something I wanted to do.”
All of the MSAR members spend a lot of time together and become very close-knit. They are connected by a common goal: to help other people, said Sharp.
“We spend a lot of time together. I see people in (Michigan) Search and Rescue more than I see my own parents, and that’s saying a lot,” Sharp said. “I’ve met some great friends and some amazing people; it’s great that we all get along.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Man’s best friend
Sharp is a probationary member of MSAR and has been with the organization since January, after the trainer in an obedience class suggested Sam might do well as an MSAR dog.
“(Sam) has a high drive and plays very well,” Sharp said. “I went to view a training one day, and I really liked it and decided to start training Sam to be a search and rescue dog.”
Sharp pointed out that Kwiatkowski has been a great mentor for her as she works toward her field support certification.
“Melissa helped me learn a lot about search and rescue,” Sharp said. “She helped me learn the rules and regulations and the basics.”
Sam is an “air scent” rescue dog, which means he is training to search for live missing persons using their scent. Although it has been a struggle, Sharp said the program and training has been very rewarding for both her and Sam.
“It was frustrating at first, but we all have good days and bad days,” Sharp said. “It was so cool to see that light come on for Sam where he understood ‘Oh, I’m looking for a person. I have to find that person.’”
The dogs are trained to “indicate” when they locate a person, whether it is by jumping up or barking at their handlers. Once they “indicate,” the handlers say, “show me,” and their partner leads them to the missing person, with a reward following.
“Sam’s reward is a tennis ball,” Sharp said. “Sam loves tennis balls and any type of ball. When he finds someone, the reward has to be really big, so we play hard with him when he does find someone.”
The members are all connected through a common goal of helping the victims, but that isn’t the only driving force that unites them.
“It’s great to be around other handlers and their partners,“ Sharp said. “At the end of the day, we are all dog lovers.”
