Chesapeake Search Dogs Fal l November 2012

Executive Mgmt Team

Barry E. Leese Executive Director

Ed Thayer Operations Director

Gayle Fowler Finance Director

David E. Spitz Membership Director

Sheli Engles Public Relations/Fundraising Director

Dennis Ciesla Law Enforcement Liaison

Nancy Markey Planning and Research

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Lisa Higgins Trains CSD

2

K9MST Comms Cor-ner

3

Searches 5K Run/Walk

4

In the News Survival Night

5

Red Hat Awarded 6

Member Earns Tech Lic

7

Bull Roast Supporters 8 & 9

Letter to Santa 10

THE DOG EARED GAZETTE

P R E S I D E N T ’S M E S S AG E- L AU R A C O N C A N N O N

Save the Date Bull Roast Saturday

June 15, 2013

I would like to take this oppor-tunity to introduce myself as the new President of Chesapeake Search and Rescue Dogs. I be-came a member of the Board about 2 years ago and have en-joyed getting to know the organi-zation and the dedicated individ-uals involved. I look forward to working with Barry Leese, Execu-tive Director to help grow the or-ganization so it may continue to meet the needs of communities in the Chesapeake Bay and Southern Pennsylvania region.

I am a mother of 3 young adults and a CPA in Towson. I grew up in Balti-more County and learned early in life the personal reward and value of giv-ing to others. In this organization, I give with my time and business knowledge to allow the canine search team to provide their invaluable ser-vices to the community. They are a well respected Team within the law en-forcement, fire services, natural resource authorities and emergency man-agement agencies in the communities they serve. I truly respect the work that they do and am amazed at the level of commitment of each and every-one involved on the Team. As a parent I am sure we have all had the experience at one time or another of the sheer panic of not knowing where your child is (many times my kids would hide in the clothes racks at a store). The panic that I felt would have to be magnified many times over if they had truly been missing. I can some-what appreciate the comfort that the Team provides in searching for that missing loved one. I am proud to be the President of Chesapeake Search and Rescue Dogs and help introduce others to the great work that the Team selflessly provides for those in need.

LI S A HI G G I N S T R AV E L S F RO M LO U I S I A N A T O I N S T RU C T CSD HA N D L E R S Submitted by Dennis Ciesla

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Chesapeake Search Dogs was privileged to have Lisa instruct an intense four day seminar from September 13th to the 16th of this year. The 13th and 14th was dedicated to Human Remains Detection and the 15th an 16th to Area Search work. Lisa was joined by her 13 year old granddaughter Haylee who is in the process of training her first dog.

Lisa was the first to come up with the idea of having a canine search and rescue team in the state of Louisiana. In 1989, she brought a group of peo-ple together to discuss pursuing this ideal. After that meeting she and her daughter Troi-Marie were the only two that moved forward to help form the first search and rescue dog team in the State of Louisiana, LaSAR.

Lisa Kakavas and Sharon Balweg from Mason Dixon Dogs and Fran & Ted Carson from Calvert K9 joined Ed Thayer and I for the HRD portion of the Seminar. With the assistance from Al Millner and Ernie Miller, of the Perry Point Veterans Hospital Search Team, we were able to gain access to sever-al buildings to train in at Perry Point.

Lisa H set up several crime scene scenarios in the buildings to give all of the handlers the opportunity work to their full capacity; this required handlers to work their full skill sets to locate all sources within the structures. Handlers were exposed to a variety of sources: contemporary sources, small quantity sources and those that were several years old. And this was just day one.

On Friday, day two, we took to the outside of the structures and fields to work everything from sources that were contemporary to bones that were between 1300 – 1500 years old. It’s quite amazing to observe the dogs work bones this old just as readily as the contemporary sources. This was an amazing opportunity and experience to work with someone as knowledgeable and willing to share experiences as Lisa. Did I mention that she is one of the few Civilians that work HRD for the FBI?

The next two days were dedicated to Area Search (Air Scent / Live) work. The Team made a decision to limit the handlers for this portion of the Seminar to Chesapeake Search Dogs handlers only. This would allow maxi-mum time to focus on some of the newer handlers and their K9 partners. For the next two days Ann Hughes, Sharon & Jeff Leitch, Paula Brainard, Julia Thumel, Ed Thayer and I started with small situational scenarios and developed into larger area problems by Sunday. Lisa was able to look at and work with each K-9 Team individually and make helpful suggestions that would allow them to develop into a more effective Team.

