Conference Signup - Print & Mail
You can sign up for the 2008 Conference by downloading the PDF linked below, filling it out and mailing it to us with your check.
Conference Signup Sheet (PDF)
Mail to:
National Search Dog Alliance
1302 Waugh Drive, #121
Houston, TX. 77019
REVIEW OUR INSTRUCTORS
Area
Disaster
HRD
Track/Trail
Area
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.
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.
Arthur E. (Art) Wolff has been involved in Search and Rescue since 1975. He has conducted searches and taught various aspects of SAR on several continents. He helped co-found Florida Special Response Team and Tennessee Special Response Team, both of which are canine based SAR Teams. He is a Law Enforcement Canine Trainer as well as having helped develop NASAR’S Canine Testing Criteria.
Art has been a Post Certified Law Enforcement Officer since 1978, having spent years in a major agency’s Criminal Investigations Division as well as in Canine. He blends years of his SAR and his Law Enforcement experience into his teaching and training.
Disaster
 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.
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.
HRD
 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.
Patricia Totillo is a founding member and team trainer for K9SAR of Orange City, Florida, and has been involved in search and rescue since 2001. During that time, she has participated in nearly a hundred searches across the southeast. She has certified thru LETS, NNDDA, NASAR and NAPWDA. Currently, she works two canines certified for land and water thru NASAR and NAPWDA. She is a lead evaluator for NASAR for HRD land and water and an AKC CGC evaluator.
 Lisa Higgins is a nationally certified HRD canine handler who has responded to over 300 searches across the United States, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Puerto Rico with her canine partners. She works regularly for the Forensic Canine Program, Evidence Response Team Unit, for the FBI. She is one of two handlers qualified as an "Expert" in canine body recovery in New Orleans Criminal Courts. Lisa has worked in law enforcement since 1982 with St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office. She is a SSgt. with the Special Operations Division serving with the Mounted Division and K-9 SAR units. She is a member of the Federal DMORT Region VI Team and Louisiana Mass Fatalities Taskforce. Lisa has also co-authored several articles and a book chapter on water search and recovery.
Joe Mayers interest in canine training started at the age of ten when he helped his father reinforce techniques in hunting retrievers. He joined Louisiana Search and Rescue (LaSAR) in 1998. He has obtained his NASAR SARTECH II and, with his black lab K-9 partner, CharBon, received NASAR CANINE SARTECH III certification. While in the military, Joe was a structural fire fighter and has also been a Reserve Deputy for the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office. In 2005 Joe retired from the Union Pacific Railroad as a locomotive engineer after thirty-one years of service.
Joe has been an instructor for LaSAR since 2002 and is in charge of LaSAR's Western division based out of Lafayette, LA. He is also a member of the Canine Search and Recovery Association.
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.
Track / Trail
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.
Peter Harrington has been active in Search and rescue for twelve years. He has certified a Bloodhound and a German shepherd in trailing. He has trained and deployed Human Remains Detection dogs for use on water and land. He is regularly deployed with his Firearms detection dog. His Bloodhound is an AKC champion tracker and was invited to the National Tracking Invitational.
 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.
Pete Vasquez is an agent with the United States Border Patrol. He is a member of the special operations unit known as BORSTAR (Border Search Trauma and Rescue).
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