By DORIS COOK - Staff Writer
Star Beacon
May 04, 2008 12:48 am
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BAINBRIDGE TOWNSHIP — As a certified emergency medical technician and former firefighter for a number of years, Virginia Woolf saw the need for trained dogs to help search for lost people or human remains. The 47-year-old mother of two grown children decided to learn more about search dogs eight years ago.
She read about and inquired into how to join the Ohio Search Dog Association Inc. as a volunteer. The first requirement is get a dog, of course.
“I got this silver Labrador retriever and signed up nearly seven years ago to join OSDA. I was on probation for a period of six months after training with Dalai,” she recalled. “I wanted to continue volunteering in some way.”
Today like her counter partners in the eight-member team, Woolf and Dalai go out on many
emergency calls from law enforcement agencies around Ohio and even out-of-state. Dalai is a cadaver dog.
“She was imprinted at the beginning of her training to find dead people or human remains. At times when we go it sticks with me why I’m there. It can be emotional, but I get past that part. I know what I do can brings closure to families losing someone,” Woolf says.
Growing up in the southwestern Geauga area, Woolf fulfilled an early desire of becoming a volunteer firefighter. When her daughter, Nikki was five years old, she started out with the Troy Volunteer Fire Department. Later she joined as a firefighter with the Auburn VFD.
“Because of the proximity of the LaDue Reservoir near Auburn, there were drownings we’d get calls on. At first we had to use grappling hooks and I felt there was a better way. I started with other volunteers to form the first Geauga dive rescue team in 1992. It’s still active. At the same time I became interested in working with rescue dogs,” she said.
Woolf said she had the opportunity to see how a search dog could work with volunteer firefighters if needed.
“I kind of first disregarded their (dog) ability. Then I contacted the Ohio Search Dog Association to learn more about what they did as volunteers. I was like a blank piece of paper when I began working with a master canine handler,” she recalled.
For months, Woolf and Dalai trained at least three days a week all around the state with the OSDA instructor/handler. Her K9 pal, Dalai (Dah-lee), will be seven years old May 28. Woolf began training her lab as a cadaver dog at eight weeks. “ It takes 18 months to train a dog for specialty type searches. For the dog it’s all about the reward they get after completing a search. We all use some type of toy as the reward. Dalai has this black rubber ball she likes,” Woolf said.
“We never cross-train animals. They can not be both a cadaver and human search animal. I became certified in OSDA in 2002 with Dalai specialized in human remains detection. As a handler of search dogs, the animals are sometimes retired between 7 and 9 years. They are under stress during searches. It depends on the ability and health of the dog when to retire them,” she said.
OSDA is a non-profit, all volunteer emergency response unit specializing in most aspects of search and rescue (SAR). It has a 501(c)(3) public charity status. The organization accepts deductible contributions, which basically pays for insurance coverage of the members.
Public education programs are presented by team members headed up by Deana Hudgins, of Wooster, who is president. Woolf serves as vice-president of the organization. They also establish partnerships with other search dog teams in Ohio and Emergency Management Agencies in 88 counties.
Many times, and in recent months, Woolf and Dalai were involved in high profile police cases. Dalai made headlines last month after locating a severed foot of a Geauga County crash victim. The crash occurred almost in front of Woolf’s Chagrin Road home, she shares with her mother and college age son, Ethan.
“We heard the crash around 2 a.m. My mom and I have a routine if this happens. I get dressed, take Dalai, don a pair of gloves and see if we can help. My mom, Suzanne, calls 911. That night was weird, but the next day my dog alerted to finding the severed foot in a tree,” Woolf said.
In February this year, Woolf and Dalai trekked to Ashtabula County to help locate the dismembered body of murder victim Chyrone Kelley of Ashtabula. Kelley’s body was found in a Netcher Road pond in Denmark Township with Conneaut Police Department heading up the investigation.
Woolf and several other search dog teams worked the Jesse Davis murder case in Stark County in 2007. She has been called out to do searches in Mexico, Florida and even Washington, D.C.
“When I have to fly somewhere on a search request, Dalai has a seat with me on the plane. She wears her OSDA orange vest. It has raised a few concerns with passengers at first. Some people think she’s looking for terrorists or bombs,” she joked.
Woolf explained that when OSDA team members are called out on searches, they go quietly to help law enforcement agencies, fire companies, public and private entities. Recently, team member Debbie Klemencic of Concord Township and her trained bloodhound, Forrest Gump, picked up the trail in downtown Medina city to find a missing nursing home patient with dementia.
“Debbie and her K9 Forrest located the man after he got into a taxi. The dog alerted to the taxi. The cab company was checked and the driver led police to find the missing person. That’s the other side of what we do as search teams. It’s not all about finding human remains,” Woolf said.
“All our team members have real jobs besides our volunteer work with OSDA,” she said smiling.
Woolf keeps busy managing a local dog care boarding kennel, All About Dogs, close to her Bainbridge Township home.
“I love my job and what I do with OSDA helping people. I’m also certified by the North American Police Working Dogs Association. Dalai stays right in our home and like a spoiled kid. I’m soon going to look for a new dog to train as Dalai has gone through cancer surgery recently, but is healing,” Woolf said.
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