Sixth Grade
Worksheets
How Do Search and Rescue Dogs Do Their Jobs?
Caption: This is a picture of a canine rescue team on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center disaster.
The job of search and rescue dogs, or SAR dogs, is to find people. They do this using their sense of smell, which is many, many times better than any human's. SAR dogs do their job better than people ever could.
Dogs are not born great rescue dogs. They must be carefully trained, and their handlers must be trained, too. It is a long process with lots of practice that starts when the dog is just a puppy.
Many types of large, strong dogs can be trained to be SAR dogs, including German shepherds, Dobermans, golden retrievers, bloodhounds, and mutts.
There are several types of SAR dogs, each with its own particular skills. There are air scent dogs, trailing dogs, water scent dogs, cadaver dogs, and avalanche dogs. Each one provides a very valuable service.
