Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Association
Education
K9 Training
K9's need to qualify and be proficient in a number of skills to become an operational search dog. You can learn more about what goes into training a search and rescue K9 here.
Member Training
A number of qualifications are required for handlers and support personnel as well. There are a handful of courses that can be found on our member training page.
Articles and Resources
Check out an array of articles and resources on search and rescue here.
Blog
To check out articles hosted or published by VSRDA, check out our blog here.
Index
Required Reading
American Rescue Dog Association
Required Reading - "From the devastation of the World Trade Center to earthquakes in Central Asia, search and rescue dogs have proven invaluable..."
-William G. Syrotuck
Required Reading - "Unveil the mysteries of Scent! Now you can understand how and why a dog can work scent. This fascinating book explains the composition of scent, how it works..."
Börn Kjellström, Carina Kjellstrom Elgin
Required Reading - "The classic map and compass navigation guide-revised for the age of GPS GPS devices are great, but they can break, get lost, or easily be hampered by weather..."
Recommended Reading
Karen Pryor
Karen Pryor’s clear and entertaining explanation of behavioral training methods made Don’t Shoot the Dog a bestselling classic with revolutionary insights into animal—and human—behavior.
Grisha Stewart
An extremely powerful tool for preventing and/or addressing reactivity in dogs. Grisha Stewart's updated version of BAT is easy to understand with wonderful illustrations and pictures to help the reader visualize the process.
Wilderness Medicine:
Beyond First Aid
William W. Forgey, M.D.
Packed with useful information, Wilderness Medicine is the ultimate resource for anyone faced with providing immediate care when access to a medical facility is difficult or impossible.
Robert J. Koester
Lost person behavior is the cornerstone of search and rescue efforts. Based upon a landmark study, this book is the definitive guide to solving the puzzle of where a lost person might be found. Nowhere else is it possible to learn about the latest subjec...
Foundations for Awareness, Signcutting and Tracking
Robert Speiden
Unveil the mysteries of Scent! Now you can understand how and why a dog can work scent. This fascinating book explains the composition of scent, how it works...
Hank Whittemore, Caroline Hebard
A stirring portrait captures the extraordinary bond between a woman and her devoted German shepards, Aly and Pascha, as they bring relief to devastating disasters worldwide...
Robert M. Sapolsky
From the celebrated neurobiologist and primatologist, a landmark, genre-defining examination of human behavior, both good and bad, and an answer to the question: Why do we do the things we do?
Urban Search: Managing Missing Person Searches in the Urban Environment
Christopher S. Young, Jon Wehnbring
Unveil the mysteries of Scent! Now you can understand how and why a dog can work scent. This fascinating book explains the composition of scent, how it works...
Andrew Rebmann, Edward David
Intended for those who train and handle cadaver dogs, this book also encompasses information for those who work closely with them, such as police, death investigators, and anthropologists.