How You Can Help

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Dogs make wonderful companions and loving additions to many families. Dogs also provide valuable public services by participating in police, fire and search and rescue missions....

Massachusetts Canine Response Team, Inc. (MACRT) is a volunteer canine search and rescue (SAR) organization based in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and operating throughout the New England area. Search dog teams sponsored by MACRT are trained to respond to a variety of emergency response events including wilderness searches and urban disasters. Whether it is a child who wanders away from his family's campsite and is hopelessly lost, or a backpacker who disappears in a state park, MACRT can aid in the rapid location and return of lost or injured citizens. MACRT search dog teams currently are preparing to respond to known human recovery operations.

Our search dogs are non-discriminatory "air scenting dogs" which search off-lead for generic human scent in the wind. Each person sheds rafts, or dead skin cells, which contain his or her scent. "Air scenting dogs" are conditioned to use their noses to search for that scent and then follow it back to the source. Search dog teams across the country have been indispensable in rapidly locating lost or missing citizens. As minutes can mean the difference between life and death to people lost and injured in the woods or trapped in the devastation following an urban disaster, rapid deployment of qualified search dog teams is crucial.

In order for search dog teams to be qualified to respond to an emergency event, each canine and handler spends hundreds of hours refining their skills....

The training of MACRT search dogs includes canine agility, working off leash, directional control, exposure to unfamiliar surroundings, perfecting the dog's alert behavior and conducting mock search problems. MACRT handlers develop compass, radio and survival skills which enable them each to be self-sufficient in the field for at least three days. Several of MACRT handlers are EMTs or Paramedics and all have completed Basic First Aid and CPR. Only search dog teams which have passed MACRT's rigorous Canine Certification Testing Process are considered fully operational by MACRT in the event of an emergency response event.

Seasoned search dogs perform competently in actual missions if they are routinely exposed to unfamiliar surroundings during training....

Wilderness training is performed regularly in the many state parks located throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In addition, several local businesses over the years have allowed access to their facilities for search dog training. This allows the canines to be challenged by new and different surroundings, which is a significant benefit in the overall preparation of qualified search dog teams.

Seasoned search dogs take years to train and the cost of that training is absorbed by the individual handler....

It has been said that if one were to put an hourly wage on the time put in to the training of a SAR dog, the cost of that highly-trained search dog would exceed $18,000 to $26,000. That is a tremendous public service that each MACRT member provides to the community, especially as the individual handler absorbs most of this cost as MACRT does not charge for its services. All MACRT search efforts are donated to the public agency requesting MACRT's services.

Contributions therefore greatly help in off-setting the huge financial burden placed on each dog handler.

Massachusetts Canine Response Team, Inc. has been granted federal tax-exempt non-profit status as a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation whose purpose will be to:

* EDUCATE
.......the public and governmental agencies through publications and seminars

                            * FINANCE
                               .......its members through contributions raised to equip and
                               train search dog teams

Please make your contribution payable to:
MASSACHUSETTS CANINE RESPONSE TEAM, INC.