JCSO SAR Team recruiting volunteer K9 search team members

WHITE CITY, ORE.- The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (SAR) Team is recruiting dog lovers to become volunteer K9 search team members.

John Lovegrove, the K9 Team Leader with Jackson County SAR, says there are only three dogs on the SAR K9 team as of Thursday and they could always use more. Lovegrove says K9 teams can be trained and certified in several disciplines including wilderness area search, trailing, human remains detection and article location. He says K9 teams are called upon frequently for missions and are often the first searchers on the scene. While the opportunity is very rewarding, the dogs and their handlers need to be ready to be put to work.

“A lot of people contact us, and they say ‘Oh, I’ve got a dog, and it needs- it has a good nose, it needs a job,’ and then they find out how many hours a week we put in training, and we don’t hear from them again. It’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby,” Lovegrove said.

The next deadline for SAR applications is August 1st. Anyone who is interested in finding out more can contact Search and Rescue at [email protected].