We all read your front page story about missing hikers with more interest than most (Nov. 15, “Taking a hike can be risky”). As staff writer Lester Chang correctly points out, many hikers become lost each year on Kaua’i, and
We all read your front page story about missing hikers with more interest than
most (Nov. 15, “Taking a hike can be risky”). As staff writer Lester Chang
correctly points out, many hikers become lost each year on Kaua’i, and happily
almost all are found alive. Since the summer of 1999, we have been working with
our dogs to become another viable option for local search and rescue efforts.
Under the guidance of a California Rescue Dog Association member who
visits Kaua’i regularly, we started our dogs on a year-and-a-half to two-year
program to train them to become certified search dogs. Starting with the most
basic of “problems” for the dogs, we have progressed further than our mentor
thought we would, but we still have a ways to go.
Our efforts have been
purely volunteer, requiring three to five days of training each week. We are
constantly looking for new areas to work on “problems” for the dogs to avoid
repetitiveness. We anticipate that the dogs will be certified in 2001. For the
dogs’ part, they enjoy “the game” of searching.
While we have quietly done
this on our own thus far, we look forward to a time in the near future when we
will invite fire, police and Department of Land and Natural Resources officials
out to observe the abilities of our dogs. In the meantime, we are in the
process of organizing our entity and applying for non-profit status with the
IRS, which allow us to seek funding for the necessary tools and expenses we
have.
We are hopeful that upon certification, we will become another tool
available to the search efforts here on Kaua’i. Further, we hope others will
take up the same commitment once we are able to provide certified training to
new dogs.
RIEKO and WERNER TANIGUCHI,
AZI and JIM TURTURICI and
ROBIN and SAM PRATT
Lihu’e
