Westfield High School student gets hands-on experience with K9 training

By AMY ADAMS
news@readthereporter.com

As part of the robust internship program at Westfield High School (WHS), senior Bryanna Rohl has been spending her Saturdays this trimester working with Indiana K9 Search and Recovery.

“I’ve always had an interest in going into the detective field,” Rohl said. “I’ve also worked at a couple of kennels before caring for dogs.”

WHS Intern and Capstone Coordinator Michelle Goudy knew the opportunity would be the perfect fit for Rohl to be the first high school intern for Indiana K9 Search and Recovery.

Director Leah Snyder founded Indiana K9 in 1999 after having negative experiences trying to work with her dog in a more traditional search and rescue environment.

“I was at a seminar, and people laughed at me and my dog,” Snyder said. “We wanted a group of everyday people who could train their everyday pets in what some thought only law enforcement and fire departments could do.”

And that’s exactly what the organization does.

“It is proving that any dog can do this and any person can do this if they’re willing to put the time into it,” said Jordan Gray, who has been involved with the organization for more than nine years.

Indiana K9 Search and Recovery is an all-volunteer, insured nonprofit, and all the dogs receiving in-house and national certifications are pets.

Rohl took part in a presentation at WHS on Friday, Sept. 27, where volunteers from the organization brought four dogs into the auditorium to demonstrate search and recovery techniques.

Students from biology teacher Jon Majors’ first and second period forensic science classes were able to attend the demonstration to learn about how the dogs are trained and how they work. And, of course, they were able to meet and greet the dogs afterwards.

“We learned that you have to listen to the dog’s behavior,” junior Alyssa Staggs said.

Gray said some dogs are motivated by balls or frisbees and some are motivated by treats.

“It’s all about finding that drive and using that to train them,” he said.

Up to this point, Rohl has been acting as a spotter for handlers and their dogs, watching for possible distractions and helping out as needed.

“It takes about two to six months to train a dog and about two years to train a handler,” volunteer Miranda DeLongchamp said.

Snyder said volunteers and their dogs must attend 50 percent of trainings over three months to be able to participate in searches.

“We want to know they are committed,” Snyder said.

Rohl just reached that point. She will be able to go on future searches, including an upcoming search of the Herb Baumeister property in Westfield where remains of his victims continue to be found year after year. Indiana K9 Search and Recovery has been involved in at least three of those discoveries.

The organization doesn’t keep track of exactly how many searches they’ve participated in or how many recoveries they’ve aided in.

“We don’t count because counting is an ego thing, and we want to keep ego out of it,” Snyder said. “But, we do know that it’s in the hundreds.”

In addition to her internship, Rohl is taking a fire rescue class at WHS and will soon be getting her CPR certification. She has gotten the opportunity to shadow a fire captain who also works as a police officer, and she is hoping to be able to do ride-alongs with him in the future.

Rohl said she plans to continue her internship into the second trimester and may even stick with Indiana K9 Search and Recovery beyond that in hopes of training a dog of her own some day.

“The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is to trust your dog,” Rohl said. “You have to shut off all your senses and let your dog work.”

Snyder said that if the group had a motto, that would be it: Trust your dog.

“Leah created this with a vision for dogs that might get overlooked,” Gray said. “We want to help people who might want to learn, and be productive and give back a little bit.”

To learn more about Indiana K9 Search and Rescue, visit IndianaK9sar.org.