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CHASE SQUIRESThe community fought for the pups' survival when they were born. Now their owner wants them certified to search for those missing or lost.
DADE CITY - As Lisa Cunningham's newborn puppies fought to stay alive, the community offered support.
Now, a year later, the two surviving German shepherds are big and strong. And Cunningham said it's time her dogs gave something back.
Cunningham, 39, is having the two female dogs, Whisper and Devan, trained and certified in searching for missing or lost people. This month, she made her venture official, filing the appropriate paperwork with the state establishing K-9 Search Unit Inc.
Eventually, she hopes to offer her dogs' assistance free to any law enforcement agency that needs help finding a missing person.
It all started in January 2003, when Cunningham's 4-year-old dog, also named Devan, endured a difficult pregnancy. Laden with 11 puppies, all of them larger than normal, Devan did not survive the birth.
For the puppies left without a mother, things got worse. A virus struck, and eight of them died within days. The others struggled to survive.
Cunningham, a technician at Dade City's Town and Country Veterinary Clinic, spent hours tending to the puppies, taking the place of their mother and hand-feeding them.
"Everyone was praying for them. People would stop in to ask about them," Cunningham said. "Everyone knew that I had to spend time with them, that at times I'd have to drop everything. But the community, all our patients, were so supportive."
In the end, three puppies survived. One went to the owner of their father, and Cunningham took Whisper and Devan home.
She also had an idea.
"These are excellent dogs," she said. "They have strong bloodlines, and I wanted them to be able to do something to help the community."
A family member of one of the clinic's patients recently had disappeared, leading to a neighborhood search. While lending a hand, Cunningham said she began to form a plan.
With the help of certified trainer Tom Spivey, she began training the dogs to be trackers.
"I was learning right along with them," she said. "I didn't know any of this either."
Spivey recently died, but Cunningham and her dogs are pressing on.
This week, she and supportive friends were out in a friend's pasture, drilling the dogs in following a human scent. The dogs appear eager, wagging their tails, plowing their noses through the deep grass and following the scent of boyfriend John Pertel and friend Steve Quinn, who were hiding in the woods.
"When they find someone, you should see their faces light up," Cunningham said. "They wag their whole bodies."
For the dogs, searching is a game. But when they are state certified, Cunningham hopes they can do some serious good. Perhaps they could help find a missing child someday or a wandering Alzheimer's patient or hunters lost in the woods, she said.
Pasco County sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said his department has its own dogs, and when more are needed, deputies usually call on other law enforcement agencies. Using a resident's dog has not been part of the office's plans, but it's something he said the department would consider.
He said experts would have to determine the dogs were trained and certified to law enforcement standards, and they probably wouldn't be called upon in most circumstances. But in rare occurences or in the case of a mass disaster, having backup available could be helpful.
Dade City police Chief Phil Thompson said the idea is novel, and when Cunningham is ready, he said he would be eager to talk with her about her idea.
"We never turn down help," he said.