Meet a MA/D Team

July 2005

Lisa and BB take a break during a training exercise.

It's not unusual for Lisa Harper's beeper to go off in the middle of the night. After a short phone call for details, she quickly dresses, grabs the necessary gear and jumps into her SUV along with BB. Her dog, Oberon (aka BB), has been eagerly waiting for her since he heard the beeper. Lisa and her Shiloh Shepherd are an air-scent search and rescue (SAR) dog team, on call 24 hours a day with the Mid-Atlantic D.O.G.S. (MA/D).

Harper learned about MA/D when she was searching for a new puppy and fell in love with BB. BB's breeder grilled her on her lifestyle, indicating that she wanted BB to go to a "working home." After Harper went out to a few training sessions, she was hooked. "As an air-scent dog, BB doesn't use scent articles. He's trained to tell me that he's found something and takes me to it. We work both in hasty searches such as running paths and trails as well as large area searches in wilderness settings, many times at night," Harper explains. In addition to land, BB does water searches by boat. Both day and night and in snow and rain, they are called to search for children, hikers, hunters, Alzheimer patients and more.

It normally takes a year of intensive training before a dog/handler team is search ready. Harper and BB had to undergo a series of evaluations in search proficiency and obedience prior to becoming operational. Handlers must be skilled at interpreting how their dogs' behavior might be affected by wind conditions, ground currents, temperatures and weather. They must be proficient in terrain orientation, land navigation, radio communication, first aid, wilderness survival, search strategy and tactics and clue-awareness. Of course, the handler must enjoy working with dogs and being outdoors in all kinds of weather. In addition, they must be physically fit and able to respond to emergencies. Harper feels right at home in this environment after her seven years as a military officer, spending much of her time in tactical mobile units.

Sometimes when Harper gets called, she's the first to arrive and must set up the command post. Other times Harper and BB arrive to hundreds of people where the search lasts for days. MA/D responds only to the request of a public agency that has search responsibility such as state and local police or sheriff's departments, rescue squads, state parks, the National Park Service, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This spectrum has given Harper and BB a variety in SAR experiences.

Besides the SARs, Harper and BB train a couple days a week. "It's a large commitment. I've had to be flexible about learning new things and adjusting my life," says Harper. She moved to Maryland to be closer to the central training centers. Even though it's further from MITRE, it's made it easier on her schedule. Although most of the searches happen at night or on weekends, Harper uses Civic time when she occasionally needs to go during work hours. "MITRE has been very supportive and good about giving Civic time," says Harper.

Regardless of the financial and time commitment, Harper doesn't think twice when her pager goes off. "When something bad happens like a disaster, people want to contribute and it's a great thing when you actually can."

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