The Sandia Search Dogs (SSD) mission is to alleviate human suffering and preserve human life by assisting the New Mexico State Police and other law enforcement agencies in locating lost persons in rural or wilderness areas. SSD strives to maintain a cadre of highly skilled and well-equipped search and rescue responders with a canine search specialty focused on the timely and accurate location of persons lost or missing in the wilderness setting. The team cross trains in a multitude of other SAR related aspects in order to provide well-rounded resources available to all wilderness search and rescue in New Mexico. We welcome new members who are interested in training a dog for SAR response or in support of the team in the field. Interested individuals need to be in good physical condition and capable of meeting our minimum training and gear requirements. All candidate dogs are evaluated for suitability for SAR training before training begins. There are also ways to assist the team without becoming a member, see Get Involved for more information.