As with seminars of this type, there was down time which mostly consisted of muffins and coffee for breakfast, cold cut sandwiches for lunch and a few snacks on the run. There was an exchange of war stories from every-one with some being humorous and others being dead serious. The most rewarding discussion came from Li-sa in that, how and what Chesapeake Search Dogs is teaching and how its K9 Teams are preforming is up to par and to what is expected as Best Practices.

K9MST Call Sign omms orner

Chesapeake Search Dogs will be adding a new radio to their line-up of communication equipment in the near future. The Vertex VX-4600 will soon supplement the Vertex commercial radios and Yaesu amateur radios that have been in use for many years. The VX-4600 is a 50 watt, 512 channel VHF commercial radio with a transmit and receive frequency range of 136-174 MHz. The radio meets the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) 2013 narrowband requirement. The new radio will allow members to communicate on the widely recognized search and rescue frequency of 155.160 and the amateur band frequencies.

Other features of the VX-4600 include an 8-character alphanumeric display, voice activation (VOX), and a minimum volume limit to ensure the radio is not acci-dentally turned down too low. The VX-4600 also in-cludes Emergency alert for enhanced driver safety. The operator can activate the Lone Worker function when leaving the equipment temporarily. If a problem aris-es while away, the radio switches to Emergency mode to alert help.

C H E S A P E A K E S E A RC H DO G S A M AT E U R R A D I O C LU B

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Vertex VX-4600 VHF Commercial Radio

Central Maryland Repeater Group (CMRG) Over the past several months CSD licensed amateur radio operators have been testing the viability of the Central Maryland Repeater Group (CMRG) while en route to and departing from training and live search-es. The CMRG consists of 5 UHF repeaters that are all linked together and provide wide area coverage to much of Maryland, Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, and the southern part of central Pennsylvania ac-cording to the groups website. Recently, CSD scheduled a SAR NET and had licensed members call in from their residences. Three CSD members joined the NET and one other listened in (non licensed ama-teur). The attendees were located in Baltimore, Owings Mills, Frederick and Pennsylvania. The positive results of the NET supported our belief that amateur radio has a lot to offer to the Maryland search and rescue community. We want to thank Bryan Dorbert, N3ST for allowing CSD to use the system.

Repeater Locations and Frequency

Baltimore 449.6750 CTCSS 167.9

Frederick 444.1000 CTCSS 167.9

Laurel 444.7000 CTCSS 167.9

Suitland 448.9250 CTCSS 167.9

Orme 447.0750 CTCSS 167.9

November 9—Pasadena, MD

Anne Arundel County Police received a report that 46-year-old Thomas Herron went missing after leaving his residence on November 5. Herron was believed to be despondent. Chesapeake Search Dogs (CSD) was requested and deployed four (4) K-9 teams, one (1) flanker, and (1) communication specialist. On November 10, police were summoned to the shoreline of Fairview Beach for a report of a discovered body. The body was identified as Herron’s and the cause of death was determined to be a self inflicted gunshot would to the upper body (suicide).

Recent Searches September 14 through November 20

The 1st Annual Chesapeake Search Dogs K-9 5K held on October 7th was a HUGE SUCCESS. 144 par-ticipants with 73 dogs ran a 5K trail race at historic Jerusalem Mill Village. The rolling hills and scenic Gunpowder trails proved to be a hit. Finish line refreshments included “Frosty Paws” for the K-9’s and finisher medals for ALL participants. The pit beef was a sell out. The emails are still coming in from the participants “Please hold the race again next year”, “My pug and I had a wonderful time yesterday at the race, we both hope that there will be a next time as we are already excited to come back!”, “The race was fun and the trail was a blast to run on. See you next year!”, I ran the race with my 12 year old son and had a blast.” If you happened to miss this event, you won’t want to next year. Send us an email request and we will send you a “Save The Date” email reply as soon as a date is secured for 2013.

