Tag Archives: Search and Rescue

November 1, 2015 · 06:49

Gone but never forgotten

It was a year ago today that we said goodbye to our beloved Tango. We still think about her daily. Those big, pointy ears….

Her beautiful, gentle brown eyes…

The way she ran like a cheetah. She would flatten her ears for increased aerodynamics and speed…them bring them up to use as flaps to help slow her down…..

And the big wet puppy kisses she would give to anyone that would let her get close enough.

She was a real ambassador for the Canadian Search Dog Association…..

We still miss you our little ‘search girl’. We know you will be faithfully waiting for us to join you.

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday at Blogpaws:

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Tagged as German Shepherd, SAR, Search and Rescue, Search Dog, Tango

December 10, 2014 · 06:51

Earlier this year SARShop.com contacted search and rescue groups from around the world asking members to submit photos of their dogs. Their plan was to produce the first Search and Rescue calendar. We submitted a couple of pictures of our beautiful Tango and then promptly forgot about it. Just a couple of days before Tango crossed over the rainbow bridge we received an email telling us that Tango’s picture had been chosen for the calendar. This weekend we received our complimentary copy of the 2015 calendar. It was very emotional for us to see our girl’s picture in the calendar. The picture above is the one they chose. She is part of a group of pictures for the month of July.

Back in 2012 this picture of Tango was chosen to hang in the Royal Alberta Museum as part of their Wolf to Woof exhibit. (read more about it here).

Just a few more pictures of our girl. She always looked like she was smiling. Gosh I miss her……..

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Filed under BlogPaws, SAR, SAR Dog, Search and Rescue, Tango, Wordless Wednesday

Tagged as BlogPaws Bloghop, German Shepherd, SAR, Search and Rescue, Search Dog, Tango, Wordless Wednesday

February 12, 2014 · 08:09

Wordless Wednesday – Happy 10th Birthday Tango

Linking up to Wordless Wednesday @Blogpaws

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Tagged as German Shepherd, Search and Rescue, Search Dog, Tango, Wordless Wednesday

October 21, 2013 · 20:02

Congrats Team Tango

Yesterday Don and Tango had their annual RCMP certification in 4 profiles (small article, alley, large article, person) and obedience . I am very proud to say that they passed. During their large article test a stray dog came into their search area and wanted to play with Tango. Our girl just kept searching and didn’t even look at the other dog. There were four RCMP dog handlers observing the certification and they were really impressed with her focus and dedication to her search. Knowing our dominant, bossy girl….I bet she didn’t want to share her “prize” with another dog so she was determined to find it first.

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Filed under SAR, SAR Dog, Search and Rescue, Tango

Tagged as German Shepherd, SAR, Search and Rescue, Search Dog

September 21, 2013 · 16:21

Mock Search

Last weekend we were in Slake Lake to participate in a large multi-agency Mock Search put on by the Slave Lake Regional Fire Service. There were people from the RCMP, Edmonton Regional Search and Rescue, Canadian Search Dog Association, Slake Lake Search and Rescue to name a few. We had 9 dogs teams there representing Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge. It was a very well planned and thought out exercise that had scenarios and search areas to suit each group. We even had helicopters flying low over head throughout the day. The dogs did great and didn’t seem concerned about the noise or the low flying choppers. No one encountered any bears or angry wildlife and we all had a great time.

Congrats Team Tango

I am proud to say that Don and Tango passed their annual RCMP Cadaver certification last night. They had three 20 x 20 metre fields that they had to search, one had no material in it and the other two had 1-3 samples. The scent sources were placed 48 hours prior to the test. They were allowed 30 minutes per field but they completed all three fields in approximately 20 minutes. They found all samples and correctly identified the negative field. Don said that it was a ‘thing of beauty’ watching our girl work the fields. Tango got Timmy bits as her reward and the skinny guy and I are going out for dinner tonight for our celebration. Yeah Team!!!!

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Filed under SAR, SAR Dog, Search and Rescue, Tango, Volunteering

Tagged as Cadaver Dog, German Shepherd, SAR, Search and Rescue, Search Dog, Tango

July 27, 2013 · 17:00

Wally and Tango’s photo session

Last week we took Wally and Tango to Chewed Slippers photography studio to get some pictures taken. We had so much fun. They ended up featuring two of our pictures on their blog. The first one was of Wally lying down in front of his favourite treats….Timbits. The drool was pouring out the sides of his massive jowls and he was desperately waiting for the ‘OK’ command to chow down.

