Reviews

As a K9 SAR person with over 20 years in the field, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. What I found refreshing was that Ms. Elshult and Mr. Mansfield included the struggles that they encountered which seem to permeate the SAR community, such as personality differences, leadership conflicts, and gaining acceptance by non-SAR agencies.

The authors share with us some of the search missions that were especially meaningful to them including those for human remains. Ms. Elshult’s dog Keb, a yellow Labrador Retriever was successfully cross trained in both live detection and human remains. Unfortunately, many SAR people feel that a cross trained dog cannot perform reliably. I personally successfully cross trained all of my search dogs so I understand the struggles that she had.

The book is written in a non-emotional, almost report like manner where we are told the facts. The authors reactions to the situations that they faced are covered but not dramatized. However, we are told of all of the hardships and challenges that they faced and how they worked through them. Even though some of the searches involve looking for human remains, the writing style makes it safe for even the squeamish to read and enjoy.

The beauty of this book is that it clearly gives the reader a factual picture of what search and rescue involves, how searches are managed and decisions are made. Ms. Elshult’s love and admiration for her dog Keb is evident throughout the book and Keb is a good representation of what many search dogs are capable of and do throughout the world. While the searches take place in the Pacific Northwest forests, the dynamics apply to all searches.

Susan Bulanda, Award-Winning Author and Animal Behavior Consultant (October 2022)

A Dog’s Devotion not only highlights Keb’s devotion to his job, but the devotion, difficulty, and dedication professional volunteers face when bringing home the lost and missing. Suzanne Elshult and James Guy Mansfield have accurately captured the struggles and triumphs of working in the search and rescue world. Anyone who enjoys learning about the special relationship that is developed with a working dog and the practical side of search and rescue, this is the book for you! This is a wonderful book to curl up with on a chilly evening and find yourself reading well into the wee hours of the morning.

Robin Greubel, CEO, K9Sensus Foundation (October 2022)

This book is a must-read. Getting to know Suzanne and Keb personally was a treat but I was excited to read a book about their work. The real-life stories in “A Dog’s Devotion” exemplify the power of the human animal bond and how this team used it to unselfishly benefit others.

Terry Ryan, President, Legacy Canine Behavior & Training (August 2022)

True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team is an eye opening, heart pumping, and illuminating real life capture of the dedication and devotion to Search and Rescue embodied in the amazing work of K9 Keb and her equally dedicated human handler, Suzanne Elshult. Far from a self-serving recounting of heroics, it is a compelling narrative filled with detail and insights into the incredibly difficult and often disappointing work of Search and Rescue.

Susan Wilson, Author of 11 novels, including “What a Dog Knows,” And New York Times Bestseller “One Good Dog.” Recipient of the Maxwell Medal for Fiction from the Dog Writer’s Association of America. (August 2022)

A Dog’s Devotion has it all — heart-pounding suspense, wry humor, and gritty realism about the mundane and sometimes treacherous realities of searching for the missing. It captures the triumph and simultaneous heartbreak that comes with locating the dead. Suzanne Elshult and her human search partner and co-author James Guy Mansfield have done what few writers accomplish: They’ve created a book that is simultaneously a great training manual and a compelling nonfiction read for dog lovers, nature lovers, and mystery fans alike. And at its center is joyous Keb, a Labrador with a nose that simply won’t quit. I learned from this book, and I absolutely loved it!

Cat Warren, author of the New York Times bestseller, “What the Dog Knows.” (September 2022)

An excellent book with captivating, honest accounts of the training, trials, frustrations, and dangers of K9 search and rescue/recovery work – and a a glimpse into the hearts of two dedicated individuals.

Vi Hummel Shaffer, K9 Forensic Human Remains Detection handler, instructor, and author of the book K9 Teams: Beyond the Basics of Search and Rescue and Recovery

The stories of SAR missions are captivating. The bond between humans and dogs is clearly captured as the author weaves you through many search and rescue events. It’s very interesting to understand the human interactions with each other through the backstory of “political involvement” and “power struggles”. As someone who was intimately involved with the Oso landslide, I was taken back in time to those tragic days. As I read the account of Keb’s Oso mission, I was reminded of the heroic effort made by many to search for survivors and sadly watch as the effort turned to recovery of those lost.  I thought I understood a lot about SAR. I was wrong. I found the book both informative and extremely interesting. I couldn’t put it down.

