An Alberta S&R team took their dogs out of Haiti after 3 days.

[Swede]

The head of the team said the dogs were severly stressed by all the death they encountered. I just saw the clip on CBC news.

[timeforpeace]

1. RECOVERY PHASE. How many times...

[Name removed]

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[dkf]

2. That is heartbreaking.

Doggies have bigger hearts than some humans.

[KittyWampus]

3. Amen.

[lapfog_1]

5. And much bigger olfactory nerves as well.

The dogs are there to sniff for human survivors. Smelling so many dead bodies, in the high 80s temperatures, probably is making them less effective in finding survivors.

These are highly trained dogs that want to work and accomplish their tasks, it's probably very hard on them to not be able to perform.

[Skittles]

4. I think they become stressed by the reactions of their handlers too

:(

[havocmom]

7. Recall the S&R dogs in the rubble of the Twin Towers?

I recall reading where some of the handlers asked other rescue workers to hide at the end of the day so the dogs could feel the reward of finding a live one.

A search and rescue dog has a different outlook than a cadaver dog. There must be horrible stress on them when the chance of finding live people is so low. Seems the S&R dogs would start to feel like they were total failures with only the dead to find. Dogs are SO sensitive, it must be horrible for them to not get that satisfaction of actually saving people.

[DBoon]

8. Dogs need jobs

a dog lives to do what they are trained and bred to do.

They need that satisfaction of accomplishment

[gleaner]

9. Dogs are also feeling creatures as are ...

other animals. Your post is matter of fact and I cannot tell if you are being sarcastic or not. If not, please excuse me for commenting.

I have read though, that cadaver dogs do get very upset when told to search. They do it, but it is usually on a much smaller scale. I read a book about a murder once (a true story) where the handler of a cadaver dog described how the dog reacted when he gave him the command, "Find dead." The dog would hunker down and whimper and start creeping forward slowly until the handler encouraged him and praised him.

Animals do experience trauma. I know the dogs are needed, but I think they should be rotated and given frequent breaks. If we can't take in what is happening there with all of the information we have processed since it began, how can we expect animals with no understanding of the "why" not to be overwhelmed. If you keep your dogs fresh and alert they will do a much better job without the psychic distress. And I am not discounting the humans they are trying to help. I don't know how they will ever get over this. It is more than I can imagine.