Hello Volunteers,
We are approaching a special moment in Search Dog Foundation’s history—one that we reflect upon and continually honor through our work each and every day. April 19 will mark the 30th anniversary of the tragic bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995, and we are hosting a special training that day to continue preparing our teams for disasters, just as Wilma intended when she returned home from Oklahoma. Our search dogs air scent above the surface of rubble and debris to locate the odor of a live volunteer victim hidden below—and that's where you come in. It is not possible for us to do our jobs and prepare to save lives without volunteers like you, who are willing to spend a few silent hours in a dark hide beneath the surface, providing your scent for our dogs to hone their skills and ensure they are ready for a real-life deployment.
To sign up for a Volunteer Victim shift: https://calendly.com/searchdogfoundation/open-training-volunteer-victim?month=2025-04
- If you would like to sign up to be a victim on April 19th, please click the above link to reserve your spot.
- There are two available shift times, beginning at 7:00 AM or 12:30 PM, and each shift is 4 hours.
- You can sign up for one or both shifts.
- Once the shifts slots are filled, the option to sign up for those shifts will disappear
*Please note that you do not have to have any training on how to be a “victim” - just a willingness to put on PPE and climb into a hide or onto the rubble to be “buried” in tight and dusty spaces for the dogs to find you. If you haven’t ever done this before, it’s not as scary as it sounds - but you should be comfortable in smaller spaces for an extended period and feel comfortable climbing across unstable rubble.
*This training day will involve a series of simulated scenarios designed to provide the teams with realistic problem-solving challenges. The search teams will receive minimal formal instruction and be provided no indication as to the number of victims located within the designated search areas. Victims will be simulating an unconscious victim, so you will be entirely silent the whole time and not required to perform any actions while hidden. Despite this being a passive role, it is extraordinarily valuable since there is no substitution for live human scent. Feel free to bring a book or a podcast with headphones, just keep in mind that most hides will not have much light for reading. We will provide you with all needed protective gear.
For any questions related to this opportunity, please reach out to SDF’s Search Team Coordinator Brett@searchdogfoundation.org
