Powder hounds key in avalanche search and rescue

SHANNON VELEX
Whitefish Pilot

posted Thursday January 20, 2005

    Last Saturday afternoon, Janet Yatchak found herself buried under a deep mound of snow, waiting for Panzer, a four year old German Shepherd, to dig her out. Panzer's wide Shepherd front paws turned up the powder as he slowly disappeared down into the narrow hole he had dug.

    Minutes passed as onlookers waited curiously. At last the victorious Panzer burst from the snow with a bright flexible neon Frisbee clutched firmly between his teeth.

    It was all part of a familiar training exercise for Panzer who is a fully operational search and rescue dog, and his owner, Yatchak, the Team Coordinator for the Flathead County Search Dogs.

    The demonstration was part of the North Valley Search and Rescue team's rescue training on Big Mountain.

    On the surface what appeared to be a simple game of hide and seek was actually a playful reward-oriented method of turning regular dogs into "powder hounds," trained in avalanche rescue techniques.

    Training starts early for a potential powder hound. It can take anywhere from 18 months to two years to complete the process. Trainers look for a canine with an eager-to-please attitude and a thick, double-layer coat that can easily withstand wet, cold weather conditions. Shepherds, Labs and Border Collies are popular breeds.

    Size is also a consideration, as rescue dogs have to be transported to remote locations. The bigger the dog the harder the haul.

    This is why the very small and unlikely miniature Schnauzer has become a popular breed. Rescue workers can be flown in and ski out, carrying the Schnauzer like a baby in a Snuggly-like pack.

    There are many factors involved in choosing the right dog but Yatchak says that what it all comes down to is motivation.

    "You have to find the right dog for the right job," she said. "A lot of dogs wash out early because they don't have what it takes to be a working dog."

    The training evolves in small steps. Beginner pups start out searching for a special toy which the training will place just out of sight. Next the toy is buried along with the trainer to get the dog searching for the scent of the owner.

    Team Training Director, Kim Gilmore, explains that the scent dogs pick up on is literally thousands of skin cells that sluff off of human beings every second of every day.

    "They are sniffing for pools of scent," Gilmore said. "Like the puddles in a parking lot after it rains. They are searching for the deepest part of the water, the most concentrated areas of scent."

    The next step in training is to have someone other than the trainer hide with the toy and then eventually be buried with the toy. The last step is to have both the trainer and another person buried with the trainer hidden at the back so the dog must go all the way to the back of the hole to find his owner and retrieve his reward.

    Blind runs prepare a dog for the required certification before heading out into a real rescue situation. A blind run involves finding a buried "victim" without the dog actually seeing the person get buried. The double-blind run involves five holes and two buried "victims."

    Time is of the essence during avalanche search-and-rescue, and search dogs are extremely important. They can cover a given area in a fraction of the time it takes a team of rescue workers. Once a dog locates a scent they begin to dig. If the scent fades they back off and search the surrounding area. If the scent increases they dig rapidly to reach the source.

    It takes approximately five to eight minutes per foot of snow for a person's scent to reach the surface of the snow pack. As the victim's body temperature drops the scent emitted rapidly declines, making it harder for the dogs to detect.

    According to a 1992 Swiss study on avalanche mortality, there is a 90 percent chance of survival if an avalanche victim is rescued within the first fifteen minutes. With the snow often hardening like cement after it settles, the chance of survival quickly decreases. After 35 minutes the survival rate drops to 30 percent. While search and rescue is a very rewarding volunteer work, Gilmore says that the hardest part is when a victim is discovered too late.

    "It's really difficult," Gilmore said, "and when it's a child that adds a whole other dimension."

    County Search Dogs train year round to assist in many different kinds of search and rescue operations-including lost hikers or injured out of bounds skiiers. This year, Yatchak and Gilmore stand at the ready as part of an international search and rescue team that my be called up to assist in recovering bodies left in the wake of the recent tsunami in southeast Asia.

    With the rescue effort reduced to locating bodies rather than survivors, and increase of parasites and disease, it has become extremely dangerous for aid workers and their dogs. In general, rescue dog teams of the Flathead are only called on a handful of times each year.

    Of course for the volunteers it's not about the number of calls, "We train train train so we are ready to go whenever we are needed," Yatchak said.