# Certifying Body for K9 SAR



## Bryant Jackson (Oct 29, 2013)

What certifying body do you use? NASAR, NASDN, IPWDA, NAPWDA, AMPWDA, or etc? Any specific reason you selected the one that you did?


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## Kimberly Grimm (Aug 23, 2013)

IPWDA and NAPWDA.

We train with a NAPWDA master trainer.

What other reasons I don't know. I'm a newer member and just go with the flow for now.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

We have certified mainly with NAPWDA but have had certs with IPWDA and NASAR 

Mainly there is a NAPWDA presence in our area as that is the affiliation of most of the agencies who would call us out. We have found the trainers and master trainers to be knowledgeable and helpful. So that is our primary certifying agency.

When it comes to working SAR scenarios, I would rely on SAR sources because the actual field work is very different. When it comes to testing the fundamental skillsets, I appreciate the experience of the police trainers and master trainers who do this all day every day. Certification is about the dog and the handler having the basic skillsets though and not about proficiency in a broad range of circumstances, IMO.


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## Gerald Dunn (Sep 24, 2011)

are all the test about the same? new to this and at my age the quicker I certify the more I can do


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## Jim Delbridge (Jan 27, 2010)

Most important issue is what does the call-out agencies in your area of interest expect in your certification. In my state, the politics have dumbed down requirements for dogs. I chose a certification that will protect my agency when I get called to court as I only do HRD. There are many "easy certifications" that many novices will still fail at. The problem is when the well-intentioned novice gets a bare bones certification and uses that cert to claim they can search way above their skill level (dog and handler). (What's more likely is that they are so desperate to search that they won't say No even when/if they know they are not qualified for the task.) 
If a disaster hits your area, like mine recently, those that followed the rules and waited for the calls never went. Those that showed up with little-or-no training wasted a lot of fire departments' time saying their dog had found something. Basically, this convinces the fire departments that dog teams are worthless and I get called out quietly and under the news radar when they have no other choice.


As a handler, you will be expected to develop a lot of new skills as well. Many are what is basically required for military survival and navigation, so you may blow through that if you already have the training and have kept up the skills. But, some are not common sense such as K9 First aid. What are you going to do if your canine partner gets injured two miles or more walk to a vehicle? Do you think your dog will allow itself to be draped over your neck with a broken leg without biting you and thrashing such that you can hike out with it? If you do come upon human remains (regardless of whether you were searching for live or dead), do you know how to respond, what to do, what not to do, etc.?

Tis better to find out how you will be an asset for your locals and EVEN IF they will call you out if you do get trained. Many areas require dog handlers to become reserve officers or deputies. Are you willing to do that? In my area that would entail a minimal monetary investment of four thousand dollars and a lot of your time going to an academy and then a lot of police work that has nothing to do with canine work. It also means you'd be expected to carry a gun and it's safer for all if the closest I come to a gun are the wounds they've created in others.

Wish it was an easy answer, but there are no national standards as a baseline for all.


Jim Delbridge


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

I've certified at various times through several organizations. One, we have a tough unit cert that if you can pass that then you should be able to pass most any other cert. I've tested through LETS, NAPWDA, and VPWDA. Currently we use the unit cert and then must follow-up with either NAPWDA or VPWDA. I've not tried a NASAR one but would like to give that a go one day. I use these certs as neutral verification that the dogs have trained to and will pass a baseline standard.

The LE certs are good but you have to remember they were designed for police dogs and may not reflect the skills you actually use on sar missions. For instance, most trailing testing is done on natural terrain with minimal hard surface although you have to pass over barriers such as a foot bridge, ditch, etc. However, my call-outs normally are urban with a guy who left from his nursing home several hours ago which means alot of hard surface and more people walking over my guy's trail. If I only trained to the NAPWDA standard, my dogs would not be able to do what they do.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Gerald Dunn said:


> are all the test about the same? new to this and at my age the quicker I certify the more I can do


No, all the tests are different. You can go online to the various bodies and see what the standards are. Some are very basic and others are more detailed. Access to the testing process seems to govern which ones people get. I am very lucky to have a NAPWDA MT living in the next town down the road from me and a VPWDA MT over across the water. This makes it easy to schedule testing.


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## Bryant Jackson (Oct 29, 2013)

Sarah Platts said:


> Access to the testing process seems to govern which ones people get..


That seems to be the answer I have come across the most. I firmly believe a certification test is only a starting point and provides a foundational base line. We fully expect to train above and beyond the standard as much as possible. There are very few K9SAR teams in the area. Our local PD certifies their dual purpose dogs with a larger police department and the state highway patrol.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Bryant Jackson said:


> That seems to be the answer I have come across the most. I firmly believe a certification test is only a starting point and provides a foundational base line. We fully expect to train above and beyond the standard as much as possible. There are very few K9SAR teams in the area. Our local PD certifies their dual purpose dogs with a larger police department and the state highway patrol.


I don't know the rules for your state but would suggest that you follow the same certification route with your dog unless the local PD accept your unit's cert. Even if they do, it still doesn't hurt to get certed again with the larger PD. This will allow the local PD to make sure you are to the level their department finds credible and also gives them a chance to see you and the dog work. This instills a level of confidence for them if they decide to use you which is never a bad thing.


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## Bryant Jackson (Oct 29, 2013)

Fortunately I have a great working relationship with our chief of police. He is very excited about another K9 asset in the local area. I am also a member of our county's search and rescue team that is ran by the county emergency management office. SAR falls under emergency management in our jurisdiction. I have discussed at great lengths the use of a K9 for sar and cadaver purposes with local LEOs and emergency management. Both are excited about the potential new asset and do not have a preference on certification, only that they would like to see some sort of training standard.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

I would probably pass them a copy of your trailing standards and cert requirements and see if they are comfortable with it. Ask them to review and approve them. Keep a training log and get your training work periodically evaluated. But is sounds like you have a good situation and a great partnership in the works.


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## Bryant Jackson (Oct 29, 2013)

Sarah, great idea. We are currently using the "Canine Scent Work Log" to record our training. Do you have a custom log or a preferred log?


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

I've used and discarded several pre-fab forms. I even designed one that I would put detection and trailing work on the same sheet but after a year of using it went back to my original blank hardbound log books. Basically it's a blank book that I can write in. I insert pictures, maps, freehand drawings, etc. narrative, etc. Everyone has their own method and all are usable as long as it includes all the info that reconstructs the training event. I've shown them to several K9 officers and they say it gets the job done so that's what I do.


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## Nancy Jocoy (Apr 19, 2006)

The main advice I have been given on training records is keep it down to the basics you could comfortably discuss in a court of law and record consistently. Most folks I know, including myself, went over the top with details when we got started.


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## Sarah Platts (Jan 12, 2010)

Me, too. That's one reason I got away from the pre-fab forms. Didn't want to run into an issue with a defense attorney if I didn't check a box or make a notation in all the available spaces. Now I write enough to document the training event, reconstruct what happened, what didn't, or something I felt was relevent.


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## Jim Delbridge (Jan 27, 2010)

I keep an ongoing yearly training diary on my PC. Weather data is pasted from www.wunderground.com from nearby weather stations. You can never get precise weather data that way, but it's easily verified by anyone else.

The important thing with logs is to document both the successes and the failures with subsequent entries demonstrating what you did to rectify the failures.

Jim Delbridge

P.S. If an attorney wants my logs, they get a copy of all they want on a flash drive.


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