Rescue dogs are dogs that find missing persons, both dead and alive, in vast (forest) areas, rubble after earthquakes, avalanches and water features. Nowadays they can no longer be ignored in rescue operations. Yet dogs have not been used for this work for very long, unlike, for example, hunting. What were the steps that led to the modern rescue dog?
Dogs have been used by humans for centuries for a variety of tasks such as hunting, herding livestock and as a sled dog. However, the targeted use of dogs in tracing victims after disasters and in cases of missing persons is still quite recent, in fact only since the end of the 19th century.
A romanticized past
Before that, there were reports of dogs pulling people out of the water (the beautiful romanticized paintings by Landseer depict this) and the Hospitz St. Bernard at 2472 m in the Alps is of course world famous.
The St. Bernard pass was the place to cross the mountain range until the 20th century. Many ventured with poor equipment and no alpine experience. The Hospitz and the monks who lived there were tasked with helping travelers who had run into trouble. However, the monastery was very remote and dog-like dogs were kept there as guard dogs. These dogs accompanied the monks on their trips and of course reported people when they encountered them, but there was no targeted training.
Yet the St. Bernard has become the symbol of the rescue dog, complete with a barrel of brandy around the neck. The dog Barry, who lived from 1800 to 1812, is also praised in this context because he is said to have saved more than 40 people. A mounted Barry still stands in the Hospitz St. Bernard as a tribute. Although this may contain some truth, there is a lot of romance surrounding the search and rescue work of these dogs and even today no St. Bernards are used as rescue and avalanche dogs.
Red Cross Dogs
At the end of the 19th century, the first steps were taken towards a more targeted training of dogs to help injured people. Following the foundation of the Red Cross in 1862 by Henri Dunant, the first association was established in Germany in 1890 Red Cross Dogs established. England soon followed with the training of “Ambulance dogs”. Major Richardson was the pioneer who experimented with different dog breeds such as collies, bloodhounds and Airdale terriers. In 1905 the Russo-Japanese War broke out and some dogs trained by Richardson worked there to their full satisfaction. In fact, this was the first application of the plain search as dogs still do today when searching for missing people in vast areas such as forests, heaths etc.
The mode of war at the time was characterized by periods of “Cease Fire” between fights and after each fight the “Cease Fire” was used by both sides to search for wounded on the battlefield. Initially it was mainly the soldiers themselves who then went in search of their wounded comrades. The Red Cross dogs were used to find and refer surviving soldiers. They had to ignore the fallen. They were also expected to recognize only their own uniforms and not refer wounded from the enemy.
They often had to do this work at night and no light could be made because it attracted enemy fire. As a reference (this is reporting to the handler of a found victim) the dogs initially had to bark, but this was quickly abandoned because that could of course also count on gunfire from the enemy. In addition, it turned out to be extremely difficult for handlers to make their way to the victim in the dark using hearing alone. The aim was to teach the dogs to retrieve an object (helmet, gun, etc.) from the victim, after which the dog was put on a leash and his handler then returned to the victim by the shortest route.
During the First World War (1914-1918), this reference proved inadequate in practice. If the dogs could not find a suitable object for retrieving, some of the animals started to deduct something from the person’s scent with the victim’s scent. Often this was an emergency bandage put in place by the soldier himself that only aggravated the dogs and were withdrawn. Another method used by hunters with their hunting dogs was introduced: the use of it bringsel. This was a small leather object that was attached to the dog’s collar and that he was only allowed to retrieve from a sitting, crouching or lying person. This way of referring worked very well and is still used by some rescue dog handlers today. In this way, the Red Cross Dog could be put back to work on the battlefield.
Avalanche Dogs
In the period between the two world wars, not much happens in the field of rescue dogs. Mechanization and a different kind of warfare meant that the Red Cross dogs were out of work and it wasn’t until about 1926 when the Swiss army first began experimenting with teaching dogs to track people after an avalanche. Experience from World War I had shown that more soldiers were killed by avalanches than by enemy fire, so this was definitely worth a try. In the meantime, the avalanche dog has become a regular part of the emergency services in many ski areas.
Search for rubble
It was not until the end of World War II (1940-1945) that new developments appeared in the field of rescue dogs. During the bombing of German bombers on the English cities, certain citizens noticed that dogs could report people under the rubble of the collapsed buildings. A citizens’ initiative arose from Englishmen who took action with their domestic dogs after every bombing to search for the missing.
The success of these first “Urban Search and Rescue” dogs has resulted in the use of dogs in disasters such as earthquakes, explosions and landslides around the world in the decades that followed. Even today, specially trained rescue dogs still join the USAR (International Rescue Unit for Earthquakes and Other Disasters), founded in 2003.
Corpse dog
Dogs are also used to search for missing persons who have been missing for a long time (sometimes years) – the “cold cases”. The chance that these persons are still alive is of course negligible and that is why corpse dogs are used in those cases. The first corpse dog was trained in 1974 by the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, following a murder investigation by the New York Police Department that involved several victims buried underground. From 1977/78, corpse dogs were used by the American police and from there this way of working has spread to rescue dog work.
Water-seeking dog
The water search dog is a special application of the corpse dog and is used to locate drowning people. In this case too, the first steps in this area were taken in America. During the Vietnam War, dogs were trained to track down enemy divers. In 1974 this concept was “rediscovered” by the well-known dog trainer Bob Koenig and applied in the search for drowning people. It took until about 1981 to become operational. Even today, drowning people are still located with the help of dogs, although the enormous rise and improvement of the available sonar equipment plays an increasingly important role in the location.
The future?
The use of rescue dogs is an important part of rescue operations. Certain applications may be used less in the future or even disappear altogether. For example, nowadays many ski clothing is already equipped with electronic equipment for locating victims under the snow, in the lining of the jacket for example. The technical progress of sonar equipment has been on the rise in recent years, making it possible to locate drowning people more accurately. These are developments that may make the use of dogs unnecessary.
On the other hand, dogs in the army are already equipped with cameras and they are taught to be directional from a greater distance. Perhaps such training could also permeate rescue dog work. The future cannot be predicted. However, the rescue dog’s past shows that dogs are versatile and likely to remain so in the future. Hopefully this article will contribute to this.