There are lots of good dogs in the upper Lynn Canal, yet Hera stands out. A nine year old German Shepherd, companion to Haines resident Joe Oesterling, Hera is a certified search dog, a member of the SouthEast Alaska Dogs Organised for Ground Searches, or SEADOGS.
In her seven years of service, she has taken part in a couple dozen operations.
It all started with extensive training,
“For about three years I went to Juneau every month to six weeks or so, to train with the team, and then other than that we trained here in Haines, probably three to four days a week, and then she is always working at her obedience, that’s a big part of their training too is to be able, for their own safety and for the work, they need to do what you ask them to do.” Said Oesterling
These skills have taken the team around the region, to Sitka and Juneau. Hera is trained to board a helicopter while it is running, and is allowed in the cabin on Alaska Airline flights.
The last time she was deployed was in the fall of 2021, but a call could arrive any time.
Once on site, they join a team that will parse out information and assign search areas. Oesterling describes it as almost routine.
“Probably most people think when a search dog finds somebody that’s lost, it’s like in the movies, the dog comes in, finds the person, the dog comes back find the handler, and it’s that big dramatic thing, that almost never happens. Typically we are getting information, and the dog is a tool in that information, it’s a much slower not so dramatic experience. I guess we don’t have a big exciting story.”
Hera uses her nose during the searches, just like any other dog would.
“So, most dogs have the smelling ability to do the work, essentially the way it works is that scent emanates from each one of us, it’s more dense at the source, and it’s less dense as it moves away from the source. That’s what the dogs are picking up on. And we call that thing the scent cone. If you watched smoke, it does the same thing. And sop once doges enter that scent cone, they use that and they pick up on the density of the scent to move towards the source.”
Mostly, Oesterling says, she is just a very good dog.
“Her favorite thing to do, is her search training for sure, but she loves to hike, she loves to swim, she loves to go on walks on the beach. She is just a regular dog. She just happens to have spent a bunch of time playing that game that allows us to go and locate people when she needs to.”
