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Former LHS dog heads to Chile to search earthquake rubble

March 1, 2010 by Clay Evans  
Filed under News, Pets

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UPDATE: Joe and his handler Linda Tacconelli were not, as previously reported, deployed to Chile. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, which reported that they had left, said Tuesday that its teams had been ordered “to stand down.”

“At this point no one is going as they have not received an official request for help from Chile,” said Karen Klingberg of the search dog foundation.

Joe the search dog is ready for his close up.

Joe, an alumnus of Longmont Humane Society, flew Monday to Chile to assist in search and rescue of victims of Saturday's earthquake. Photo courtesy of National Disaster Search Dog Foundation.

Monday morning the Longmont Humane Society alumnus boarded a military transport plane at March Air Force Base in California with his handler Linda Tacconelli and flew to Chile to help search the rubble following Saturday’s devastating earthquake.

“This is their first deployment,” said Karen Klingberg, canine manager for the Ojai, Calif.-based National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Joe is part of “California Task Force 2,” one of just two American search-dog teams – the other is in Virginia – permitted to deploy to international disasters, Klingberg said.
The rangy, energetic yellow Labrador retriever was “discovered” in December 2007 at the humane society by Sarah Clusman, training and behavior coordinator. Clusman’s mother is a volunteer with the foundation, and had sent her daughter a video on how to identify good search-dog candidates. Joe’s key asset? An absolute inability to stop chasing a tennis ball.

“We could not throw that ball enough,” Clusman said. “Because of that intensity and drive I felt like he could channel that into becoming a search dog.”

Joe also was unperturbed by stimuli, and was happy to meet everyone he met, canine or human.
After viewing a YouTube video of Joe, Klingberg flew to Denver International Airport to meet Clusman and pick him up.

Joe the search dog with his handler, Linda Tacconelli. Photo courtesy National Disaster Search Dog Foundation.

“He flew all the way to L.A. with me in the cabin. We had our own row,” Klingberg said.
In July 2008, after six months of training, Joe graduated from initial training and was paired with Tacconelli, a civilian handler from Santa Barbara. The pair began intensive training and in September passed the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s certification test. Joe and Linda were scheduled to deploy to Haiti after the recent earthquake there, but Tacconelli was still completing part of her certification.
The foundation currently has 70 canine-human search teams in the field, Klingberg said. She said most of the dogs come to the foundation through shelters and rescues, and the trick is training humans to identify them.
“Finding them is the difficult part,” she said.
The irony is that many are not considered “adoptable” because of their high energy.
“Joe is a happy-go-lucky guy, full of enthusiasm. He enjoys everybody he meets,” Clusman said. “He enjoys people as well as other dogs, but his life is all about that tennis ball.”
And now, after years of training, that obsession just may save someone’s life.

Email: editor@longmontledger.com

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