home

news

flash site

puppies for sale

tibet

our females

our code

about us

links

Saturday, October 11, 2008
SERIOUS HUNTERS: SEARCH DOGS SOUTH FOLLOW THEIR NOSES
By Chris Van Tuyl, Memphis Commercial Appeal

The yellow shirts and camouflage pants distinguish the handlers. From there, they just follow the noses. Bloodhound Cheyenne picks up the scent and pulls Paulette Weible of Search Dogs South along to find Greg McKinney (not in photo) during a training exercise in Byhalia. Cheyenne sniffs out McKinney laying low in high grass during the training exercise in Byhalia. Personnel include (from left) Elaine McKinney with Tobie; Sloan Liddell with Allie; Greg McKinney with Cheyenne; Paulette Weible with Nitro; and Bob Weible with Ivan. Search Dogs South is a Byhalia-based, nonprofit organization solely using volunteers to help locate lost or missing persons.
"We've been here for 15 years, so we've done a lot of work in DeSoto County," president Bob Weible said. "We want to make people know that we're still in business and available to them." Weible and his wife, Paulette, are two of SDS's founding members. The duo are on-call 24 hours to answer the phone when it rings from various agencies. "Any sheriff's department or emergency management in the state of Mississippi, some in Tennessee and Arkansas," Bob said. "Our service area is a 250-mile radius of Memphis.”We've done a lot of work for the MBI (Mississippi Bureau of Investigation). We've worked with the FBI in a lot of cases -- it just depends on what the need is."

On a recent morning at a lot off Miss. 178 in Marshall County, the Weibles were joined by fellow volunteers Sloan Liddell of Memphis and Elaine and Greg McKinney from Bartlett. And you better believe they brought their arsenal of canines. There was Ivan, a Caucasian Ovcharka ; Cheyenne, a bloodhound; Tobie, an English springer spaniel, Allie, a German shepherd and Nitro, a chocolate Lab. The latter has a specific job during college football season. "Nitro does security checks for the Ole Miss football stadium ever since (Sept. 11, 2001)," Paulette said. "It's his job alone. Right after 9-11, he did Mississippi State and then Ole Miss picked us up. The dogs get to go to the game free and we get to go free because we're with the dogs. We just walk all around -- just keep on moving." Nitro knows exactly what to do when explosive odors are detected. "He pretty much bows and just gives eye contact," Paulette said. "He just stands still and we'll pick up on his body language to tell us that there's something there."
The training process, according to Paulette, is long and hard. "It's ongoing," she said. "As long as the dog works, they train. We train about 40 hours a month." Scent articles are mandatory for success. "It can be a toothbrush or a hair from their chin," Paulette said. "It could be a footprint -- anything that person has been in contact with -- to tell the dog this is the person we want you to find. Said Bob: "A lot of people come and they think that this is a hobby, and it's not. Somebody's life is at stake. This is no game. It's like being on a volunteer fire department; it's work." Liddell, who has a career in law enforcement, got Allie into the mix at the preferred age of 9 months. "Bob and Paulette have been doing it so long," he said. "The things that we learn, how we progress and become a team with your canine is really rewarding and interesting."

For more information on Search Dogs South, visit their website: K9SAR.COM

© 2010 red earth gifts llc – all rights reserved