A Dog's Devotion

This is an inside view of a remarkable K9 search and rescue team operating in the wilds of Washington State whose “principal investigator” is a yellow lab named Keb. Keb’s story is of a dedicated K9 who can distinguish the scent of the dead from the scent of the living, and who can detect buried bones and even corpses underwater. Readers will follow this intrepid K9 and her teammates as they face the challenges of changeable weather, deep northwest forests, high mountain slopes, and menacing coyotes to find dead bodies, missing hikers, and even the bones of murder victims from long ago. Among their successes: finding multiple victims buried by the 2014 Oso Landslide, solving the mysterious disappearance of women in wealthy suburbs, and finding human bones thought to be forever lost to time. It’s their story about evolving as search and rescue volunteers while overcoming harsh conditions, inner demons, and a rust-bound bureaucracy. This is a unique, first-hand visit into the little-known world of dedicated SAR volunteers who find their purpose while searching for the lost and the dead. It will also appeal to anyone fascinated by how rescue K9s are raised, trained, and deployed in service to law enforcement under difficult conditions.