“Go suche!” commands Meg O’Donovan, and Flo takes off across the park.

The lean brown Malinois begins hunting.

She doesn’t know exactly what she’s looking for, but when she hears the German command to search, she’s trained to find anything that smells human.

“You can see when they’re going along, once they catch a scent they’ll hook right around, and that means they’re on it,” says O’Donovan, watching Flo search intently.

A bell around the dog’s neck makes a rhythmic clang with each stride, and O’Donovan explains that’s so she can keep track of the dog if she leaves her line of sight, and also so someone waiting for help knows its on the way.

O’Donovan had left an old pillow case in a tree hours earlier, and within seconds Flo has caught its scent, and begins excitedly circling the tree. At first, Meg isn’t sure that’s the right spot.

“See how she’s putting her nose up? She thinks that’s the one,” says O’Donovan.

It turns out that Flo’s nose is correct, and O’Donovan retrieves the pillow case and pulls out a toy.

Meg O’Donovan retrieves the pillowcase that Flo found as the young Malinois looks on eagerly. David Dyck/Herald

Meg O’Donovan retrieves the pillowcase that Flo found as the young Malinois looks on eagerly. David Dyck/Herald

As a reward, they play a brief game of tug-of-war. “This is what they live for, they love to tug,” says her handler. After a minute, Flo is enthusiastically ready for her next task.

Meg and Flo are Merritt’s new RCMP-certified search and rescue team. That means that they both had to meet police standards for training and obedience, as a team. They were certified at the end of September.

They have to show that they’re thorough, physically able to trek through rugged terrain, and that the dog is alert and responsive to the handler’s commands.

“We had to show that we can compass a grid very well, you have to multitask as a handler,” she explained. “You need to be watching your dog first and foremost, to see if it’s on scent, because their behaviour changes, and then you need to continue on a straight grid and make sure there’s no big gaps in your area, and make sure that you’re not crossing over and searching the area multiple times.”

The grid they’d be searching is 500 metres by 500 metres, sometimes on a steep slope with a lot of deadfall. It’s a test of the dog, but also the physical fitness of the handler. “We’re a team. There is no me without the dog,” she said.

But O’Donovan said for Flo, the testing was easy. “She was a natural,” she said proudly. “If you have a dog that’s independent-minded that likes to use its nose, that likes people and that has stamina, that’s perfect. She was a natural retriever.”

She said getting involved with the Nicola Valley Search and Rescue (NVSR) was a rewarding experience.

“If people want to do this with their teenage children, it’s an awesome program,” she said. “First of all you’re teaching your kids to do good things for your community, and secondly they learn a lot of skills from some really talented people.”

The ground search and rescue course from NVSR enabled her to get into the dog program.

But she added that there are many other aspects of search and rescue that people are needed.

“You can take ropes training, you can take swift water training, you can take ice rescue training, you can take first aid, you can take computer mapping training,” she listed. “There’s always a need for all types of help. You don’t have to be the person going down off ropes, you can be the person working on computer gridding.”

Flo, relaxing with her toy. David Dyck/Herald

Flo, relaxing with her toy. David Dyck/Herald