This is an article provided to us from Pacific Medical Training. The article provides useful information and additional links to resources re how to handle injuries and illnesses that may occur in remote areas, making it a valuable resource for anyone who spends time in the great outdoors.
2021 and 2022 Land Rover Defender "Above and Beyond Service Awards" Finalists
Great Basin K-9 SAR was honored to be selected as one of only five national finalists in 2021 and one of only five finalists in all of North America in 2022 in the Search and Rescue Category for the Defender “Service Awards.” Although we did not win the prize, a Land Rover Defender, we were honored to represent and stand along side all of the professional men and women who entered and who give of their time and expertise to serve their communities.
To view the Great Basin K-9 SAR videos, please follow these links: 2021 Video and 2022 Video
The following is from the Land Rover website:
“SEARCH & RESCUE
No stranger to harrowing rescue missions in remote areas, the five finalist Search & Rescue nonprofits are truly capable of great things. They scale treacherous mountains in search of avalanche victims, train dogs and their handlers to traverse uncertain terrain in search of lost hikers and mobilize veterans to embark on off-road expeditions. These organizations embody the spirit of boldness that Land Rover champions. A new Defender could take them on their next life-saving trek.”
The Emily Quijano and Gabriel Almiron Murder Investigation
On September 8, 2015, 23-year-old Emily Quijano and her 3-year-old son, Gabriel Almiron, disappeared from Provo, Utah. The extensive and thorough investigation led to Emily’s boyfriend, Christopher Poulson, as the prime suspect. In April of 2016, seven months after Emily and Gabriel’s disappearance, Poulson’s car was tracked down by investigators. GBK9SAR’s K9 Rekker was called in to assist and sniff the car for the odor of human remains. Rekker “indicated” strongly on the trunk area three times. After additional investigation, in 2017, Poulson was located and arrested in Hawaii for the murders of Emily and Gabriel. Poulson was brought back to Utah and incarcerated pending trial, but the remains of Emily and Gabriel had still not been located. GBK9SAR teams participated on many searches, clearing vast desert areas until in September of 2019, nearly 4 years after the murder, Poulson finally confessed to investigators. Poulson admitted that he had, in fact, murdered Emily and Gabriel and transported their bodies in the trunk of his vehicle before burying them in a shallow grave in Juab County. Poulson pleaded guilty and was sentenced in September of 2019 to consecutive sentences of at least 15 years and up to life for the charge of murder, and one to 15 years on the second degree manslaughter charge.
The following video clip is from the Utah County Attorney’s Office press conference acknowledging the support and contribution of K9 Rekker and his Handler (at 17 min 35 sec) https://www.facebook.com/abc4utah/videos/468603643690194
WWII MIA 1st Lieutenant BURLEIGH CURTIS
In November of 2015, GBK9SAR Handler Sonja Nordstrom and K9 Rekker traveled to Normandy France with History Flight and contributed to the recovery of 1st Lt. Burleigh Curtis who lost his life on June 13, 1944, when he crashed in a field in Briouze, France. The following link tells “Burleigh’s Story” as compiled from memories of his family and recounts the recovery efforts by History Flight.
Finding Annie Schmidt
Although our mission so often is fraught with sadness, we press on to bring closure to those left behind. Searches are always a team effort but Great Basin K9 SAR is especially proud to have been instrumental in bringing Annie Schmidt home to her loved ones. Here is our handler Joe's first hand account of the search. Joe is a retired USMC officer and veteran of the Vietnam War. His K9 partner is Gunny:
Many of the photos below were taken by Lydia McGranahan who went along with the dog teams during the search (posted with permission.)
Annie Schmidt is the daughter of Jon Schmidt of the Piano Guys. She was a beautiful young woman with a loving spirit. Annie was last seen on Oct. 16th and was reported missing on Oct 19th. Her car was found near the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River Gorge. It was assumed that she had gone hiking in the steep and rugged mountains south of the river. Various search and rescue teams and hundreds of volunteer searchers looked for Annie for two weeks without finding a trace. The official search was called off after two weeks. On November 10th, the 241st Birthday of the Marine Corps, my K9 Gunny led to her recovery in six hours. Here's the story:
We were contacted by a representative of the Schmidt family on November 7th who asked if we would help in the search. They offered to pay our expenses and had obtained permission from the Multnomah County Sheriff for us to search. Gunny and I, along with another handler and dog from Great Basin K9 SAR, Paul and K9 Taylor, flew on the 9th to Portland - Gunny's first plane ride - where we met up with six other dog teams from Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
We started searching early on the morning of the 10th. I was fortunate to be assigned Lydia McGranahan as a flanker. This young woman is an avid hiker with extensive knowledge of the search area. After searching some areas down low we headed up to the north facing flank of Munra Point. Based on advice from Lydia we decided to search across the face at the 800 foot level which would put us below the cliffs which went up for over 1,000 feet.
The terrain on the face was like nothing I have ever worked before. The slope was very steep, 35 to 40 plus degrees. It was essentially a scree slope with loose rock with a rain forest growing on top of it. The footing was treacherous and there were many fallen trees and other obstacles to be dealt with. Gunny was working very hard since he not only had to deal with the terrain but he was using his nose to search at the same time. These photos give you a good idea of what the terrain was like.
