NATIONAL SEARCH DOG ALLIANCE

2008 National Search Dog Alliance Conference

Plans for the conference are continuing. As information becomes available we will continue to provide updates. For those wanting to work the rubble piles, you will need to have a helmet, suitable boots, leather gloves, goggles and knee pads. We have reserved a furnished building-like structure made from cargo containers that is out fitted with rooms. As you search, you can be filmed to review your work. We have thanked Atterbury but declined to have them include pop-out figures, flash-bangs or gas and smoke. Check Yahoo at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/NSDA-conference08/ for photos as they become available.

Conference Location & Dates

Camp Atterbury, Joint Maneuver Training Center is located at Edinburgh, Indiana, about 45 minutes south of Indianapolis on I-65. Registration begins at noon on Thursday, September 18th with a welcome dinner that evening. Classes run from Friday morning until noon on Sunday, September 21st

Registration & Costs

Registration is $175.00 until August 20th. After Aug. 20th until September 10th the fee will be $200.00. Lunch on Friday and Saturday and dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be included. Meals for non-registrants will be $35.00 for the five meals provided. A bunk bed in the barracks will be $45.00 for 3 nights, paid with the registration.

Accommodations

For those wanting to stay in the barracks, you must include that information on your registration form. You will need your own bedding and a crate for the canine is an absolute must. Showers are in an open room area but we are constructing portable stalls.

Johnson County Parks Campground is less than one mile from the entrance. $12.00/night for the conference. K-9s are welcome. 30A electric, water and dump station. www.johnsoncountypark.com.

Local Motels:

Day’s Inn Columbus
812-376-9951
(please state that you are calling for the NSDA conference)

Travelodge
812-372-6888

Best Western Horizon Inn
812-526-9883

Conference Signup - Print & Fax

You can sign up for the 2008 Conference by downloading the PDF linked below, filling it out and faxing or mailing it to us with your check.

Conference Signup Sheet (PDF)

Mail to:
National Search Dog Alliance
1302 Waugh Drive, #121
Houston, TX. 77019

Fax: 1.800.232.2242


REVIEW OUR INSTRUCTORS

Robert Noziska currently is an Operator for Headquarters/Special Operations Group for the United States Border Patrol.  For the past 10 years, Agent Noziska has been assigned to the special operations unit known as BORSTAR (Border Search Trauma and Rescue).  He assisted in founding and implementing the BORSTAR Canine Program for the United States Border Patrol in 2001.  Agent Noziska is a Master Trainer for North American Police Work Dog Association.  Agent Noziska has given presentations on numerous canine topics nationally strengthening existing SAR K-9 Teams. 

Kathy Holbert has been involved with working dogs in military, law enforcement and search and rescue for twenty years.  She is both a LETS (Law Enforcement Training Specialists) and a West Virginia Fire School Instructor. Kathy is a founding member of the Barbour County Tactical Search and Recovery Teams and its law enforcement branch, the Mountaineer Area Working Dog Association.  She has also served as an Assistant Instructor for Andy Rebmann, has trained two cadaver dogs in her career and is working on a third.

Jennifer Massey has been involved in Search and Rescue since 1993.  She has attended numerous searches and has certified canines in human remains, disaster, wilderness and water recovery.  She has been a member of Virginia Task Force One since 1999, has certified 2 FEMA Type I canines. Jennifer is an instructor trainer for Virginia Search and Rescue Dog Assn. and instructor and mentor for American Rescue Dog Association.  She serves as President of ARDA and is on the Board of Directors for National Search Dog Alliance.

Teresa MacPherson has been involved in SAR since 1990. She has certified multiple dogs in wilderness, disaster, human remains recovery and water search. Teresa and her partners have responded to hundreds of searches, including many disaster missions.  Aside from training and searching, Teresa evaluates and instructs on a local, state, national and international level.  Her international travels include Turkey, the United Kingdom and Brazil.

Deborah Palman has served as a Maine Game Warden for 30 years and police K-9 and SAR dog handler for 28 years.  She is a state certified K-9 trainer and has served as Training Director for Maine Search and Rescue Dogs since 1984.  Her dogs work in tracking, criminal apprehension, air scent SAR, water and cadaver search.  She has been on hundreds of searches and had numerous live and dead finds.  As a member of a user agency who often directs searches and a member of a SAR dog organization, she has a comprehensive view of search and rescue.

Janet Wilts is a Law Enforcement Specialist at Grand Teton National Park.  Janet has worked in search and rescue for over 30 years. (including technical rescue and swift water rescue).  Her hobbies are climbing, skiing and hiking. Janet has been training dogs since 1988, and participated on search and rescue teams since 1979.  Since 1988 she has trained five of her own search dogs and 3 of her own drug dogs.  She has taught seminars in many western states including MT, AZ, TX, CA, UT, WY, SD, ID OR and Colorado.  Topics of these seminars have included: Area, Tracking, Cadaver, HRD, Scent Theory, GPS and Mapping, and Rapelling with K9’s. She is a certified NPCA (National Police Canine Association detection dog evaluator and has worked as a drug dog K9 handler for 8 years.  Her current search dog is certified in wilderness area, trailing, cadaver/HRD, evidence/article, avalanche, water and narcotics detection. 

John Snow has twenty-five plus years in Law Enforcement, with the last twenty serving with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  He has been their head K-9 trainer for the past fifteen of those years.  John has helped to establish resource K-9 programs in six other states for Wildlife officers.  He trains in narcotics, HRD both land and water, as well as patrol (apprehension) work.  He also does work for LE and the military in land navigation, man trailing, booby traps, etc. 

Peggy Ann Buchman is a long time dog handler, working with any breeds in conformation and obedience.  She has been involved in Search and Rescue since 1998 and has dogs certified in a variety of disciplines by NASDN and NASAR.  Peggy is a founding member of Cross roads Search and Rescue of Illinois, an urban trailing team.  She and her current GSD, Dohai Kibo have been doing urban trailing since 2001.  She has worked with many groups helping handler teams learn how to work with their dogs to become reliable trailing dogs.  Peggy and her husband, Brian Hendrickson are both active handlers.

 

© 2007 - 2008 Copyright National Search Dog Alliance. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Compusoar Services