Check out the blog post here… Dog Drooling over Tim Horton Timbits, Doggie Tales, Dogs in Edmonton, What’s New | Chewed Slippers.

The second picture features our beautiful SAR girl Tango with a Canadian Search Dog Association jacket in the background. Isn’t it absolutely stunning.

Here is a link to the blog post: Custom Designed Artwork For Dog Owners, Doggie Tales, Dogs in Edmonton | Chewed Slippers.

Wolf to Woof

Last night we attended the opening night of the Wolf to Woof exhibit at the Royal Alberta Museum. It was exciting to see Tango’s picture hanging in the museum. There was a wonderful formal presentation and we got to hear the stories behind all the winning pictures. There were 30 winners chosen to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Friends of the Royal Alberta Museum Society (FRAMS), 10 in each of the following 3 categories: Best Buddy, Hall of Shame and Hall of Fame. Tango was a winner in the Hall of Fame category. We were presented with a beautiful framed copy of her picture and bio. When the exhibit ends this fall, we will also get the framed picture that was hanging in the gallery all summer.

I highly recommend checking out the exhibit. It was well done and very informative for people of all ages who are interested in dogs.

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Filed under Tango, Volunteering

Tagged as German Shepherd, Search and Rescue, Search Dog

October 15, 2011 · 17:47

Yeah….Team Tango!!!

Picture Courtesy of: Rene Mercier

I am thrilled to announce that Team Tango passed their annual RCMP cadaver certification this morning. As a reward, Tango got a Mega-P’nut treat from Bone and Biscuit in Sherwood Park and Don is going to get a nice ‘take-out’ dinner from the restaurant of his choice. I think Tango got the better end of this deal.

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Tagged as Cadaver Dog, German Shepherd, Search and Rescue

June 27, 2011 · 15:51

Pets in the Park

On Sunday we volunteered to set up a booth at the Humane Society’s annual Pets in the Park. Tango was a little excited when we first got there. Both she and Don were wearing their “search gear” so she thought that she was there to work. Once she figured out that there wasn’t going to be any searching, she settled down and helped greet all the visitors and their pets.

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Tagged as German Shepherd, Search and Rescue, Search Dog

June 18, 2011 · 15:47

Yeah Team Tango!!!

Don and Tango passed their annual RCMP certification test today. Although it has been raining non-stop all day they went ahead with the testing. The large articles have been laying out in the test field for two rain filled days, but Tango found them all. The people search was picture perfect and a thing of beauty. She hit on the scent more than 75 yards away. They were tested on 4 profiles today: large articles, small articles, people and alleys. Their cadaver test will happen this fall. I wasn’t allowed to watch the certifcation tests because I am too much of a distraction for our girl. While she is searching she likes to do a ‘run-by’ just to say hi to Mom.

I’m so proud of them. We are going to have a celebration dinner tonight!!!

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Filed under Tango, Volunteering

Tagged as Cadaver Dog, German Shepherd, Search and Rescue, Search Dog

May 26, 2011 · 08:12

True search girl

I got Don a book on search and rescue training for his birthday. He had been reading it and when he took a break, he put it down on the couch beside him. Next thing we know, our search girl has crawled up beside him and put her paw on the the cover of the book. It was such a perfect photo opportunity that you would almost think that we posed it…..but we didn’t.

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Tagged as Cadaver Dog, German Shepherd, Search and Rescue, Search Dog

May 15, 2011 · 13:34

Provincial Mock Search

Team Tango are in southern Alberta participating in a provincial mock search. Both ground pounders (people) and dog search groups work together on different wilderness profiles to practice their skills and working with one another. The scenario for Saturday’s morning was to search was for a missing 30 year old woman with her 19 month old baby. All of the various search teams headed off looking for the pair. Team Tango left the base camp around 11am. First Tango found an abandoned campsite with some clothing followed by a pen sitting on a mound of snow. Around noon Tango starting indicating that she detected another human scent and headed off in pursuit with Don following closely behind her. We are proud to say that Team Tango found the missing pair. As is her custom, she has to give everyone a very enthusiastic face wash….and she was particularly interested in the baby in the back pack. She keep going up on her hind legs to get a sniff. Needless to say Don was thrilled with her performance and she was rewarded with playtime with her favourite ball.