The hardest part was to teach my handler and to make
him understand that I know what I'm doing when I'am
working,he had to learn to trust me. You see my main
thing is smelling and find what I am looking for, but my
handler has to use his head and think,I know that's hard
for him to do sometimes. We are a team and best friends.
My handler had to pass his part of the testing also,like
map and compass,radio procedure,wind currents,scent
pooling,wilderness survival,First Aid,CPR, K-9 First Aid,
Visual Tracking,signs & tracks,Rappelling and rope work,
Incident Command System,Profiling of victims,Crime scene
preservation,Water Rescue Methods and Wilderness Extra-
cation,and more.
The guy over on the left,thats my cousin,so I'm told.
Bubba Gus Here
I am a hound,not quite sure what type. My handlers wife Kay believes that I am a Rhodesian Ridgeback,without the ridge down my back. Some people call
it a smooth back. What ever breed I am,I very good at what I do,and that's
tracking people,lost ones that is. I am certified Search and Rescue K-9. My
unit is North Central Missouri K-9 Search and Rescue. I'am 20 months old.
I started my training when I was 5 months old. After one year and three months
I was tested and passed my testing for tracking/trailing so now I am certified to
do what I love. My Search & Rescue Team is a working tool for Fire Districts
and Law Enforcement Agencies. As of September 01, 2002 my partner and I
became members of SHOW-ME K-9 SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM. And in Febuary 2003 we became members of the SHAWN HORNBECK SEARCH AND RESCUE and the SHAWN HORNBECK FOUNDATION.
We train long and hard just to help people anytime we are needed,and we
do it for FREE. Our Unit is an all volunteer Organization dedicated to pro-
vide Law Enforcement,Fire Districts,and citizens an extra tool in locating
anyone who is lost and or missing,or escaped from jail or prison,and help
locate drown victims. Our Unit has land and water cadaver dogs also, Air
Scenting dogs we use for a quick search in some areas.
I love to play ball,chew anything, ride,get attention that I demand, and I do
let it be known if I feel that people are not giving me their full attention.
I am a native of North Carolina. But I now live in Missouri. Let me tell you
the story of how I ended up in Missouri. When I was a little welp, around 3
months old,I was out walking along a Highway early n the morning. I don't
know how I got there. I was lost in the middle of nowhere. A nice couple
stopped and picked me up. They were from Missouri. They didn't know what
to do with me,so they decided to keep me as their pet,and brought me to the
city of Columbia,Missouri.
I started to grow a little bigger than they thought I would, and they lived in
an apartment that wasn't big enough for us and they both worked and was
gone a lot. Well to make a long story short,they asked around to see if any
one would like to take me. They came up empty handed,so they decided to
put me in the Central Missouri Humane Socity so someone could adopt me.
While I was at the shelter I got what is known as kennel cough. A nice foster
mom for dogs took me home with her so I would be away from the kennel and
nursed me back to health. She would take me walking and we visited a lot of
different people and other dogs. Well while I was staying with my foster mom
she took me to a pet expose in Columbia. We were walking around to all the
different booths,when I spotted a booth that had a sign that read N.C. MO. K-9
Search and Rescue. Well what really caught my eye was the first letters of the
sign N.C. Thinking that the N.C. stood for North Carolina where I was from.
But I found out the N.C. was North Central. Darn, how unlucky can one dog be.
My foster mom was talking to the people at this booth and a couple who was
with the N.C.MO. K-9 SAR Team was giving me a lot of attention, I could
tell they really liked me,so I really put on a show and let them see that I had
a great nose on me,I was checking out everything with gusto,no pun intended.
Well it seemed like forever untill my foster mom told them that I was up for
adoption. I knew they would adopt me, my sharp K9 observations told me so.
They went to the animal shelter to make arrangements to adopt me and I went
home with my foster mom.I really loved my foster mom,but I knew it was a
matter of time until I would go back to the shelter and if someone didn't adopt
me within a few weeks I would be put down,gulp.
The next day my foster mom took me back to the animal shelter and told me
that my new family members would pick me up in a couple of days. What she
didn't tell me was the shelter Vet was going to take my manhood away, boy
did that smart. But I would give that up in place of my life. The two day wait
was forever. But there they were the second evening picking me up,free at
last,free at last.
Three days later,I got to meet all the dogs in the Search and Rescue Unit and
of course their handlers and others members. We all camped out and I started
my training. I was really impressing everyone on how good I was doing on the
first day. They tried me on locating cadaver scent and I found it in half the time
of the experienced dogs, I am a natural, one of a kind. I like to brag also. So
every thing just kind of fell into place from that day forward.I love every minute
of it, well maybe not the obiedence part of the training .
One great thing about my handler is that he has two German Shepherds and a
big rottie I can run with.They all welcomed me in to their pack and we hit it off
with a good relationship. So now I'am a certified Search and Rescue dog. Please take a look at my pictures on the other page. Well that's my life story,
hope you have enjoyed reading about a lost pup who now can find lost people.
How did I get the name Gus? I think the couple who found me gave me the name Argus. But my handler dropped the Ar and just calls me Gus,sometimes
he calls me Bubba Gus.That's how I got my name.Hope you never get lost,but
if you do,I hope I'm the one who finds you. See ya later.Please sign my guest
book,so I'll know you if I'm ever needed to look for you.Thanks, Your friend
GUS.
P.S. My handler Bill went to a Marine Corps Reunion to see some of his old
Viet Nam buddies in October 2001 and he took me with him,guess where it was
held. In NORTH CAROLINA, we had a ball at the beach at MoreheadCity, N.C. On September 01, 2002 Bill and I became members of Show-Me
K-9 Search and Rescue located in Audrain County Missouri. Our first search
with the new SAR Team was on October 12, 2002 in Richwoods,Mo. searching
for 11 year old Shawn Hornbeck missing on October 06, 2002. Shawn is still missing as of August 2003, his banner is below,if you see him please let someone know.
