From April 30 to May 4th, 2014, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit hosted the annual Arizona SAR K-9 Conference here in Flagstaff, with more than 50 dogs and their handlers attending from around the state, as well as from Colorado, New Mexico, California and other parts of the country.
Each year, Search and Rescue K-9 handlers and their amazing air-scenting and tracking/trailing dogs gather either in Flagstaff or in Heber, Arizona, to train together and take a variety of classes, both indoors and out. This year, we were excited to welcome some of those hard-working, four-legged SAR volunteers and their human partners back to stay with us. They spent many hours each day training to do what they do best: find the lost and missing. Their training included wilderness search techniques, urban tracking and trailing, disaster first responder fieldwork, and hands-on field first-aid for K-9s, among other classes.
We’re so glad some of the participants chose the Arizona Mountain Inn & Cabins as their home away from home during the conference, where the dogs enjoyed themselves as much, if not more, than their owner-handlers. We look forward to seeing them again in July, when they return to Flagstaff for the Coconino County HRD Water Workshop. (HRD=Human Remains Detection) We at AMI are honored to be even a small part of the critical service these SAR volunteers provide and appreciate all they do.
For more information and photos from the Arizona Search & Rescue K-9 conference, click here.
