Dogs prove they belong on the beat

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers ON THE TRAIL—Fausto, a 7-year-old bloodhound, demonstrates his training by following a scent, with owner and trainer Bob Massey close behind last Friday at Tierra Rejada Park. Massey is a volunteer on the Ventura County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue K-9 unit. Every time Dino finds the scent of human remains, he sits, looks up and wags his tail in anticipation of a treat from his handler, Mike Grossman.

This is called a "sit alert," said Grossman, a Moorpark resident. Soon the edible rewards for a successful find will be replaced with a toy and a few games of tug-o-war.

Grossman and his 4-month-old Labrador retriever are the newest members of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department Search and Rescue K-9 Unit.

Grossman is training Dino to locate human remains and notify his human friend when suspicious scents are discovered. The puppy is doing quite well, having found all three human bone fragments hidden by Grossman at the base of tree trunks during a brief demo training session at Tierra Rejada Park last Friday.

Members of the sheriff 's Search and Rescue K-9 Units are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"We handle a variety of different types of searches. Our dogs can be trained in area search, human remains detection and trailing," Grossman said.

The team of 12 volunteers works with bloodhounds, Labradors and German shepherds. Each breed is best suited for certain tasks in helping authorities resolve a variety of investigations and emergencies.

"It's all fun for the dogs, but it's hard work for the handlers because we have to make sure that it's fun for the dog," said Robert Massey, a Ventura resident who is second-in-command for the local search and rescue K-9 unit.

Earlier this month his bloodhound, Fausto, was called to help locate two missing Ojai students.

"Bob and Fausto trailed the scent from their school, down to Highway 150 for about 2½ miles," said Grossman.

The students were eventually found at Santa Barbara Airport trying to board an airplane. In interviews with police, the two confirmed they had taken the exact path followed by Fausto.

Dogs from the local team also searched for possible victims at a mobile home park following the Sylmar fire last month, and they found the body of Megan Barroso, a Moorpark woman who was raped and killed by a Simi man in 2001.

Camarillo resident Sharon McGivney and her Labraror mix Chuey also joined the unit this year to provide support to local law enforcement agencies.

McGivney, a nurse at Pleasant Valley Hospital, has been involved with the Search and Rescue team in Fillmore for about four years.

She recently joined the K-9 unit because her dog has the right drive to do the work, she said. "It's real exiting, it's great to work with dogs," McGivney said.

McGivney, who got the dog when he was four months old, said she began to notice that her canine companion was different because he displayed the traits needed for search and rescue work, which include the desire to play and hunt and a good temperament.

Chuey was evaluated and accepted onto the team. When he's not on duty for the Sheriff's Department, the local canine spends his days at Pleasant Valley Hospital with his handler, working as a therapy dog visiting with patients, said McGivney.

"It just makes them feel good, being in a longterm hospital setting, the dog brings a little sunshine to them," she said.

A canine's sense of smell is said to be 100,000 to 1 million times stronger than a human's, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's K-9 Unit website.

"The Search and Rescue K-9 Unit is all volunteer, and we get no funding," said Grossman. The Ventura County unit is one of the best teams in California, he said.

Handlers purchase their own dogs and spend a great deal of time working with the canines to prepare them for their jobs.

Dino lives with Grossman and he accompanies his handler to work at MGI Metal Graphics, a military defense aerospace manufacturing company based in Moorpark.

The team is rarely apart.

"I train 5 to 6 days a week, at least 2 sessions a day, not to mention hours upon hours of play in between," said Grossman.

The local resident also travels to Northern California once a month to train at the Institute of Canine Forensics.

"Training a working K-9 is a full-time job," he said.

Volunteering for law enforcement is a tradition in the Grossman family.

"I guess I am just following in my father's footsteps," said Grossman, whose father, Glenn Grossman, has been a reserve police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department for 30 years and was in the Air Force for three years before that.

Mike Grossman served in the army for four years and has been volunteering with the LAPD's air support division, helping to produce training photos and videos for six years.

"I enjoy the camaraderie that exists in law enforcement agencies and I love working with animals," said Grossman. Four years of being involved with the Ventura County Search and Rescue team inspired him to purchase Dino and be an active member of the K-9 unit.

The black Lab comes from a long line of awardwinning, highdrive, field hunting dogs, Grossman said.

The Search and Rescue K-9 Unit is headed by Ann Anderson. "Ann is a mother first and foremost, a lawyer, a reserve police officer with Santa Paula PD, and a K-9 handler serving different agencies throughout the U.S.," said Grossman. Her husband, Robert, also has been on the K-9 team for about six years. The couple has three dogs on the team.

To learn more about the Search and Rescue K-9 unit or to donate funds to the nonprofit group, visit http://vcsark9.org.

"All donated money and sponsorships go back to the unit," Grossman said.

The local sheriff's department also has seven deputies who work full time with their German shepherd to assist in situations where the safety of officers or the public is at risk. The dogs are trained to detect narcotics and they take part in probation searches. That K-9 group is separate from the Search and Rescue unit because it's manned by professional deputies, but it also relies on donations to help pay for the care of the dogs and related supplies.