POWDER HOUNDS

Big Mountain News - Winter 2003

    On Wednesday afternoons from 3:30-5:30 at Big Mountain, kids bury hats, gloves and other articles in the snow. Search and Rescue dogs are then sent on a search for the articles. Everyone is getting off on a good foot or paw for the very serious business of search and rescue during Powder Hounds.

    "We're just trying to make this positive and fun," says Kim Gilmore of Flathead County Search and Rescue. Up to 20 kids can learn about the dogs and watch them in action. There is no charge, but kids must be registered because the slots have been filling out fast. Call Big Mountain's Guest Services Information Center at 862-2900 to register.

    Powder Hounds is a new program and Gilmore, who also works with North Valley Rescue, is among the four handlers of the three dogs that come to the Mountain.

    Brenner, Tucker and Panzer are the canine stars of Powder Hounds, which was designed by Gilmore and her peers to let kids know more about avalanches, what to do when lost and search and rescue in general.

    Kids first are to meet at 3:30 at the fire pit near the Information Center. Although there is a 20-kid limit, adults are more than welcome to accompany the group.  Then, everyone is led to the new day lodge, which is on the second floor of the rental shop at the bottom of Chair #2.

    Inside the day lodge, the kids get to meet the dogs and the handlers find out what the youngsters know about search and rescue, avalanche and the history of search and rescue dogs in general. Then, everyone goes outside to search for articles. The grand finale is when an adult is buried and the dogs take turns "finding" him or her.

    While the kids are learning, however, so are the dogs.

    Panzer, an almost 3-year-old German Shepherd, is the most experienced of the three rescue dogs that visit the mountain. Janet Yatchak handles him. His companions, the Belgian Shepherd Brenner - handled by Gilmore - and the Yellow Labrador Tucker - handled by Heather and Ken Gerhard - are new to the game of search and rescue.

    Panzer is the only dog certified for rescue work, according to Gilmore. He is calmer than his two canine buddies, who are just over a year old. He knows when to rest and when to work. There is something about him that seems all business when he looks for the articles in the snow.

    "For Panzer, it's a play day. It's no real challenge for him," says Gilmore. "We are giving the puppies a foundation of training by teaching them how to find articles...we work them and drive them to get them to play and motivated so they keep working."

    It takes up to two years to fully train a dog in the different disciplines of search and rescue. The animals are trained in wilderness, water and urban searches and wilderness trailing (or tracking).

    Search and rescue groups are under the auspices of law enforcement, according to Gilmore. "We are at the sheriff's beck and call."

    Kids think the dogs are "infallible," says Gilmore, and it is her and her human companions who explain that the canines are a tool, just like a snowmobile, compass or Global Positioning System device. One dog is able to do the work of 15 human searchers, says Gilmore. "One well-trained dog can do what a probe poler can do," she says, "twice the area in a tenth of the time."

    Humans do most of the search and rescue work in real life, however. The dogs' handlers are also cross-trained as human searchers. Gilmore, Yatchak and the Gerhards also participate in "mutual aid assistance," which means they assist in searches in Glacier National Park or antoher County.

    Searchers look for wandering toddlers, Alzheimer patients who wander away from their charges, and missing swimmers and boaters. Each year, according to Gilmore, her groups have to search for anywhere from five to 25 people.

    Outside of Montana, the rescue dogs and their handlers work with the First Special Response Group, which responds to missing North Americans in third world countries and help develop Search and Rescue programs in those countries, such as a group they have been working with in Fiji. The teams also travel to places such as Austria to hone their skills.

Gilmore, who is a registered nurse at Kalispell Regional Hospital and with Intrepid Health Care (a group of traveling nurses), says her personal choice of dog is a Belgian Shepherd because they are a relatively healthy breed and seem easier to train. Her dog, Brenner, is named after the Brennerain Alp in Switzerland.

In Whitefish, "Big Mountain has been very supportive over the years. We've done most of our training on the mountain and this program, Powder Hounds, is already going well. We are very pleased," says Gilmore.