1st Annual CSD 5K Run a Huge Success

2012 Searches 

Type  Human Remains (HRD)  5 

   Air Scent  6 

   Air Scent/HRD  4 

YTD Total  15 

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IN T H E NE W S

'Dogs Of Courage' Book Reveals Hardworking

Canines Behind Hurricane Search And Rescue Aug 11, 2012, Huff Post Social News- We’ve all seen the heartbreaking photos of the overwhelming destruction that Sandy in-flicted on the east coast, particularly New York City and New Jersey. Click here for full story. Photo courtesy of Lisa Rogak.

VOLUNTEERS FIND LOST CHILDREN AS A SEARCH AND RESCUE EXERCISE Wednesday, November 14, 2012, The Daily Post Rotu-ra—Search parties have been sent out to find two children who had run away from a school camp _ but don't be too alarmed, it was all part of a training exercise. Click here for full story.

Missing 13-year-old found November 6th 2012 By Rob Moore, B.J. Williams, Ac-cessNorthGA- Habersham County authorities have found a missing autistic teenager who was last seen around 5:30 p.m. Monday. Click here for full story. Photo by Rob Moore

2 Weather the Cold during CSD Survival Night Sweet Air, MD—Two members of Chesapeake Search Dogs tested their survival skills recently during a required overnight stay in the wilderness. Gina Calzetta and Chris Waite both endured temperatures dipping be-low 37 degrees in the woods of the Gunpowder State Park at Sweet Air.

Earlier in the day, former Special Forces and past Operations Director Al Banthem presented the two of them specialized training in camp selec-tion, building a shelter with only the gear that is regularly carried in their pack, starting and maintaining a fire, and most importantly the mental focus needed to stay alive.

Both members survived the night but admittedly they were exhausted by morning, due to having to stay awake in order to keep the fire going and being subjected to a variety of, lets say pranks and rituals, at the cun-ning hands of better rested and equipped senior members of the team.

Congratulations GC and Chris

Hurricane Sandy Photos

(Patapsco, MD) – Chesapeake

Search Dogs (CSD) awards

the coveted Red Hat to Paula

Brainard, from Rising Sun for

becoming an Operational

Search and Rescue dog han-

dler with her K9 partner, Liam.

On Saturday, October 13,

2012, Paula and her border

collie, Liam successfully com-

pleted and passed the daytime

80 acre evaluation for two sta-

tionary subjects. The passage

of the 80 acre evaluation is the

final requirement for becoming an operational search and rescue dog handler with

CSD. Paula and Liam had to pass numerous Team, State and National testing re-

quirements before becoming operational. Some of the testing included passage of

the following: NASAR SARTECH II Certification, NASAR Canine SARTECH III

Certification, CSD 40 Acre K9 Night Evaluation, American Kennel Club Canine

Good Citizen Certificate, and Possession of K9 Pack and Recommended Con-

tents.

RED HAT AWARDED TO SAR K-9 HANDLER

Paula Brainard CSD 27 and K-9 Partner Liam

The Dog Eared Gazette 6 Fall November 2012

Fal l November 2012

On January 25-27, 2013, the World of Pets Expo will be held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, MD. The Expo features something for everyone from the serious pet enthusiast to the casual pet admirer. There will be workshops, educational seminars and entertainment. Many ac-tivities and demonstrations will be directed toward children and the Expo is an exciting event for the entire family.

Chesapeake Search Dogs will be located at space 120, so plan to stop by and meet the Team!

(Baltimore, MD) - Chesapeake Search Dogs (CSD) members Trisch Wilson and Sandy Ban-them earned their Technician Class Amateur Radio license recently. Trisch and Sandy are the 11th and 12th CSD member to earn the privilege of operating on the amateur frequencies. CSD has integrated amateur radio frequencies into their array of communication assets to en-hance radio communications while on searches and during training. The nationally recognized search and rescue VHF simplex frequency 155.160 has a number of limitations which may pre-vent vital communications going unheard. Maryland enjoys a number of amateur band repeat-ers which enhances communications in both urban and rural areas. The repeaters are usually owned by amateur radio clubs and the cost to maintain the equipment is the responsibility of the club. Amateur radio is more than a hobby. Amateur radio is vital when faced with an emer-gency that wipes out land line and cellular communication. Programs like RACES and ARES provide essential radio communication between emergency operations centers, hospitals, and first responders. CSD understands the benefits of amateur radio and has adopted a policy re-quiring all operational members to hold an amateur radio license.

