Law Enforcement dogs should be trained, certified and reliable. Training and reliability are determined by training logs maintained throughout a dog's career, while certification verifies the training through third party testing. Training logs serve a very real purpose beyond the legal aspects of course; they also help a handler see the broader picture of their training progress. The book can be personalized, both the cover (and spine) and the inside front page. The small size makes it easier to bring along to trainings, which in turn makes writing up logs less of a chore for the handler. Additionally, the form is designed with a variety of check-boxes to make things simpler as well. This log book, consisting of about 6 months' worth of blank forms, was created to be "discipline generic", so almost any odor detection K-9 handler should be able to adapt it for their training records.
Sharolyn Sievert, a Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) finalist in 2015, is an engineering coordinator by trade and has been active in volunteer Search and Rescue since 2003. A member of Central Lakes Search and Rescue, she responds with her unit to calls from Law Enforcement from across the Upper Midwest of the United States to search for missing persons. The strength and purpose of their motto, ". . . so that others may live." is not taken lightly. While she truly loves training dogs to cultivate and heighten their innate skills to locate the human scent, the goal is serious. Sharolyn was born in Tachikowa, Japan in an Air Force Base hospital on Mother's Day, and her brothers liked to tell people that her left big toe is stamped 'Made in Japan' (it really isn't). Sharolyn's dad was an Eagle Scout and throughout his life, an avid outdoorsman and hunter. Because of her Dad's love of the outdoors, family outings were often spent hiking in the woods and vacations meant camping. Her sister noted how very proud he would have been of his daughter's work with Search and Rescue. Sharolyn's personal knowledge of outdoor survival, gleaned from a lifetime of experience, adds both to her skill as a SAR volunteer and to the accuracy of the SAR work presented in her book. Her family is incredibly proud and supportive of her "out of the norm" volunteer work. The miles spent on the road, crashing through woods in all weather, the hours of training, are a precious gift to those she serves. Over the years Sharolyn has trained and certified four different dogs in multiple disciplines, and responded to many, many searches. Additionally, she serves as an instructor, a speaker, a K-9 evaluator, and maintains certification in a number of areas beyond the K-9 work she loves, including being a Certified Minnesota Emergency Manager. Her hope is that the reader will find in the pages of her books an appreciation for the incredible, highly skilled work that a Search and Rescue dog can do, and the amazing dedication it takes to be a K-9 Search and Rescue handler.
