K9 Teams: Beyond the Basics of Search and Rescue and Recovery

A professional development masterclass for K9 detection teams and people who work with them.

Explore:

• Questions, ideas, and opinions from handlers across the United States and around the world.
• Controversies and sensitive topics such as frauds, glory seekers, and credentials.
• Methods and practical tips gathered from more than 27 years of training and field work.

It has been said that about the only thing two K9 handlers agree about is what a third handler is doing wrong. Whether in search and rescue or cadaver and human remains detection, there’s a variety of opinions in how handlers and dogs train and work. K9 Teams: Beyond the Basics of Search and Rescue and Recovery uses solid science and the experience of dozens, if not hundreds, of handlers to explore the issues teams and organizations commonly encounter in training and operations.

Vi Hummel Shaffer is a professional K9 handler who has worked in search and rescue and recovery, including mass fatality recovery, for over 27 years. Along the way she’s attended dozens of seminars, learned from some of the top trainers in the world, and spent countless hours in the field working with a wide variety of agencies. In K9 Teams, Vi compiles the questions most often asked, the issues handlers struggle with, and some of the best suggestions handlers share with one another.

K9 Teams explores dog selection, training methods, professional certification, team dynamics, issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder, and much more. Everyone working with or interested in detection dogs needs this book. Those in law enforcement, fire departments, and other emergency response agencies will also benefit from the book by learning what K9s can―and cannot―reliably do. Get the most from K9 teams in the field.

Vi Hummel Shaffer has 27 years experience as a volunteer K9 handler specializing in forensic human remains detection. She is also an instructor, speaker, and consultant in SAR/R, and is an associate instructor with Texas Forensic Associates. In 2002, Vi was appointed the national chairperson of the federal Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) Mass Fatality K9 Standards and Requirements Committee by the director of the U.S. Office of Emergency Preparedness/National Disaster Medical Systems/Department of Health and Human Services. In 2003, her dog Mercy was recognized by the federal government as the first mass fatality K9 in the United States and as the inspiration for DMORT’s K9 program. Vi and Mercy, at the request of the FBI, were a part of Operation Noble Eagle, the victim recovery team at the Pentagon in the aftermath of 9/11.