Meet Vig & Vaz! These two young black labs are the newest members of Task Force 5’s HUSAR team
These dogs were trained at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia.
They have been trained in locating survivors under collapsed structures or landslides and have a unique work structure than other search and rescue K9s who may be trained in outdoor and open environments.
They are trained to alert to odours at this time , and they will train to be imprinted with accelerant, which should happen in the coming months. That will also be a useful skill to Aude in fire investigations.
The K9s are paired with both a regular handler and secondary handler, but they live with and work with their primary handlers.
The dogs also have a regular fitness routine and training routines with their handlers.
As with HUSAR (heavy urban search and rescue) the K9s are ready to deploy locally or away as needed. Their specialty skills make them a special addition to the fire service and HUSAR Task Force 5.
Firefighter Brown is TF5s K9 lead. He has vast experience with animals and a degree in animal behaviour. He is teamed with Vaz. (below)
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