Dehydration in Heat and Cold

Dehydration in heat can be a serious problem for dogs on a mission. Most cases of dehydration are the result of stress and insufficient drinking (dogs need two to three times the normal amount of water during extended effort). When environmental temperatures reach 77–86°F (25–30°C), dogs lose tremendous amount of fluids and electrolytes through panting, so dogs working in such conditions should have enough water to drink. They should also regularly drink an isotonic or hypotonic electrolyte mixture.

Dehydration can also occur in cold temperatures. Dogs that become tired or stressed often refuse to eat and drink. In cold temperatures a dog can become dehydrated in less than twelve hours, so the water intake of the dog has to be increased at the earliest sign of dehydration. A simple dehydration test entails pulling the dog’s skin up a little at the back of the neck or, even better, the fold of skin at the side of the chest. The skin should return to its original position as soon as you let go. If it doesn’t, the dog is dehydrated and you need to see a vet immediately.

Figure 10.12 Always take good care of yourself and your dog. This might seem obvious now, but in the pressure of a mission, you may easily forget to drink water or give your dog a drink.

Spots of dirt (such as clay, mud, or soil) in the dog’s coat can be brushed off when they are dry. If this doesn’t work, use water or any dry dog coat conditioner. Never use benzene, turpentine, paint thinner, white spirit, or other such products to remove diesel oil, tar, asphalt, dye, or similar substances from the dog’s coat or other parts of the body. Such solvents dissolve the target substance into very small particles that can be absorbed by the skin of the dog. They can subsequently enter the bloodstream and cause severe damage, even death.

It is far better to use butter, olive oil, or salad oil applied to a rag, newspaper, or paper towel to remove as much of the substance as possible. Use shampoo to finish the job, rinsing with plain water.

1. The safety of the handler and dog is critical. Without a handler, the dog can’t work, and without a dog, the handler is not useful. Never put your own safety or that of others in danger by being a daredevil. Always be careful in, on, and near debris areas.

3. Without management, energy is wasted. The operational dog team leader coordinates the search and the salvage in cooperation with the present command: Local Emergency Management Authority (LEMA), On Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC), or United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team. If there is nothing yet organized, or if there is no leader from rescue services taking command, the person with the most experience should organize any search initiatives.

4. The sooner searching and salvage starts, the better the chances for the rescue of survivors. First assess the extent of the destruction and then work systematically. However, never work alone or begin a deployment without contact and cooperation with Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams from the affected country or from the international community that respond to carry out search and rescue activities in collapsed structures.

5. Before beginning to search, first determine the escape routes. Never enter a building without the knowledge of a colleague waiting outside that building.

6. Searching in dusty debris piles is tough on dogs, and their nostrils can become full of dust. Wipe the dog’s nose with a wet cloth from time to time.

7. Locating and salvaging survivors is, of course, the number one priority. As much as possible, rescue workers should be brought in for the salvage of survivors to reduce time.

8. If there is no contact with a victim, the dog should stay nearby during digging. Periodically, the digging should stop to give the dog the opportunity to indicate where rescue workers have to dig. Big concrete slabs and other obstacles, as with temperature and wind influences, sometimes redirect odor in the rubble. That’s why the search and rescue dog has to periodically indicate direction for the hole being dug.

9. Wounded people have to be immediately taken care of with life-saving treatments, made ready for transport, and brought to a hospital or field hospital. Deceased people should be covered with sheets and brought to a special place set aside for them. To simplify Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) procedures, all information about the place the person is found, together with a possible name and the name of the rescue team, should be written on a card and attached to the person—usually a foot or arm.

10. After the salvage of a body, the search and rescue dog should again search the same place, because it’s possible there may be more victims in or around that spot.

Figure 10.13 Only handlers and dogs that have prepared thoroughly can leave on a foreign mission.

While searching for missing people beneath rubble and during salvage, dog handlers should use a systematic way of working. This system is often known as the five phases method for search and rescue dogs:

Immediately upon arriving in the disaster area, the operational leader of the dog team should indicate to the command center the presence of the search and rescue dogs. The first phase of a mission is for the operational leader and some of the handlers to survey the damage area. A single person shouldn’t do the survey, especially since you should never enter partly damaged or destroyed buildings without someone waiting outside to back you up.

• Determine the characteristics and extent of the damage, fires, smoke developments, and destroyed installations, such as gas and electricity. Find out whether the gas and electricity are switched off. It is also important to find out about any radiation released by damage to offices, laboratories, clinics, and hospitals.

• Assess whether the damaged area is passable. At the same time, look for building damage typologies and damage elements, which are described in the next chapter.

• Get information from witnesses to the destruction about the exact damage, the number of missing people, and where they were at the moment of the disaster. You will need to know the time of day the damage occurred and where most of the people would normally be at that time. For example, during the night they would be in the bedrooms; in the early morning they might be in the kitchen. Also, you have to know if the people were surprised by the explosion or earthquake or if there were warning tremors, which might have given them a chance to escape or attempt to escape.

• Assess the dangers and damage in relation to the work of the search and rescue dogs and their handlers.

Once you have a complete assessment of the damage, how many dogs and rescue workers you have, and how much equipment is available, the operational leader can plan and organize the operation. Every person involved in the searching and salvage receives the following information:

• Specific dangers, such as electricity, gas, radioactivity, chemicals, poisons laid down against vermin, or leaking fluids

• Survey results, such as the expected number of victims and missing people, the presence of hiding places and basements, and so on

• The grouping of helpers and other rescue workers—a search and rescue expert can be assisted by more helpers

Divide the search teams into groups of three dog teams each and divide tasks between working and resting dogs. One team searches and a second dog handler observes the working dog from the opposite side. Meanwhile the third handler and dog stay with the dog of the second handler in a bivouac at a safe and shady place watching all the equipment and backpacks. The resting dog team can be used to double check on alerts before reporting them.

