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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has over 20,000 working agents, 360 of which are canine. This elite group of certified detection dogs are trained to find survivors in disasters or human remains. 35 of these canine agents were deployed after the devastating wildfires in Maui this summer. Consisting of primarily Labradors, German Shepherds, and Springer Spaniels, along with some mixed breeds, these very good employees of the federal government love nothing more than to do a very good job. And for their excellent efforts, the dogs are rewarded with food or a special toy of their choosing. In what was arguably the best day of work ever, NPR recently got to shadow a training session in Baltimore and reported the scene on All Things Considered<\/em>:<\/p>\n Very good dogs doing very good work:<\/strong> At the training site outside Baltimore, Maryland Task Force One is putting its dogs through their paces. Victoria Ledwell is at the helm, working as both the canine coordinator and a dog handler for FEMA\u2019s Urban Search and Rescue squad\u2026 \u201cI love this part of it,\u201d Ledwell says as she gestures toward a dog doing drills. \u201cThey love what they\u2019re doing and I love watching that. \u2026 You\u2019ll see them come off the pile after they\u2019ve done a search and they\u2019ve been successful. Some of them will carry their toy with them, and they\u2019re so proud and they\u2019ll show it off to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Eyes on the prize:<\/strong> Typically it\u2019s a specific toy that the dog chose itself. The dog only gets it as a reward during training and missions. When handlers and their dogs are deployed, each has to pack that special toy. \u201cMy last dog had what we called \u2018the flying squirrel\u2019,\u201d Ledwell said. \u201cIt was like a floppy Frisbee, and it didn\u2019t fit well into pockets. But it didn\u2019t matter that it was hard for me to carry, because for him that was important. I had to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n See Pager:<\/strong> Pager is an excitable boy who likes to chew things and lick faces. He\u2019s a big Labrador from a kennel in Maine and was sent to a \u201cpuppies behind bars\u201d program at just 8 weeks old, where he would\u2019ve been trained for police or wounded veterans programs. But Pager was too rambunctious and high-energy. That\u2019s how he ended up alongside his handler, Joshua Kurland, a canine search specialist with this task force.<\/p>\n See Pager run:<\/strong> In case of instability in a pile of rubble, dogs sometimes search while their humans stand on solid ground, so handlers like Kurland have to be able to control them from a safe distance. \u201cPager, hop up!\u201d Kurland shouts as Pager barrels toward the wooden platform and jumps up, only to slide off due to the morning dew. \u201cPager, back!\u201d After a few tries, Pager gets the hang of it \u2014 hopping up when told, then turning around and sitting, waiting for Kurland\u2019s approval. \u201cPager, come!\u201d He dashes back. \u201cGood boy!\u201d Kurland rewards Pager with his special toy \u2014 a tug with a rope on the end \u2014 and they play fetch in the field as his reward.<\/p>\n See Pager rescue a person from a pile of rubble:<\/strong> The team puts on helmets and waits around a massive pile of concrete to send Pager in for another drill. Two people are hiding in the rubble \u2014 one volunteer has carefully lowered himself into a concrete tube that\u2019s surrounded by bricks and broken slabs for the rescue simulation. Throughout the rubble are \u201cdistractors,\u201d such as bags of dirty laundry and food \u2014 anything to try to throw the dogs off the scent of finding someone. Kurland takes off Pager\u2019s leash and collar and he gets to work. He darts across the pile, nose down, homing in. Within minutes, he\u2019s barking, alerting Kurland that he found someone until Kurland carefully makes his way over and rewards him.<\/p>\n See Pager do it again!<\/strong> He struggles a bit to find the next person, going back and forth, passing the hiding spot a few times before eventually finding it. Once he begins barking, the volunteer in the tube rewards Pager with his toy and they get into an enthusiastic game of tug of war. A group of tough handlers in uniform, watching stoically, immediately melt when Pager makes his rescue. As he makes his way back off the pile, they collectively raise their voices an octave to congratulate Pager with pets and baby talk. To the team, that\u2019s potentially another life saved. But to Pager, he\u2019s just a very good boy doing his job.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n [From NPR]<\/p>\n Well yes of course the tough officers had to coo and fawn over Pager! Who did a good job? Pager did a good job! Cause he\u2019s a good boy who saves lives and we love him and yes now it\u2019s time to play, young man! We know our pups love baby talk, even when they\u2019re sophisticated agents of the United States federal government. Returning readers will know how much I love My Girl, the chihuahua-dachshund rescue I\u2019ve shared the past ten years of my life with. I love her, truly I do. But I don\u2019t care if the trainer had filet mignon hidden on him, My Girl would not<\/em> jump through obstacles courses to claim the prize. She earns the reward by merely existing, thank you very much. She\u2019ll just stand back and engage in some shrill yipping until the https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CcNsD9HOHXs\/<\/p>\n<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Cxv7ca2ybYJ\/<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n
waiter<\/del> person comes to her with the food. And it\u2019s impossible to try and shame her over her lack of altruism. \u201cHero, shmero, just give me the food, Lady.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n