Search Dog, "Taz"
Border Collie

• Next Section - Our Training

• Membership Information
  

• Teach YOUR Dog to Search!
  
  
• Links to SAR Organizations
  

Our Goals & Objectives

The Canadian Search Dog Association is a provincial, non-profit group of dedicated individuals who volunteer their time, energy, and resources to help carry out the following objectives:

To generate a group of trained search workers and trained search dogs to aid the RCMP and other authorized tasking agencies in their search for lost or missing persons and/or evidence required by such agencies.

To supply these civilian workers and their dogs with necessary resources to enable them to provide optimum assistance to the tasking agency in their search efforts.

To operate a province-wide organization to coordinate and develop these services.

Our primary goal is to help save lives. We do this at no cost to requesting organizations or the communities we serve. Specially trained teams of dogs and handlers undergo rigorous annual certification testing and ongoing training in order to maintain their status as an active team ready to respond 24 hours a day.

Team History

In 1995, a program began in the province of Alberta that successfully brought together the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and existing teams of civilian dog handlers who wished to help in search and rescue efforts with specially trained dogs.

Unique standards and testing procedures were developed, based on the RCMP dog training standard and the standards in place at that time in British Columbia under their Provincial Emergency Preparedness Program. The program began with standards for Wilderness Search and Tracking as well as standards for obedience, agility and fitness testing for the handlers.

This program, in which Alberta's volunteer dog/handler teams achieve annual certification, was called the RCMP Civilian Search and Rescue Service Dog Program.

In 1999, the dog handlers in the province elected to come together under the existing program to form a single province-wide team. The name of the organization was changed to the RCMP Civilian Search Dog Association (RCMP/CSDA) to reflect the new status of the organization.

In 2006, with an eye on the future, we unveiled our new name - the Canadian Search Dog Association (CSDA).

With the support of the RCMP through our history, the CSDA has proven to be to be a uniquely successful program in Alberta.

Striving to provide the best possible training and guidance for search dog handlers, the RCMP and the members of the CSDA are all committed to seeing this organization flourish. Together, we're working to ensure that this valuable resource continues to be available to Search Managers whenever the need arises.

Back to Top

Handler & Canine Information

Both dog and handler are trained over a one to two year period. Experienced members of the team help the newer handlers as they work their way through a planned training progression from an initial orientation session through their certification. Some new handlers come with a background in dog training and some do not, but as the team works through their progression they gain new knowledge and experience. Not all dogs and handlers make it to certification, but hopefully all feel a well-earned sense of accomplishment.

Training a dog for any type of detection work is really unlike any other type of dog training. It's not difficult if the dog has shown it has the desire and ability to do the work. Individual characteristics of each dog, however, usually dictate the exact training style and the amount of time it will take to reach certification level.

Teamwork and respect are important aspects of an organization such as this, so it is essential that the individual dog handler fits in with rest of the team. We look for hardworking, dedicated people who are willing to work with others, have a sense of duty to their community, and an underlying professionalism that will make them a valuable addition to the team. In addition to the dog training, all members are expected to pitch in and help with all aspects of the organization.

We work for free! We are volunteers. We do this for our communities, for the challenge and for the opportunity to put our training to good use for the benefit of others. We do this for the love of working with our dogs. There is no doubt that it can be fun - but a search is a life and death situation that demands a level of care, competence and professionalism equal to that of the paid professional.

Back to Top