Welcome

Our mission is to acquire, train, certify, and maintain Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Canine Search Specialist teams (one dog and handler) for deployment as a county, state, national, or international resource. These specialized dogs are trained to find live victims trapped beneath the rubble or debris in a natural or man made disaster and perform a trained bark alert at that specific location until the handler arrives. These dogs and the timely information they generate save lives.

Fairfax Search Dogs will be primarily assigned to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Team; Virginia Task Force 1, but depending on the need throughout the country for these highly specialized teams, these dogs may be used by other responding agencies as well.