The Search and Rescue Dog Team of the Fire Bureau, Taichung City Government took part in an international testing event for rubble search and rescue dogs organized by the Kaohsiung City Government from April 17 to 21. The testing event, overseen by the International Search and Rescue Dog Organisation (IRO), saw all five dogs from Taichung City successfully passing. This achievement positioned Taichung City as the leading unit with the highest number of intermediate-level certified dogs among all participating teams. Notably, Queen, a yellow Labrador Retriever, excelled by passing both preliminary and intermediate tests swiftly, earning her the title of top performer among her peers.
The Fire Bureau noted that IRO is an internationally renowned organization for certifying search and rescue dogs, holding authority in certifying dogs for various tasks involving rubble, wide area, water, avalanche, path tracking, and footprint tracking. The testing event is divided into preliminary, intermediate, and advanced levels, and only dogs that pass the intermediate level or higher are eligible for international humanitarian rescue missions. In this IRO testing event, Mr. Hidehiro Murase, Chairman of the Rescue Dog Trainers' Association and a veteran with over 30 years of experience in dog handling, training, and judging, served as the judge. Being recognized by Mr. Murase was a great honor for by all participants in the testing event.
In this testing event, Taichung City's search and rescue dogs Uno and Ring enrolled for the preliminary level, whereas Parker, Rooney, and Queen took part in the intermediate level. All of them passed. To prepare for this testing event, in addition to a series of intensive training sessions, the search and rescue dog team also went to both the Zhushan Training Center of the National Fire Agency and the Kaohsiung City Search and Rescue Dog Training Site, allowing the dogs to adapt to various unfamiliar settings and weather conditions. They have demonstrated their strong resolve.
Among the dogs evaluated, Uno, Ring, and Queen, all joined the team around the same time and underwent training for less than a year, making their success in the testing event quite remarkable. Queen, a yellow Labrador Retriever, particularly stands out as she passed the preliminary test just last November and has now successfully cleared the intermediate level, earning her the title of top performer among her peers.
The Fire Bureau added that training search and rescue dogs is difficult because it demands dogs to exhibit high levels of focus, agility, and adaptability. The training involves exposure to various environments and situations, including working in varied terrains and climates, and managing stress and emergencies. Moreover, search and rescue dogs need to learn to follow commands and collaborate closely with handlers, and it takes patience and time to establish effective communication and trust. In short, training search and rescue dogs is a challenging endeavor that demands expertise and resilience.
The search and rescue team of the Fire Bureau, Taichung City Government is assigned to international humanitarian rescue duties during April and May of this year. If a significant disaster occurs abroad, the search and rescue dog team will be ready with one advanced and three intermediate search and rescue dogs to support the National Fire Agencyin executing international humanitarian rescue missions.