# ways to work in the states.



## rebecca bilyeu (Apr 22, 2010)

so basic question and may seem silly being a year or so out from returning to the states, but I just wanted to ask, once I am in the states how can I and my dog(s) be put to use? 

Obviously there are formal teams through FEMA and such looking into it the task force teams, but I was wondering what avenues there are for someone who may not be in an area with a SAR team or task force and someone who is trained an ready to be put to work. (husband being military don't know where we will end up and some of the places i cannot find SAR teams around)
I don't want to be one of those people who just show up as its rude and gets in peoples way, but want to be able to assit when I can. Someone suggested contacting the county PD and putting my name out there if they need anyone. 

any help or advice would be great, even if I am a few years ahead, I just want to make sure he can still do what he loves doing and finding people, and obviously helping anyone I can.

thanks everyone


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## Melody Greba (Oct 4, 2007)

Don't know if you know about this link, but it has a list of search teams by state. http://www.sar-info.com/index.php


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

I think number one is first make sure of the team thing because that is how you are most likely to be utilized and insured. Many folks live several hours from their team and commute for training several times a month. [with the understand they are training on their own]

If not, find out WHO is the agency who is called in the event of a search. It varies from state to state - in some it is Fire, others Emergency Management, in ours it is the county sherriff's office. Then try to work with them. Establish a relationship up front.

I know for our team it is an immediate negative if someone says "my dog needs a job" or "he loves this" -or "he needs something to do" because it should be more about the person than the dog. Just saying that to be helpful in how you approach a team. I think most teams want folks who would be doing this whether or not their dogs were involved.


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## rebecca bilyeu (Apr 22, 2010)

Nancy Jocoy said:


> I think number one is first make sure of the team thing because that is how you are most likely to be utilized and insured. Many folks live several hours from their team and commute for training several times a month. [with the understand they are training on their own]
> 
> If not, find out WHO is the agency who is called in the event of a search. It varies from state to state - in some it is Fire, others Emergency Management, in ours it is the county sherriff's office. Then try to work with them. Establish a relationship up front.
> 
> I know for our team it is an immediate negative if someone says "my dog needs a job" or "he loves this" -or "he needs something to do" because it should be more about the person than the dog. Just saying that to be helpful in how you approach a team. I think most teams want folks who would be doing this whether or not their dogs were involved.


thank you both.

and I am out regardless of if my dogs met the grade, I actually started helping with incident support on the team before I started working my dog (even before we thought about it for him) so regardless I want to be able to be utilized, but also if I have trained dogs and I can use them then they should be used to do what we can to help either the team or agency who we would be working under.

thank you very much both of you for the information!

rebecca


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