CSD Members Earn Technician Class Amateur Radio License

The Dog Eared Gazette 7

2012 Bull Roast Table Sponsors Fal l November 2012

Countryside Veterinary Clinic, 4866 Montgomery Road, Ellicott City, MD 21043

410-461-2400

Cooper

Retired but not forgotten

Chesapeake Search Dogs

Muriel Rae Jewelry

Pittsburgh, PA

Chesapeake Search Dogs

“Thanks You” for your support and making the

4th Annual Bull Roast a Great success!

Table and Gift Sponsors needed for Chesapeake Search Dogs 2013 Bull Roast and Fundraiser

Saturday, June 15, 2013 Contact Sheli at events@chesarda.org

The Dog Eared Gazette 8

Fal l November 2012

Gift Prizes Courtesy Of Barrett’s Restaurant - Hunt Valley, MD Bluestone Restaurant -Timonium, MD Dennis and Betty Ciesla - CSD Members Giant Food Greetings and Readings Mars Super Markets Melaleuca—Melodie Alchimowicz Muriel Rae Jewelry – Pittsburg, PA Padonia Station - Timonium, MD Patrick’s Restaurant – Cockeysville, MD Restorative Balance, Rebecca Winch – Towson, MD Richardson Nursery– Millersville, MD Rita’s Italian Ice Ruth’s Chris Steak House Salon 8736, Nicole Childs – Nottingham, MD Starry Night Bakery – Westminster, MD Terrapin Station Winery – Elkton, MD Total Discount Liquors – Eldersburg, MD

Ente

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“A D

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Please patronize our generous sponsors and thank them for supporting

Chesapeake Search Dogs at the 2012 Bull Roast

The Dog Eared Gazette 9

Dear Santa, I hope you receive this letter in time for Christmas. We have been really good this year. We were caring, giving, respect-ful, and worked really hard to help others less fortunate. Just like our parents taught us we shared our time and experience with so many people. You would be so proud of our families too, who offered their support every day. We are not asking for ourselves but if you could bring us presents from our list we could help many children, parents, hikers, brothers, sis-ters, moms and dads and anyone who is lost or missing. We wish for: Communications / equipment trailer Tables—cabinets– lights-heater-air conditioner-supplies for

trailer Ruggedized laptop—two would be really nice Two-way radios Medical supplies for people and dogs Mapping software GPS people, dog, and vehicle trackers Meals Ready to Eat (MRE) Donations in case your to busy this year to pick up some-

thing from the list above P.S. If you get lost while delivering all the presents please call and we will come find you.

Chesapeake Search Dogs

Fal l November 2012 The Dog Eared Gazette 10

Dispatch Phone: 410-602-3151 E-mail: ContactUs@Chesarda.org

Chesapeake Search Dogs

Dispatch Phone: 410-602-3151 E-mail: ContactUs@Chesarda.org

Chesapeake Search Dogs is a 100% volunteer, non-profit search dog organization dedicated to ensuring that a 24 hour, 7 day per week, professionally trained, canine search team is available to law enforce-ment, fire services, natural resource authorities, and emergency man-agement agencies, at no cost, within the Chesapeake Bay and South-ern Pennsylvania Regions to search for lost or missing persons.

Support Us Chesapeake Search Dogs is a 501c3 non-profit organization in Maryland and subsists solely on the generosity of our benefactors. NO salaries or wages are paid. This includes board members, management, handlers, and support per-sonnel. All of our funding comes from private donations and grants. All donations are tax deductible. 100% of every dollar goes directly to the expenses of meeting our mission of finding the lost and missing. Donations may be sent to: Chesapeake Search Dogs, PO Box 36188,

Baltimore, MD 21286

Board of Directors

Laura Concannon President Charles Fleischmann Vice President Folline Cullen Secretary Jacqueline Reardon Treasurer Dorie Flynn Member Emily Demarco Member Linda Boyer Member

Member Maryland Search Teams Group

Click Seal

Our newest litter of pups are vested and ready to GO FIND their forever home!

For a $20 donation (plus shipping) you can adopt your very own search dog. The pups are housebroken and have mastered the stay command. We have both Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds.

We have a limited quantity of these adorable search dogs, so order yours today.

Please contact Sheli at events@chesarda.org for more information.

Just in time for Christmas

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