Membership

We welcome new members who are interested in training a dog for search and rescue response as a canine handler or in assisting the group as a field support member. We also have associate members that participate in SSD activities and meetings and provide vital roles such as technical and communication support. Dog ownership is not mandatory, just a love and respect for the animals and a willingness to work and learn. As a search team or field unit, the handler concentrates on directing the SAR dogs, while the field support person focus is on land navigation, incident communications and visual searching.

Interested individuals must be age 18 years or older, in good physical condition and capable of matching the team and NM SAR responder minimum gear list requirement. Some experience in hiking and wilderness skills helps provide a foundation to build the field skills needed by the wilderness SAR responder. Individuals should reside no farther than 30 miles outside the Albuquerque city limits in order to respond readily to SSD trainings and SAR mission assignments. Candidate dogs must be highly motivated, typically toy crazy or food crazy, non-aggressive, and between 10 months to 2 years of age. All candidate dogs are evaluated for suitability for SAR training before admission to the team.

To inquire about about joining the team and getting hands on experience during a local training session, please review the considerations and submit a Join SSD Form. Nothing beats a visit to see our dogs in action and to discuss issues related to canine training and to answer questions you may have.