Gary Haakenson, Former Mayor of Edmonds, Washington and Snohomish County Deputy Executive

A Dog’s Devotion is far more enthralling than a great Agatha Christie mystery, I couldn’t put the book down.

The story centers on Suzanne Elshult, K-9 Handler, Keb her extraordinary Labrador, and James Mansfield, search planner and friend. As a team they work closely with other K-9 teams, deputies, detectives, to find missing people. Their sole aim is to bring a missing person home. Keb, Suzanne, and James take readers into the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, into American cities and into Sweden relentlessly searching for people who have become lost. Using Suzanne Elshult’s elite training, Keb’s amazing scent detection ability, and James Mansfield’s masterful planning they often bring a loved one home. This is a story of dedication, love, and compassion.

Lynne Cox, Author, speaker, and athlete. Author of: Tales of Al, Swimming to Antarctica, and Grayson

Our son, our only son, Jon Francis, went missing in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. The county sheriff conducted a hasty search but abandoned the effort after only two days. We were told to “give our son up to the mountain.” We would not. Hundreds of people began streaming into Idaho to look for Jon.

Soon the Francis family, feeling helpless and hopeless, were surrounded by Search and Rescue (SAR) Units and professionals. Search Canines and their K9 Handlers, from all over the United States, came to help resolve our painful unresolved loss. In the summer of 2006, bent low in grief, I came to know some of the most selfless and courageous people on earth – SAR K9 Handlers.

People (victims) who have benefited from the skill, training, and devotion of SAR K9 professionals know the feelings of hope and gratitude. Now because of the amazing storytelling craft of Suzanne Elshult and James Guy Mansfield, in A Dog’s Devotion, everyone can experience, vividly, the “dogged” determination, the adversity and the acts of selflessness and audacity of this small band of brothers, sisters, and dogs.

Thank you, Suzanne and Guy, for telling others about your missions, your disappointments, and your struggles, sacrifices, and sacred successes. You have done a great service for the public and for your own community.

David Francis, Cofounder of the Jon Francis Foundation and author of Bringing Jon Home-the Wilderness Search for Jon Francis

Like the mountainsides and valleys they searched, the ascent and descent of emotion, adrenaline, heartbreak, and hope are the hallmarks of A Dog’s Devotion.

Suzanne, as a storyteller, and Guy, as a scribe of the details, capture the entirety of their experience with Keb as SAR team members, including their complex relationships with other leadership, SARS teams, and the family of the missing.

The choice to follow each story with a technical debriefing by Suzanne and Guy paints a complete picture of the SAR team experience in a human and humbling totality.

The emotional journey builds, resolves, and begins again with each new chapter.

You will find yourself rooting for Keb to conclude the search successfully for the sake of each missing person and the three of them.

You will feel the fatigue after a long day, experience the heartbreak of the Oslo mudslide, and live into the desperation and longing of an unsuccessful search.

It is hard to put this book down; it’s even harder to leave the families involved between the covers of their beautifully-written stories.

A Dog’s Devotion graces you with an accounting of the complexity of life and loss. It is a story of the service of a remarkable dog, Keb, the courage of Suzanne and Guy, and the desire to leave a legacy of saving lives, and, sadly, sometimes acknowledging death and resolution, bringing a semblance of peace for families of the missing.

Deanna Stull, Chief Experience Officer, Coachville.com

A fascinating inside look at the world of a true canine detective with a real nose for solving mysteries. Move over Sherlock Holmes, Keb is on the job!

Maria Goodavage, New York Times bestselling author of Doctor Dogs and Top Dog

A Dog’s Devotion is about the author’s journey from “normal lives” to those of a dedicated K9 SAR team. It contains a myriad of snippets of information about these teams and their training and use of air-scenting dogs to find the lost and missing.

It describes in detail the required training for the handler which includes individual dedication, continuous study, physical pain, financial burden, and the support of wives or husbands.

K9 SAR teams usually band together to train and search, often under the offices of county or state law enforcement. Interactions between individuals and these groups are discussed which will help handlers avoid potential pitfalls.

