Lost and Found: Search Dog Foundation

     When we think lost and found, we think hide and seek; we think of the cardboard box full of jackets and pencils and phone chargers; we think of moms covering their eyes and saying peekaboo! We think fun, silly, minor things that only reveal the permanence of youth. What we don’t picture are the mute screams coming from decimated houses, the desperate splashes in flooded streets after Katrina, the children wailing into emptiness in search of their parents. No, when we think lost and found, we don’t think about the devastation of people lost. But that’s what the Search Dog Foundation thinks about. That’s what they do. They’re the finders (and rescuers) of the lost.

     Only in effect for 25 years, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation has already assisted in over “193 disasters and missing person searches” (Search Dog Foundation) and trained roughly 230 rescue teams across the country. They were there at the World Trade Center after 9-11. They were in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. They were in Japan after the earthquakes and tsunami of 2011. Most recently, they were in New Orleans again to help after Hurricane Ida. They’re everywhere at once, doing everything they can to save everyone they can. The importance and blessing of this foundation cannot be overstated or exaggerated- they are extraordinary, plain and simple.

     The Search Dog Foundation doesn’t only rescue people- their dogs, too, are rescued. Instead of spending precious funds to purchase in-demand dogs (or breeding them), they rescue dogs already in need of love and purpose and home, providing all those in spades until each dog passes. Dogs that would’ve otherwise died old and lonely in kennels or been put down from overcrowding are suddenly given new life by the generous embrace of SDF; even in death, these dogs are honored and loved (see the lovely Rainbow Bridge tab on their website). What’s more, they only recruit skilled firefighters, first responders, and other emergency persons to handle the dogs and lead rescues. Who would you rather be led by, or even saved by, than the selfless hands of America’s finest? SDF, in fact, “is the only organization in the U.S. that recruits rescued dogs, gives them ongoing professional training, and partners them with firefighters and other first responders” (Search Dog Foundation). Talk about special.

     But because they’re a nonprofit, non-governmental organization, and because they do everything at no cost to fire- and other-affiliated departments, the SDF needs outside support, volunteers, and donations to get by. We partnered with them to help with just that. And they’re beyond deserving of our partnership, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, benevolent and beautiful and good. By purchasing with us, you can help them find the lost. You can help save people around the world.