As we reach the end of 2023, I am taking a moment to reflect on favorite stories, experiences and events of the year. I believe in dreaming big and want to make a meaningful difference in the world, particularly at this time when there is so much trouble all around.

I am also taking a forward look at some of the things coming up in 2024 as converting dreams into reality continue to be a key focus. It would never have been possible to achieve any of my dreams without my team of family – husband Scott, daughter Linnea and family – and colleagues both in my professional and volunteer life. I am full of gratitude as I am writing this – somewhat lengthy – 2023 Year in Review.

Two major events at the end of 2022 set the stage for a flurry of activity and unforgettable experiences in the twelve months that followed.

• K9 Keb was honored as the American Humane Search and Rescue (SAR) Hero Dog of the Year at a nationally broadcast Gala Event in Palm Springs Florida, and
• The book Guy Mansfield and I penned – A Dog’s Devotion: True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team –was published with my very good friend Marni Muir orchestrating a book launch event  at Café Louvre in Edmonds, kicked off by the former Mayor of Edmonds. I am thankful for the support we have received from so many, not the least Teresa Wippel with the Edmonds News and Michelle Bear with the Edmonds Bookstore.

These two events resulted in a flurry of book signings and community presentations bringing awareness to the general public of the important work our search and rescue dogs do. It has been such a privilege for us to be the ambassadors for SAR K9 in the last couple of years.

In 2023 Guy, Keb and I also became frequent visitors at Barnes and Noble for book signings, we did presentations in a variety of settings ranging from Rotary Clubs, Chambers of Commerce, Senior Centers, Lions Clubs, the Swedish Club and International Swedish Women’s Educational Association and more, and we were interviewed for a great many podcasts you can access on our web site. https://suzanneelshult.com/media-events-presentations-and-awards/

Our book, with the support of our prestigious publisher, Lyons Press, became an award-winning bestseller: recognized with 2023 International Book Awards 2023 Winner, a 2023 Foreword Indies Winner, and a Ready Read Award Shout Recommended Read 2024.

The work we do in SAR with our dogs received extensive media attention in both television and written media such as King TV,  NW News, NPR, Fox13, the Yakima Herald, Spirit1053, King 5 New day, the Seattle Times, the Everett Herald,  and the Edmonds News in addition to many podcasts. Keb was also featured in magazines such as the AKC Family Dog Magazine.

Keb has truly enjoyed our public relations events immensely, particularly since most of them involve some serious petting, love and doling out of snacks. We were exuberant to have Keb do the “ceremonial pitch” at one of the Mariners Spring games.

In the Summer of 2023 Keb started developing a disc compression issue in her lower back and is now fully retired and turning 14 years old. She still gets to work scent problems in trainings, now using her “Kebby Cart” to get around painlessly. There is nothing wrong with her nose and this is what has given her fulfillment throughout  life starting at the age of just 8 weeks old. So, the training continues….

At the age of 5, K9 Kili is now in his prime. He is a single purpose dog focused exclusively on historical human remains detection search and old cold cases. He stands on Keb’s shoulders, having learnt pretty much everything he knows from her. While Keb was always my serious, spiritual dog, Kili is by far the most athletic, enthusiastic and affectionate dog I have ever had. I love them both in their own right. So very much!

I am now in my fourth year of shifting the work I do with my dogs from search and rescue general human remains detection (HRD)  to a focus on historical human remains detection (HHRD) and old cold cases.  I am excited to know that learning never stops and continuing education for me and my dogs in the art and science of scent detection in 2023 involved training with several amazing master trainers, ranging from a multi-day workshop in Oregon with my HHRD mentor Paul Martin, as well as workshops with Robert Noziska, Robert Freedline, Craig Schultz, Greg Strickland, and Jennifer Hirakawa. These are some of my stand-out experiences in 2023:

• Pro bono HHRD community service projects grew exponentially and threatened to dilute the  core mission of Cascadia Search Dogs – providing quality training for SAR handlers in the PNW. So, we – Guy Mansfield, June Mansfield, Sally Olsen and I – decided to spin off a new 501c not-for-profit organization dedicated to historical human remains community service  projects: Cairn Canine Detection. We are currently involved in several historical projects with causes we connect with strongly. We expect to see more of this type of volunteer community service work in 2024. Archeologists, Native American communities and others are just beginning to understand how effective our dogs that do this specialized kind of work are. By its very nature, as a volunteer, not-for-profit organization Cairn Canine Detection relies on donations and fund raising to acquire equipment such as high-precision GPS technology, specialty training and to support our volunteers by off-setting lodging and travel expenses. We appreciate our supporters more than words can express and are enthusiastically looking forward to the continuation of several projects we are now involved in.
• Cairn Canine Detection is supporting the Yakama Cultural Resources Management Program Native American boarding school project to find unmarked graves of children that attended the Fort Simcoe Boarding School. Phase 2 of this project was completed in the Fall of 2023 with plans for Phase 3 in the Spring of 2024. Follow this link for a recent KUOW/NPR broadcast: on this heart-breaking project: With Dogs and Radar We Continue To Volunteer at Mool Mool Looking for Native American unmarked graves.
• Keb’s last official deployment was in support of the Mool-Mool project. Bittersweet, but what a great climax of an amazing career. Our dogs combined with the search strategy, planning and operations management expertise Guy and June Mansfield bring to the table is evolving into a model we hope can be used at other Native American boarding schools starting in 2024. There are over 500 such boarding schools in the United States and under Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland’s leadership, there is a strong federal initiative underway to fully share this dark chapter in American history, start some healing and find unmarked graves of the many children long lost.
• Cairn Canine Detection is also supporting the Northern State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project using our historically trained human remains detection dogs to locate unmarked graves in a fenced in known cemetery and also to determine if there are unmarked graves outside the designated cemetery boundaries. Northern State Hospital at one time was the largest asylum in Washington State and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Follow this link for an article in the Seattle Times about our involvement in this project.
• Cairn Canine Detection in collaboration with Cascadia Search Dogs started working with the Seabeck Cemetery Restoration Project located on the Kitsap Peninsula in 2023. We are supporting the Elizabeth Ellington DAR Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, by providing our historical human remains detection dogs and search planning expertise to help preserve, restore and locate unmarked graves.
• With my dogs spending much of their training in cemeteries and training on old bones and human remains decomp has also come the realization that our dogs’ skills set – alerting on very faint odor from old burials or old scattered remains – uniquely prepares us to support work related to old cold cases. In 2023 I was invited to participate in Zoom meetings with the Murdered and Missing Women and People (MMIWP) Criminal Justice and Public safety Committee and was subsequently asked to do a presentation with Guy Mansfield on the capabilities of our dogs. Stay tuned for updates and plans for 2024.
• In 2023 my work as a Principal Evaluator with the National Search Dog Alliance turned to our K9 SAR colleagues across the border in Canada as my friend and co-evaluator Sally Olsen and I put on HRD workshops and certified a number of BC teams in human remains detection. A beautiful partnership has evolved.
• My work as an HHRD team contractor with the Canine Forensics Foundation continued with multiple interesting projects ranging from working with Native American tribes, a private utility, the Army Corps of Engineer and the Department of Transportation to search for unmarked graves, often old Native American burials.

In addition to current and potential incoming projects, my co-author of a Dog’s Devotion, Guy Mansfield, and I are looking forward to doing a presentation at the Las Vegas National Missing and Unidentified  Persons Conference in April 2024. Our topic: Probability-Guided K9 Searching for Cold Cases and Unmarked Burials. The search strategy and planning expertise Guy brings to the table is a true value-add in the work we do with our detection dogs.

I am starting 2024 full of large dreams and also some trepidation. Keb is slowing down little by little and I know we live on borrowed time. As her spiritual guardian I will do everything I can for her as long as I can tell that she has a good quality of life. That being said, I have made arrangements with a hospice veterinarian to come to our home when the time is right to say our goodbyes with dignity and love. This vet was amazing when Bosse, my true blue first search and rescue dog, crossed the rainbow six years ago. In the meantime, I treasure every day with my Kebbie.

2024: BRING IT ON!