Firsthand insights are provided into the details of searching alone, searching in small groups, and searching with hundreds of volunteers and dozens of K9 SAR teams at the Oso, Washington landslide, a major disaster. The emotional burdens of K9 SAR handlers are discussed including the fear of failure when searching for the living, the joy and agony of finding the deceased, and the traumatic images that remain with us for the rest of our lives.

A Dog’s Devotion will help experienced handlers improve training and deploy their search dogs to find the lost, bring closure to families of the missing, and aid law enforcement in their pursuit and prosecution of criminals. It is also an excellent guide to new and aspiring handlers and to anyone interested in learning about the details of what K9 SAR teams do when training and searching.

Tom Osterkamp, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska Author of Detector Dogs and Scent Movement

It takes a special kind of dog to be a search-and-rescue dog — and a special kind of person to work search-and-rescue. The result is a lifetime of perilous and intense work and a book that has you on the edge of your seat. I’m delighted to have gotten a glimpse of Keb, the Kebinator’s, incredible life with Suzanne and Guy.

Alexandra Horowitz, author of best-seller: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know and The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves

This inside view of K9 Search and Rescue includes the grit of the colossal Oso, WA mudslide, the methods of rescue missions, the science of dog training, and the dedication of the humans involved. Every single chapter was suspenseful and engaging; I was continually compelled to keep reading to see what happened next. The emotions ranged from devastating to surprisingly laugh-out-loud funny! Whether or not you’re outdoorsy or own a dog, this is a good read!

Evy Dudey, Mountaineers, Board Member

It takes a special kind of dog and human handler to search for human remains; a sad but essential task that must be done to give the families of the missing closure.

Suzanne Elshult is that kind of handler, and in the book she has written with co-author Guy Mansfield: A Dog’s Devotion, she provides a compelling and engrossing description of several missions she and her K9, Keb, have participated in, searching for the remains of persons who have gone missing or lost in tragic accidents such as the Oso landslide.

As a fellow K9 handler, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who loves dogs, especially working dogs, to learn about the incredible bond that is created between handler and dog to create an effective search and rescue team.

Sally Olsen, President, Kitsap County Search Dogs

Back in the summer of 2015 I drove up WA 530 on my way to climb Sahale Mountain in the North Cascades National Park. A friend had told me that this road would take me past the site of the Oso Landslide disaster which had occurred the year before. Despite their warning I was unprepared for what I saw as I passed by the area that had previously been the small community of Steelhead Haven. It had been literally wiped off the map by this mudslide – even a year later the raw power of nature was still etched vividly on the landscape. So, it was with an eerie sense of déjà vu that I opened this book and began reading chapter one of “Search for the Dead”. The initial chapters vividly recount the role of a K9 search and rescue (SAR) team called out in the immediate aftermath of this disaster.

This book calls to mind other accounts of SAR teams which I have read, including “Mountain Rescue Doctor” by Christopher Van Tilburg and, most notably, “The Falling Season” by Hal Clifford, an insider look at Aspen’s mountain rescue/SAR organization. “Search for the Dead” brings a unique spotlight to the inner workings of SAR teams with its focus on how K9 teams really work. We’ve all read stories in the news about K9 dogs and their role in searches for the living and the dead. Here, the author pulls back the curtain on what it is like to work in K9 SAR, from the necessary tedium of countless hours of training, to the hectic and sometimes chaotic environment in which real searches for the lost take place. How do dogs learn to search for the deceased as well as the living? Some might find it macabre but did you know that there were such places as the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility in San Marcos, Texas where donated human remains lie scattered across the landscape, allowing K9 HRD (human remains detection) dogs to learn their craft? Don’t rush to judgment – how else could they learn?

Reading the accounts of a series of different missions in this book, I found myself at times on the edge of my seat and at other times, depressed/stunned at some of the outcomes. It is honest writing. What is clear after reading this book is that a K9 team is more than the sum of its parts. A K9 SAR dog, paired with their handler, guided by the search coordinator, when in the field, becomes a hybrid creature (part dog/part human), a guided missile if you will, capable of extraordinary things. But this creature is not supernatural. It lives in the real world with all its frustrations and foibles. When you are finished reading this book you will have a true appreciation of the real effort that goes into the creation of such a unique resource, such a special and valuable tool. A compelling read.

Kevin Quinn, Graymountaineer

A Dog’s Devotion is Currently Available for Order on Amazon.