A Dog’s Devotion

True Tales of a K9 Search and Rescue Team

2021 PNWA Writers Literary Contest Winner.

Brought to you by :

Suzanne Elshult
Keb Elshult
Guy Mansfield

Reviews

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 at major online book sellers.