Figure 10.15 Gather information on fires, smoke developments, and destroyed installations. (Izmit, Turkey, 1999)

Figure 10.16 Assess the threats to the search and rescue dogs and their handlers. (Izmit, Turkey, 1999)

The teams grouped by the operational leader begin by systematically searching the rubble areas assigned to them for victims close to the surface. Because of the mortar and rubble dust blown down, it is usually impossible for people to see victims even close to the surface. However, dogs smell them very quickly.

For search and rescue dogs, this is the phase for hasty search work, meaning they have to go through the area quickly to search for victims. The search starts from the fringes of the rubble area and moves toward the center of the rubble.

Survivors and wounded people have to be salvaged, given any life-saving treatment necessary, and, if the medical center has been set up, handed over to staff there. Wounded people should be given a so-called wounded card. On it should be written the victim’s last name and first name(s), age, sex, the nature of the wounds, and location where the person was found.

Dead people are laid down in an out-of-the-way location chosen by the operational leader and covered with sheets or blankets. As far as it is possible to determine their identity, they can also be provided with a card.

Figure 10.18 The handler should walk on the rubble as little as possible. The dog is much lighter and better suited to this search. (Bam, Iran, 2003)

Figure 10.19 The team should always start on the fringes of the disaster site so that salvage work can begin quickly. (Düzce, Turkey, 1999)

Figure 10.20 In phase 2, the dog has to go through the area quickly looking for victims. (Algeria, 2003)

The comb out occurs first in those damaged areas with the highest chance of survivors. These areas include

• Partially collapsed rooms, especially hollow rooms near still-standing walls and chimneys

The search and rescue dog handlers determine the working area of their groups, such as basements and floors. If there is no rescue expert in the group, they together have to determine security measures, such as the use of dust masks, linking searchers with rope, propping and securing entrances, and the method of salvage.

Figure 10.21 Phase 3 includes searching inside or near damaged buildings. This drawing shows some of the most common types of damage in which you might find survivors. You will learn more about searching in each damage type in the next chapter.

Figure 10.22 Handlers in an earthquake aftermath must be aware of their own escape routes and hiding places—both inside and outside the buildings—at all times because of the risk of aftershocks. (Spitak, Armenia, 1988)

Figure 10.23 For the dog, phase 3 includes the fine search. (Leninakan, Armenia, 1988)

The most important phase in the search for victims is, of course, the alert. We have found that some dogs that alert very well during training may alert less well on an actual mission. One reason is that the handler is working under a lot more pressure, which will undoubtedly affect the dog. Second, all usable dogs will be searching longer, more frequently, and sometimes under unfavorable circumstances. Temperature, precipitation, and wind will influence the search and alerts. Excessive dust may also play an important role. That’s why we regularly clean the nose of the dog with a wet cloth.

But also there are so many other unknown odors in a rubble pile. Dead people smell different from living people, and being introduced to this odor for the first time can cause confusion for the dog. Without being trained to do so, many dogs alert to a dead person completely differently than to a living person. Thus we see interested dogs smelling with their ears tucked back on their neck, standing rigid, but also lying down or sitting. We see them hesitantly approach and sniff these particular locations again. It is possible to train the dogs for such situations with parts of a dead human body or with an artificial dead corpse scent and teach them a passive alert, such as sitting or lying down. This behavior always must be combined with pinpointing, such as pressing the nose on the scent clue.

A dog that gives an alert on a certain spot in the rubble has to be rewarded, and then the handler should take the dog away from that place. Immediately you have to try to contact the trapped victim. If you are not successful, a second dog has to search the same area to confirm the location indicated by the first dog before rescue workers start digging. The handler of the second dog shouldn’t know where the first dog has given an alert to avoid influencing the second dog. The second handler should start the search at least thirty to sixty feet (10 to 20 m) away from the clue. If the second dog alerts on the same spot, then the digging can start immediately.

Double-checking an alert is of great importance. In the past, rescuers often would start digging immediately upon the first dog’s alert, wasting time and energy in a location where there was no victim. The dog had given an alert there simply to satisfy its handler. Maybe the dog was searching a long time without success, and maybe the handler was putting some pressure on the dog without realizing it. That’s why one must always, if possible, check an alert with a second dog before reporting it to the rescue workers (if there has been no response from a victim).

Figure 10.24 Be careful not to trigger an alert by putting pressure on your dog to find something. (Leninakan, Armenia, 1988)

The time for a second check is counterbalanced against the wasted time digging for nothing. In addition, if rescue workers dig where they find nothing, then they may lose confidence in the dogs. They may work their own way somewhere else and leave the search and rescue dog handlers on their own. This response is justified given the amount of work salvage takes. Believe us, the decision of a search and rescue dog handler to have rescue workers dig after the dog’s alert is a difficult one.

Figure 10.25 In phase 4, the dog alerts the handler to the presence of a victim.

Figure 10.26 The dog indicates the place among the rubble with the highest odor concentration.

Figure 10.27 Dead people give off a particular odor that may confuse dogs the first time they encounter it. (Leninakan, Armenia, 1988)

Figure 10.28 The handler carefully monitors the dog for changes in its search behavior. (Bam, Iran, 2003)

During a mission in Yemen after the earthquake of December 13, 1982, a search and rescue dog handler had a serious problem. His dog gave an alert that a dead person was lying in a certain place under the rubble. After a second dog had confirmed this location, a rescue team started to dig. What was salvaged was a dead donkey. You can imagine how the handler felt at that moment.

At the urging of the operational leader, however, his dog was once again brought near the same place and again the dog gave an alert. They dug further and soon the dead body of a woman was salvaged. So, the dog’s alert on that place was correct.

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