Training Your Dog to Rescue You
A Little History of Family Disaster Dogs
I started this site ten years ago when I began writing the first Family Disaster Dogs book on the night of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami. As I sat under evacuation orders myself on the Oregon coast, I started to write these lessons with my bloodhound Daisy because it dawned on me that in major disasters and sometimes missing person cases, we have to take care of ourselves and loved ones until help arrives which can take days or weeks depending on the situation.
As I watched the news I realized i wanted to get these valuable dog training lessons out to the public sooner than the time it takes to publish a book so I started this blog which grew into a website as I added more than 220 pages here at Family Disaster Dogs.
I kept the Family Disaster Dogs book, blog and lessons simple so the public would not feel overwhelmed having to know or learn everything Search and Rescue members must learn. Families do not have to learn as much because they are not going out to rescue others, they are learning from me and my books books how to rescue themselves and loved ones with a dog's help.
As with most things in life, this site has grown to cover more than the Family Disaster Dogs book and lessons ideas I had ten years ago. The children's book teaches children and parents how to use the dog to find mom, dad and the child and the Evacuate with Your Dog's Help book gives everyone a long list of bug-out bag supplies, information on training a dog to help evacuate and what to expect if you have to evacuate.
In the last ten years we have reached people all over the world and given out many Family Disaster Dog certificates for those who contact us and tell us their journey with us. Dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds are helping their families prepare for the worst.
Over the years, this all led to the newest book, Start Mantrailing, which takes me back to the beginning of my own emergency preparedness training and gives you the opportunity to learn even more about how to train a dog to find a missing person and how to advance into actual Search and Rescue work or the new sport of Mantrailing.
Yes, now Mantrailing is gaining in popularity as a Sport too. When I started this site ten years ago Mantrailing was seldom heard of outside of K9SAR or Law Enforcement. Dog sport enthusiast focused on Tracking events not Mantrailing which was exclusively a bloodhound discipline and much different than tracking in many ways. Now all dogs are learning what bloodhounds like my Daisy naturally do.
Mantrailing is becoming more and more common in the public dog world and on social media. With this growth I will be sharing more and more ways to train a dog to find people as well as how to prepare for disasters.
With covid19 hopefully behind us in the near future, next year 2022??? I hope to train more of you and your dogs in this useful natural nose work a dog can do to help us survive as dogs have done for thousands of years.
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Check out the newest book here on my author page and don't forget a book is a perfect gift for the holidays. My books are Free on Kindle so everyone can read them. If you would like a signed copy let me know by emailing me or contact me on Facebook at the Family Disaster Dog page.
Be sure to like, share and follow me on social media to help find missing persons and prepare for what I hope none of us ever have to endure..a disaster or a missing loved one.
I'm not only an author
Family Disaster Dogs is not only a book and site,, its a passion I share with you the knowledge I have gained.
I'm not one to brag, I'm more a teacher who wants readers to rest assured that this site is based on my own actual experience and not a copy of something off the internet lol ...experience I do have...
I've been dedicated to dogs my whole life, and teaching people how to live happily with their pets since my first job in a large show and boarding kennel as a teenager. I went on to be a professional dog trainer and also a professional all breed pet and show groomer. I've owned award winning pet spas and worked with the best in the dog world. I spent over ten years volunteering in search and rescue. 15 years breeding working Bloodhounds, 30 years of German Shepherds and 10 years of rescuing as well as breeding registered Pit Bulls. I was rescuing dogs before rescuing was cool! haha I have worked at several veterinary clinics as well.
I have personally handled thousands of dogs and cats in my long dog career, as well as owned 100's myself over the years.
That's about it for me, how about you? Leave me comment below and tell us about your journey with dogs.
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