How Search-and-rescue Dogs Work

The job of a search and rescue dog has two components: Find the origin of a human scent and let the handler know where it is.

German shepherds are a popular search and rescue breed. Hunting and herding dogs like Labrador and golden retrievers and border collies tend to be good at search and rescue work.

A service animal is typically trained to assist those with disabilities while a search and rescue dog is trained to help locate missing people in dire situations.

Most SAR dogs live and train with their handler, and it takes about 600 hours of training for a dog to be field ready. The training uses a reward system to teach the dogs how to complete a task. The training starts out with very simple tasks and gets progressively more complex as the dog completes each level. Dogs have a natural inclination to locate scents -- SAR training involves letting a dog know which scent you'd like her to locate and where this scent might be. Each time the dog completes a task, she gets her reward.

Dogs that are obedient, attentive, have a friendly temperament, and possess a strong desire to please often make for the best search and rescue dogs.