Our K9 Search and Rescue team has a volunteer group that ranges anywhere from elementary to high schoolers and college bound. Our goal is to help the community and teach young students about K9 Search and Rescue. We do this by contributing to helping the handlers and K9’s training weekly, but also develop more ourselves. Learning about these animals is a key factor that we offer. Each student will have opportunities to watch a dog train to find missing people, or human remains, in different scenarios. The Youth Division is also great for learning life skills such as teamwork, honesty, and friendship. Throughout training you may meet new people with astonishing information and will be in a safe environment. Our team welcomes anyone that has mutual respect and goals to come learn and train with us!
Benefits Our Team Provides You and Our Community
Southwest Florida K9 Search Unit helps you build skills that allow you to understand humans and animals better. You will learn things on the differences we have from our canine partners, their immense olfactory abilities, their emotions and needs along with health care but more importantly, you will see how treating the environment, fellow teammates, canine partners and the community are a selfless act of kindness and guide you forward in the future. Overtime, this may build your life skills, survival abilities, perseverance in hard times and unity in many aspects. It may also allow you to receive volunteer hours that will help your high school credit. Overall, this is a team that isn’t typical of other teams that most teens are accustomed to being a part of. This team has saved children’s lives from building scent and DNA kits to finding them missing after hours in the wilderness. You will be a part of track laying, watching, learning and the overall picture to what makes our canines successful.
How to Join
If you would like to be a part of our team, or are looking for more information, please contact us from information below. If you would like to attend a training and see what we are all about, a waiver would need to be filled out before you may attend training. The waiver must be completed by your parent or guardian prior to attending training. Just let us know, we’d love for you to come out and see what working with the animals is all about and what a difference we can make in the lives of others.
Our Youth Division teammates have gone on to college, trained their own services dogs, training their own tracking dogs on the team and even have become canine obedience trainers. Being loved by a dog and finding a purpose is something many children and teens can benefit from and help with growth, confidence and self-esteem. We are devoted to children from the missing, to the abducted to those right in front of us that may just need some guidance and purpose. Our Youth Division is not demanding and they can come when it best fits their schedules.
Contact
Email: swflk9secretary@gmail.com
Mailing Address:
SW Florida K9 Search, P.O. Box 61206, Fort Myers, FL 33906