RICHMOND, Va. — They squeeze into spaces barely big enough to breathe in, searching for victims of earthquakes, hurricanes or mudslides. And they do it for a dog biscuit or a pat on the head.
Search and rescue dogs, trained to pick up human scent in the air, sniff out victims before rescue crews bulldoze their way through the rubble of a natural disaster.
"We can put them into an area where we have no idea who may be lost," says Mark A. Pennington, who helps coordinate the dog teams through the Virginia Department of Emergency Services, "and they'll find any human being in that area."
Actually, Pennington says the dogs are successful about 75% of the time. "They can have a bad day just like anybody else."
The department has coordinated 148 searches in Virginia since January, including those for downed aircraft and people missing in wilderness areas.
Pennington and Ralph E. Wilfong, who heads the search and rescue division, also sent teams on earthquake missions to Mexico City in 1985, El Salvador in 1986 and Armenia last December.
Teams were sent to aid in the Puerto Rico mudslides of 1985 and most recently to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in the Carolinas. They offered to help with the San Francisco earthquake rescue, but workers managed without them.
"If it's a very good dog, it can differentiate between a live and a dead victim," says Pennington's wife, Winnie, assistant program manager of the search and rescue unit.
Most dog teams adhere to standards that are being developed on the national level. Dogs used for search and rescue missions average 3 years of age and represent various breeds. They generally work until they're about 8 or 9, but some work well into their teens.
"It used to be shepherds were the best breed," Pennington says. "But now they're using anything, as long as it's a working or hunting-class dog. We have everything from mastiffs to Newfoundlands. Labrador retrievers are popular, because they're very gentle dogs, particularly when dealing with children and old people."
A dog must be proficient at wilderness rescues and undergo two years of training before it is ready for disaster work.
"For disaster work, they do an extensive amount of agility training for the dogs," Winnie Pennington says. "People think a dog can automatically jump over a fence or jump through a small opening, but that's not true. Dogs can't naturally do that. They have to learn how to use their pads and their claws a certain way to be able to balance."
