Community News

Search dogs receive special training

Story and photo by Suzanne Nielsen and reprinted with permission of the Daily Herald.

January 23, 2007

The seven search dogs currently on Saba hunting for missing American hiker Joel Gove have gone through rigorous training for their job of locating human remains.

Brigitte Basey and her husband Wesley, both on-call deputies with the Harris County, Georgia, Sherriff's Department, arrived on Saba with Minka and Dach, their respective purebred German Shepherds. Minka was imported from Germany and Dach was bred by the couple, who live in Alabama. They are volunteers for this mission.

Training for the dogs starts when they are only eight weeks old, with "imprinting," which means bringing their instincts up so that the work becomes a natural process for the animals. After imprinting, the puppies move on to more complex chores that use human teeth, blood, tissue, and bones to hone their scent identification skills. The dogs can distinguish between animal and human remains.

Basey said that there are specialized historical or forensic dogs that have located slave graves from the 18th century. Once the victim has been found, the dog either stays on site, or goes to fetch its handler. Basey said that each dog will have an individual way of alerting that it has made a discovery.

Minka, Dach, and the Baseys worked for four months in the Ninth Ward in New Orleans, during which time the dogs found several bodies. Basey said that the dogs could even locate human remains underwater. Basey explained that the trainer will prepare the dog in advance when the nature of the next assignment is known, as was the case with the Gove disappearance. A full-body recovery was expected since no foul play or explosion was involved, and a full-body recover is stressful for the dog. It represents a sensory overload, and handlers can prepare the dog for these stressors.

The handlers remain very close to the dogs, travel with them in the main cabin on airplanes, since they are considered service dogs. Trainers and dogs are staying at the Cottage Club, which had no problem allowing the animals inside. The work is clearly of a sensitive nature, which not only bonds the dog and its trainer, but also the search team, which is a unique fraternity, and debriefs regularly amongst themselves in order to keep spirits from flagging.

Basey said that although the group had prepared specifically for Saba, and each team member has years of professional experience, the climate and rugged terrain of Saba was a bit more than she had expected. In addition, the prevailing wind direction could make pinpointing the exact location of human remains difficult, so that the dogs will come at the scent from different directions, which might even mean approaching Saba's steep cliff sides with the dogs in a boat.



Photo: From left, dog handler Brigitte Basey, team veterinarian Dr. Thomas Ratke, and Saba Trail Manager James Johnson (far right) leave Juliana's Hotel to search the trails.

Click here for a larger version of the photo.


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Story and photograph © Suzanne Nielsen, 2007.