WATER SEARCH

About 67% of our searches are water or land/water. It is the hardest to practice and easiest to plan. Sit in a boat, die of heat and cold winds, or fight the raging currents. It is my favorite way to search. I have a water specialty dog, Wooly.  The day was hot and muggy at 7 am. I had started working early to avoid the heat. Keeping the dogs in service means hard work in all types of weather. Searches don't come when the weather is nice...they come ANY time. And we have to be ready.

The call came about 10 am that morning and the temps had climbed to 96° already. I had a drowning in the lake about 1 1/2 hours south of here.  Been missing about two days. I called my team and only Larry could get free to join me. I am not used to working water alone, although I have done it from time to time. We set a spot to meet and loaded dogs.

Bubba, Sharon's Dobie, will work for me or Larry...in fact give him a boat and he'll work alone! Wooly and Bubba are a "team" and they will both work harder when on the water together...each feeding off the other's excitement.

On arrival, we learned the sad facts. A party picnic had turned tragic when they decided to swim across the narrows to the rock ledges on the opposite shore. The lady had turned back, calling to the gentleman to come, too. He had waved his arms, almost to the rocks, and she had turned and started to swim. When she reached the shore he was nowhere to be seen. Gone. The call went out and the search began.

Once in a while the search lands between two counties. This time the two sheriff departments were friends. I still had two bosses and reports would be more difficult unless I wanted to hurt some feelings. I would play this carefully.

The boats were ready and his shoes sat at the waters edge...untouched. I gave Wooly the check-it command to start the search and loaded in the boat. He hung over the sides and already was working before we left the shore! I asked my boat handler to take me east of the zone and we'd work up the shore to "place of last known location". As we passed the marker on the shore, three old tires, Wooly about stood on his head, all four sets of toes gripping the boat edge, to check the water. We swung the boat around and I glanced for a shoreline marker on the other shore to start the grid...SPLASH...DOG OVERBOARD...I yelled to cut the motor and reached to grab the lifejacket strap on Wooly. I hauled him aboard and looked to see his "zone" of alert.

But the movement and worry of the boat hitting him had kept me from marking the exact spot. We'd have to try again. Bubba's deep bark was sounding as they moved up to join us. Larry told me about where I had been when Wooly had jumped in the water. We returned and lined up for the grid.

Wooly was busy trying to shake water out of his ears and coat, but still hung off the side to touch the water 75 feet from shore../we marked this spot and kept moving. Slowly we moved...back and forth, east to west. The small black nose twitched and wiggled as he checked the wind and waves.

The temps climbed to 100° with a heat index of over 110°. Still the black dog sat and smelled the air. Bubba sat quiet too, as we moved out past the channel. Out past the diver boat with each dog checking the scents of the people and moved on to the next cove. Boats awaited our search on the busy water highway. All stopped to watch the silent passing...to and fro...sniff, taste the water. Nothing. We turned to the shoreline again and both dogs lifted heads to watch...waiting. This time we would move north to south across the same area.

As we crossed the channel again, a rumble of deep barking followed me.  Bubba had braved the heat and supported the small black dog hanging off the edge of the lead boat...ALERT. We returned to shore for me to change dogs. Fox. And no back up for him.

Larry asked me to check the far wall of rock ledges as Bubba had given a weak indication of alert there. I agreed to check closely. As I put out with the boat, Fox showed interest in the same area of the marker. I grid searched as closely as possible and logged the interest zones. He is harder to work than Wooly and harder to read. He hates the heat and often just sits in the shade of my body. He checked often, but I could tell the sun was not our friend. We returned to shore with only a few strong alerts in the same areas.

Rest, food, and plenty of fluids. We sit and ask questions. JET MOTORS!! Oh my. We pull aside and discuss the effects of the new motors on scent dogs. I go back and talk to the boat handler. We learn how deep and forceful they are...they are changing the scent pools for our normal patterns. I ask Larry to go back out as I watch Bubba from the shore. The wind is still, and nothing seems to move. I watch the motor kick a spray into the air behind the boat...small but FULL of scent as they cross the alert area. Bubba lifts his head at the rock ledges across the water.  I remember he is an air scenter.

I am joined by the girlfriend who had been swimming with him that day. We talk quietly and I hold her hand. We watch together. I listen to her make him come to life. His hopes, dreams...about his kids. I am driven to find and bring him home. I mark for Bubba and go to get Wooly again.

I wait till the water settles and begin again the pattern over the alert zone. He works so well and hits often. As we move out, he sits in my shadow to cool himself, too. I feel the wind current as I approach the wall of ledges that stand 70 to 80 feet high over the water. I begin to think as we float. Wind patterns.

Hot air rises taking scent with it off of the jet boats...winds aloft move TO the cliffs, cools and falls back to the water, and moves gently towards the shore again. Movement of scent. Pools of scent sit by the shoreline as there is no wave action except the boat wakes. Each time I cross the channel we Alert in the same area. Soon I can feel him shutting down from the heat.

Three hours have gone by and the dogs are very tired from the 116° heat index now. We go to shore to rest, water, and wait. I stop to speak to the divers. I like to keep this a team with all aware of the movements of wind and water currents. We confer and they begin to equip for the dive recovery. They will bring me water temps and current flows so we can give a closer location of the body.

Nothing. Not that he isn't there, just the bottom is full of trees and dark. The dam had been built, closed, and the original trees were still there. They have to feel, not see the bottom. They ask us to try once more. We have rested for an hour. I load the dogs and Larry and I try once again. Same alert zone. I crisscross the spot and mark once more. A bit farther out this time. Closer to the channel. The wind has shifted as the air of the evening starts to cool. Once more I drop a marker and line up the shore markers. I return to the shore. Reports are given...all walk to the shore and note the markers. We discuss the possibilities.

We leave for home. I have learned that the other dog team is due in tomorrow morning. They are not as good as us (In my mind!) and we worry about how they will fair in the heat. Its been a long day and Larry has done so well as my partner. It is his first time to work a water dog. I am proud of his success with Sharon's dog.

Four Days later. Body recovered. I call the police station and speak to our contact. He is so excited as the body was RIGHT where we said it was. Just this side of the channel and straight out from the point of the launch pad and 100 feet out from the tires where Wooly jumped in the water! I ask after the family, send my condolences and hang up.  I hug my boys and tell them how proud I am of them. I call around and share the "find" with my team...for without the "team" there is no find!! It never belongs to ONE...it is the team training and sharing that makes it all go together.

Later at a Seminar we learn of the other teams mistakes. They were not communicating with the divers...a NO NO believe me. They are the best, and just because they didn't find the body (it floated 40 feet from the marker) doesn't mean they are wrong...just conditions are so bad down there, they missed it. We soothe hurt feelings and hugs go round. We have made new friends and we'll be working with them many times in the future.

TEAM WORK....Searches are TEAMS. Dogs to human...humans with dogs and boat drivers...divers... dragging teams...Air support...land searchers along the shore...the people who FEED us and provide chairs to sit in...drinks to rehydrate us....ALL are a TEAM. No ONE person "FINDS"..but all are a part of the search network. So when you read My side of any story, think of the hundreds involved in the network, and give thanks to ALL the devoted people of rescue.

This time we have been correct. The use of dogs is an ART not a science...although science helps!! I will store this for when we are not right! LOL. Cause no one can always be correct with a dog...but we'll always try.

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