K9 Evacuation by Horseback.

In April 2007 the Peninsula Mounted Search and Rescue (PMSAR) participated in the Kitsap County Mock Search. At that training Team 1 received a mission change that directed them to evacuate an injured subject located by a K-9 team.  As luck would have it two of the mounted team’s three members had participated in the Mounted Transport and Evacuation training presented at the 2006 Washington State SAR Conference by Jorene Downs of Tulare County California. The training mission was successful and the PMSAR was asked by the SAR Deputies if an injured dog could be carried out. We looked at each other and said “I don’t know…. possibly”.  Currently the only method is to conduct a standard litter evac mission thus pulling resources away from the search.  The Deputies explained that if a horse team could complete the rescue the savings in man power to the Incident Commander would be huge.

Since that mock search, a few e-mails have been sent out to the MSAR community asking if anyone had any experience with such things or at least ideas they could share. Not much feed back was received, but we did get an offer of help from the Mounted Patrol in Walla Walla County. They planned to bring their horses and a dog to the 2007 Washington State SAR Conference and committed to give it a try at that time.

The evening before the conference started we sat around the campfire discussing our goal and the probable steps to get there. The first hurdle we had to overcome was the “wolf on the horse’s back” syndrome.  If we couldn’t get past that there wouldn’t be any point to doing any more.   The Walla Walla unit’s dog and horses had been together for a few years so we decided we would start with them. The next evening we went to their camp for our first attempt. PMSAR had a set of soft canvas panniers that fit over a western saddle and that variation was given a try.

Notice how we did this in the dark.  If the terrorized horse took off at a gallop and

scraped a panicked dog off on a tree……. no one would see (hear) it but us!

We estimated the weight to counter balance the dog, got him to sit in the bag and then loaded it aboard the horse. The horse watched the whole operation with amusement and the dog went along with the act for our sake.  Other than the load being a little off balance, it went well. We stuffed some padding into the canvas pannier but it was apparent that while usable, it was not a comfortable situation for the dog; nor was there sufficient padding for the horse. The dog, however, was on the horse and both were standing quietly amongst us.  We adjusted the weights and tried different padding methods but ended in the same result where the dog’s weight tended to pull the sides of the bags in squeezing the dog somewhat.  We decided this method could be further developed and we moved on to the next idea.

The second idea was to use a standard pack arrangement with box panniers. It worked very well and appeared to be considerably more comfortable for the dog.  Ok, now that we knew that we had something to share and talk about a K-9 evacuation discussion was added to the conference training schedule.

The Walla Walla K-9 handler managed to convince the K-9 instructor to give us 30 minutes in the middle of his four hour presentation to present our project to the assembled K-9 handlers.

When we explained that we were trying to develop a methodology to support their teams in an emergency and that

we were there seeking their help and advice we experienced a ton of participation. 

Several of the K-9 handlers mentioned this was something that has always nagged at them. Searching

recently logged off areas produces lots of K9 injuries.

The discussions ranged from transporting simple, can’t walk injuries, to an unconscious animal. There were recommendations on specialized panniers and other methods of moving immobilized dogs. We compiled a long list of notes and had several offers to help us find a solution and build test equipment.

We all understand this is a very small step toward our goal. The training and desensitizing of horses in the MSAR units will be no small task and teaching the dogs to ride quietly will also present a challenge. Since most of the dogs used in SAR range from 40 to 120 pounds the possibility of developing a one size fits all method is not logical.

Later this summer PMSAR will add K-9 evacuation loading and carrying to its horse desensitizing training. 

One K-9 unit has asked to be included to start their “horse” training.

The next step is to get this document out to as many folks as possible in both the horse and dog communities and get the ideas of others. By the end of the summer we hope to be able to publish a detailed goals list with all the necessary sub tasks to accomplish each goal. Then we can divide up the list and get many people working to help solve the problems encountered. The goal is to have this completed and ready to present at the 2008 SARCON.