Northwest Disaster Search Dogs

Our goal is to provide trained dogs, handlers and support personnel for the search and rescue of living persons who are trapped or incapacitated due to manmade or natural disasters, and second, to provide trained dogs, handlers and support personnel for the search and recovery of deceased persons lost, trapped or drowned. These services are provided to government agencies at no cost, as a benefit to the public. In addition, NDSD provides continuous training and education for its dogs, handlers and support personnel to improve and develop those capabilities that will ensure competent and capable search teams and operations.

*Train, train, train, and train some more. Seriously, training is the best strategy we have to be prepared for a disaster situation. We have found by experience that if we train as if we are in a disaster, we are prepared when they happen.

Our members have several WAC requirements that they need to accomplish before being deployable, including being proficient with GPS, handling of crime scenes, helicopter safety, water and trench awareness, hazmat operations-level, and several other certifications. Once fully certified, our members are fully capable to respond with their K9's to disaster situations whether man-made or natural.

Northwest Disaster Search Dogs members have been deployed to the following disasters:

Northridge, CA Earthquake (1994)
Oklahoma City bombing (1995)
Atlanta Olympic Games (1996)
Guam plane crash (1997)
Oklahoma Tornado (1999)
World Trade Center Collapse (2001)
Space Shuttle Columbia breakup (2003)
Hurricane Katrina (2005)
Hurricane Ernesto (2006)
Oso Mud Slide (2014)
Hurricane Irma,Georgia/Florida (2017)
Hurricane Olivia, Hawaii (2018)
Tornado in Port Orchard, WA (2018)

as well as to local construction accidents.

We have, as a group, trained 29 dogs to the FEMA-Certification level, which is an elite certification with only approximately 275 of these K9 teams across the USA.