B.C. K9 handler calls for change to ‘piecemeal’ funding model to better support search dogs

Carly Trobridge says a dog can search an area for a missing person in a quarter of the time it takes a human to track the same trail.

However, across B.C. and the rest of Canada, the president of Nanaimo Search and Rescue says funding for search and rescue teams’ canine units is sparse and sporadic, meaning handlers often pay large sums completely out of pocket.

Trobridge and her canine partner, Hazel, have been working together for several years as one of only a handful of certified canine teams on Vancouver Island.

On the low side, Trobridge says the costs for her to be part of a canine search team average out to about $5,000 annually. This includes food, routine veterinary expenses and training costs — which Trobridge says are fairly low since she doesn’t have to travel off the island for training very often.

Luckily, Trobridge says her search and rescue unit covers her training costs, which leaves her paying about $2,000 to $2,500 per year as a volunteer. Her roles as president and handler are both volunteer, and on the side of a full-time job.

“Having a search dog really just magnifies the commitment because it’s not just yourself. Now, it’s another living being,” she said.

Trobridge says leading up to her first validation as a canine team, something that handlers must do annually, her friends and family joked that she spent more time in the bushes with her dog than she did with them.

“It was true. It’s hundreds and hundreds of hours per year training, and then all the tasks and the search is on top of that,” she said.

“It requires a deep love of working with dogs, I would say, and additionally a deep seated desire to contribute to your community.”

Recently, Trobridge started a campaign to fundraise money for Pickle, a nearly 12-year-old Labrador Retriever who is a half-sibling to Hazel, and has worked as a search dog since 2017.

Pickle developed a lameness in his right front leg which has since been diagnosed as a nerve sheath tumour — placing him in palliative care.

Sheila Fairbank, Pickle’s owner, has been shouldering the costs of working as a canine search team for about seven years. Trobridge’s fundraiser aims to help Fairbank cover the more than $3,500 price tag for the medical imaging Pickle requires.

While Pickle’s injury wasn’t work-related, Trobridge says it’s not uncommon for search dogs to become injured in their line of work, and depending on the injury, it’s not always covered.

“Unfortunately, that wear and tear on their bodies and working so hard for an extended period of time does take its toll,” Trobridge said. “Arthritis and ligament injuries would be the two biggest things that we see coming out of working dogs.”

Unlike a broken limb or gash that occurs during a rescue mission, Trobridge says the development of arthritis can’t be linked to a specific moment and therefore, isn’t covered by the province.

“Similarly, if the handler and dog are out training and they incur an acute injury, the veterinary costs, associated testing, X-rays, whatever it might be, is always covered,” she said.

“But something that’s more insidious, like arthritis, isn’t because we can’t link that to a specific point in time and prove that it was caused by the task of being operational as a search and rescue dog.”

The province’s community gaming grants — which distribute commercial gambling revenues to non-profits — are a large source of funds when handlers reach different milestones in their career, Trobridge says. But the day-to-day expenses of being a canine team are mostly covered by the handler.

“BC Search Dog Association writes a gaming grant every year and receives funding from that program annually, which subsidizes a lot of the costs of delivering the training program,” she said.

“But when I speak to handlers from other provinces, they share similar sentiments that it’s really expensive to be a search dog handler.”

In the future, Trobridge says she’d like to see more consistent funding from search teams across the province for their canine teams so that handlers like Sheila can afford to support their dogs into retirement.

“These dogs and handlers are dedicating so much time and so much effort to being an integral part of a SAR response,” she said.

“Support through funding is integral and it would be really great to see that uniform across the province rather than this piecemeal support model.”