Teams sharpen skills

SNOWBIRD — Finally, Summit was off his leash and it was almost playtime — all he had to do was find a live body purposely buried in the snow.

Colton Terry, 29, held on to 18-month-old Summit, giving his golden retriever a few words of encouragement before that anticipated word: "Search!"

In a reddish-golden flash, Summit was fast at work, sniffing around on top of a huge pile of snow intended to simulate the aftermath of an avalanche. Terry followed his dog, and about a minute passed before Summit hit on his target.

"Got an indication over here!" Terry shouted. "We've got a person over here!"

The pair was part of 32 teams of avalanche-rescue dogs and handlers who were at Snowbird this week to sharpen their skills. They were hosted by the nonprofit Wasatch Backcountry Rescue and instructors from the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association.

On Thursday, the dogs and their handlers practiced getting on and off helicopters provided by AirMed and Life Flight, whose medical professionals and pilots also benefited from the extra training.

The breeds of dogs varied, from golden and Labrador retrievers and German and Australian shepherds to the skinny black-and-rust-colored Syringa, a mix of golden retriever and German shepherd.

Their owners say the hard-working dogs get plenty of pampering. Summit, who comes from a long line of avalanche-rescue dogs, gets his paws sprayed with cooking oil before hitting the slopes, so ice and snow don't collect between his pads.

"He goes everywhere with me," Terry said. "He doesn't know how spoiled he is."

The dogs and their handlers or owners came to Snowbird this week from nine Western states and Canada. Terry is a general contractor who in the winter works ski patrol at Lake Tahoe's Heavenly Mountain Resort.

Along the Wasatch Front, there are about 40 dog teams capable of responding to calls for help with search and rescue or, in cases where bodies are found soon enough, recovery efforts.

"I think we've got a great number for our area," Wasatch Backcountry's president Dean Cardinale said about Utah's supply of rescue dog teams.

Terry and others took their dogs through stations that included agility training, which featured jumping on hay bales, climbing an aluminum ladder and crawling through a plastic tunnel.

When it came time to search for a human, however, Summit shone.

"Good boy. Good boy," Terry told Summit. "Good work, Summit. You do good work."

And for a moment, for the reward, there was a game of tug-of-war, with tail-wagging and playful growling — from the dog, that is.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com