by J. Brooks Terry
Special to the Daily Record
The dog days of summer may be long over, but for Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Captains John Long and Roy Hall, dog days are a big part of the job.
Long and Hall are part of the Florida Task Force Five, a state-mandated specialized team that, among other components, has included a canine urban search and rescue program for more than two years.
With more than 40 years of fire and rescue experience between them, Long and Hall train the dogs for up to two full days a week, feed them and keep them at their homes.
“Most of what we do with the dogs is an out-of-pocket expense,” said Hall. “The dogs belong to the team members and, at the end of the day, they come home with us.”
A small stipend from the City of Jacksonville supports the program, but for the most part, it’s a labor of love, Long and Hall said.
“It’s difficult to keep this going because there is so little funding,” said Long. “But we all recognize that’s important work because we’re saving lives.
“These are live-find dogs. They aren’t trained to find dead people.”
Currently, the team consists of five trained dogs, but the captains hope to see it grow to a dozen over the next couple of years.
“That would be ideal,” said Hall, “but again, with money being as tight as it is, we’ll see.”
And while not a requirement to be a human part of the team, Long said a love of dogs is definitely a plus.
“No, you don’t have to be a dog person to do this,” he said, “but it helps because, even though the dogs are technically considered to be employees of the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, they really are like family to us.”
And as far as specific dog breeds are concerned, both captains are quick to point out that golden retrievers, labs and border collies typically test well.
“They do so well,” said Long, “because they’re friendly, easily motivated and rarely aggressive.”
What about Dalmatians? Surprisingly, Hall added, the firehouse mascots “don’t do that well at all.”
“People are surprised by that, but you have to understand that, for a dog, this is like being in the NFL,” he said. “It’s demanding, and very, very few dogs have the kind of discipline that’s required to be successful in this program.
“This isn’t like hunting where they’re bred to do this. We’re creating a new behavior.”
As part of the canine training — which lasts for a minimum of six-months, but can stretch up to a year — search and rescue dogs are required to work in confined spaces, climb ladders, be agile, stop on a dime and be able to listen even when navigating unstable conditions.
“If we needed them to,” said Long. “We could put the dogs on a baseball field, call out bases, and they would know where to go and stay there once they’ve completed their training.”
But despite the dangerous conditions surrounding search and rescue missions — team member Jade was at the 2007 site of the Berkman Plaza II garage collapse looking for survivors — Long said the dogs on the team rarely think of it as work.
“To them it’s a game, nothing else,” he said. “It’s about going out with their owners, playing around for a little while, and getting a prize when they find someone.
“They’re in it for fun and, mostly, for a reward — their hard-earned paycheck.”
356-2466