Hyper Dogs Make Bad Pets, Great Life-Savers

Reporting - Simon Perez
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―

Rescue dogs help save lives during times of disaster, but the work of some keen-eyed volunteers keeps those dogs alive and sends them on the path to help people. Nino the dog plays tug of war with anyone willing and strong enough to hold the other end of the toy. A lot of times, dogs like Nino end up in shelters, behind bars, headed to death row.

"They make terrible pets," said Marin County Fire Capt. Jim Boggeri. East Bay SPCA Shelter Supervisor Lenny Deets adds: "Rambunctious, high-energy escape artists dogs...are going to require a lot more maintenance."

Karen Klingberg works for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation and scours shelters across the state, searching for dogs with the right frenetic temperament to become urban search and rescue dogs. The foundation is looking for volunteers to test shelter dogs, to see if they've got the right stuff.

Here's what volunteers look for:
The dogs must be two years old or younger and about the size of a golden or Labrador retriever - those are the ideal breeds.

Initially, volunteers are looking for a dog that pays attention.

Then, volunteers take the dog outside to see if it will persist in hunting for a toy and if the dog can handle being startled. One test includes opening an umbrella in the dog's face. The successful search and rescue dog must stay focused and ignore a distraction, like clanging pots and pans that erupt as it's searching for a toy.

Volunteers will challenge the dog to find the toy, even when it's turned around. And lastly, a volunteer has to find out if the dog have enough drive to even scale a tree to get the toy. "You don't have to be a dog trainer to evaluate these dogs," Klingberg said. "You can spend less than an hour walking through and if you can find a dog that's going to react to your toys and talking to it and building its excitement, chances are this is a dog we're going to want to look at."

If the dogs do have the right stuff, they go through six to eight months of training and end up trying to save lives instead of counting down to the end of their own.

For more information on the program, head over to http://searchdogfoundation.org/98/html/index.html

(this story can be found in its orignal format at http://cbs5.com/pets/rescue.dogs.volunteers.2.837764.html )