After about an hour and a half I saw Gunny start to point his nose up hill and then start to work his way up the slope. I tried to follow but he was leaving me behind. Fortunately, Lydia was much more fit than I and she stayed with him. Gunny led us up about 400 vertical feet and showed every indication that he was in strong odor. As we got close to the cliff face Gunny lost the scent. We looked up and could see several heavily vegetated ledges, a couple of which were overhanging. We moved back down the hill to the point where Gunny was in scent again and at this point he went to his final alert indication. We contacted the team that was searching the top of Munra point and they moved to a point above us and confirmed that their dog had interest up there as well. We assumed that she had fallen and was caught up on one of the ledges above.
The next morning we sent another dog team, Liz and her German Shepherd/Malinois Reu, up to where Gunny had alerted the day before. With the wind blowing from a slightly different direction, they were able to find Annie's remains just a few yards downhill and to the east of where Gunny had alerted. To quote Lydia, "Reu's nose lifted and off he went straight up the mountain following the same track the other two dogs had done. The wind was just right on this morning and Reu turned towards the east near the cliff base. I followed closely behind him trying to keep up. Communicating back to Liz what her dog was doing. And then....Reu found her. I was right behind him."
Sorry for the long-winded discussion but I am very proud of what Gunny did. He worked his nine year old butt off and wouldn't give up. He did exactly what he was trained to do and, as a result, he has brought some measure of consolation to the family at a very difficult time.
Note: Coincidentally, Joe and other GBK9SAR handlers had tested Liz and Reu for field readiness under the Tri-State testing standards just the weekend before this search. The dogs did just what they were trained to do that day.
Notes From a Search
Over the course of two deployments, four search team members plus three K9s (Anton, Rekker, and Gunny) from Great Basin K9 Search and Rescue deployed to a mountain range inside the Humboldt National Forest. We were three of several K9 teams deployed on the search for a hiker who had been missing for two weeks. These mountains are so rugged they are referred to as "Nevada's Swiss Alps". We were not expected to search the entire mountain range; however, there was very little information regarding where the hiker could be. His car was found in an area not in agreement with what his "plan" had been, and sightings were in two completely different areas. "Area" meaning hundreds and hundreds of acres apart.
Team Anton’s assignment started out at a pass trailhead. With 40 lb. back packs, walking poles and chest packs equipped with GPS, radio, and other emergency gear, we ascended 1,700 feet in just 3.5 miles to well over 10,000 ft. The photo above is two team members and K9 Anton surveying our "area" after arriving at the pass. Our area consisted of more than 500 acres of steep, rocky, difficult terrain with three lakes, one of which is pictured. Our assignment with K9 Anton was to clear this vast and arduous terrain with very steep inclines and descents in two days. This would be a difficult search for everyone, but, special attention needed to be paid to the dog who would face heat, holes, insects, foot wear, and wild animals. We had prepared and packed medical supplies for any situation.
K9 Rekker’s assignment was in a completely separate area, miles away. The photos below are of team Rekker’s area – also vast, rocky, and sloped.
We knew in advance that we would spend the night in the field and used our mapping tools and visual assessment to put together a plan. We had three lake perimeters to clear plus the surrounding basin area. On our descent to the first lake the plan changed. K9 Anton showed a change of behavior consistent with target odor and took us off our original charted course by a great distance. After many hours of traversing steep ridges and deep drainages, we ended up at the second lake pictured here.
We set up camp at this lake and then searched what we could before nightfall, clearing the perimeter. The rocky wall seen here is what we would need to search on our way up to the third lake in the morning. It was a steep, back breaking trek up to this lake. Upon arriving, we did a perimeter search the best we could as the lake was fairly choked by willows. We relied on K9 Anton to search these areas sufficiently that we could feel confident the area was clear. Here is the third lake.
After reaching and trying to search our furthest destination, it was time to make the entire trip back through the pass to the trailhead while searching as much basin terrain as possible. What had taken us two days to arrive here, now had to be completed in one. We had to be to our extraction point by 1700 hrs. Period.
The hike back to the trailhead was grueling. We sought out, searched, and cleared every ridge and drainage we could while keeping our minds on the time. We were scrambling on hands and knees up deer trails and traversing loose rock hillsides, all while watching K9 Anton for any slight change of behavior or indication of target odor and also while making sure he was adequately hydrated and rested.
In the end, we did not find the hiker but we were able to give incident command some information which we hoped would prove useful based on Anton’s odor alerts relative to wind direction. According to the track records generated on their GPS collars, K9 Anton and K9 Rekker covered more than 52 miles combined during this deployment. We left the area having provided information, but with more questions than answers. After arriving back in Utah and as additional team members were preparing to go back to the search area, the hiker was located in an area that had not yet been searched by K9 or other search teams.
From this search, we found out it is possible for every body part to hurt. We went into the field with determination, carrying the burden of knowing a family depended on us to be prepared, qualified, and dedicated to finding their loved one. We found out you can care about a mission so much that it stays with you and consumes your every thought for days, weeks, and maybe longer. What could we have done better? What could we have done differently? Did we miss any clues? We found out our search areas can be unimaginably beautiful yet treacherous, unforgiving, and deadly. We found out we can trust our dogs because they are strong and dedicated to their job. We found out rehydrated foil pouch dinners taste really great when you’ve hiked, scrambled, and trekked all day. We were fortunate that daytime temperatures did not rise higher than the mid 80's or we may have had real risk of heat injury for the dogs. The dogs often don’t know when to stop. Even after the search, they needed several days of rest to fully recover.
So, if you think you and your dog are suited for and would like to pursue K9 SAR, this is just a sample of the hard reality. K9 SAR is a mission, not an activity.