SEARCH AND RESCUE - Questwood’s Kisatchi Man, CD - “Jager”
Owner: Irene Korotev
I stopped to see a litter of 9 week old puppies in a small Louisiana town only because I was able to take a detour from Houston, TX, on my way back home to Missouri. The 3 pups were all very alert, inquisitive, and on testing appeared to possess all the drives needed in SAR. We went home with a sweet, red male. Fate, however, intervened, and my pup did not survive a blood clot which formed after cropping. In a truly generous gesture, the co-breeders, Carol Biemuller and Peter Betchley, gave me the other male puppy in the litter. And what a gift he truly turned out to be. Gratefully, I took the pup and named him Jager, the German word for Hunter, portending his future career path. He, too, was an excellent prospect, and with lots of mischief shining in his eyes.
He immediately began training with the search unit. His first official outing was a demo for the FBI, where he vocalized throughout our entire presentation. A very talkative pup, he has retained this characteristic his entire life. He’s very willing to share his opinion on everything. As an inquisitive, very vocal and highly social pup, he made friends with all he met, human or canine. Oh yes, add a certain deer and one mother fox to that.
He was immersed in as many of the situations as possible that he might encounter in his career as a search dog: meeting people in all kinds of venues, working in the woods with other dog teams, playing on the agility equipment in the playgrounds, riding in boats and canoes, finding “stinky stuff”. As Mr. Social Butterfly, he truly loved the demos where everyone could pet him. He loved the hide and seek game of going to find people hidden in interesting places.
His training started in earnest with scent-discrimination. He already knew how to find people, now he learned how to focus on the one person who left a personal item for him, and to move quickly to find him. Since running fast is second nature to a Doberman, he relished this game. He became operational (mission ready) and earned the AKC Obedience Companion Dog title in the same month. His career as a search dog began in earnest.
Jager thrives on working whatever the assignment, and works well with not only his teammates, but with other dog teams, as well. Over the next few years he sharpened his skills in many different searches. We have assisted law enforcement on searches for missing and lost persons, in natural disasters and fires, as well as clandestine graves in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska, on land and in water. Jager recently was able to locate a suicidal man before he was able to harm himself.
Jager is currently working through the qualifying tests to become operational in trailing, a skill needed to effectively search for individuals in urban areas. He is also learning the skills to be a working member of the Kansas City area fire departments heavy rescue group, as part of its canine contingent. There are always new skills to learn, acquired skills to maintain, and as a true working dog, Jager is always ready for the next adventure.
You can click on a Service Award category below to read the winner's story:
Search & Rescue · Therapy Dogs · Assistance/Service Dogs · Everyday Hero · Public Safety/Service · Accomplishment by a Rescue Doberman