Life Saving Purpose

Wilderness Finders, Inc. (WOOF) is on-call to the entire U.S., with most calls coming from California and Nevada. WOOF is a non-profit volunteer service unit whose primary objective is using trained dog teams to find people in trouble and give medical aid. Teams meet rigorous qualifying standards.

Since the unit started in 1975, WOOF has shown that well-trained search dog teams are an excellent way to find missing people. Many people owe their lives to the dog team's work.

WOOF is a non-profit organization staffed solely by highly trained volunteers. If you, your child or a loved one becomes lost, is a victim of a natural disaster, or a victim of foul play, our teams are prepared to search for you.

WOOF searches without charge to the person lost or to the agency. Cost of searching is paid for by the handlers themselves and by donations and grants to the unit. For information on how to support WOOF, click HERE.
You never know if bad weather will quickly change your plans, or if you'll lose the trail, or an accident will occur, and you are overdue. This is when your family can call a sheriff or National Park ranger who will call on WOOF for help. Experienced handlers with qualified WOOF search dogs armed with specialized equipment and survival gear come to your aid. Twenty-four hours a day these dedicated teams are ready to answer the call to search for a person lost, injured or stranded in urban, rural or wilderness areas, avalanches or disasters.

WOOF has responded to searches involving:
Lost hikers, skiers, snowboarders, climbers
Children lost from home
Alzheimer patients
Mentally disabled children and adults
Hunters
Missing aircraft
Potential suicides
Avalanches
Rock slides
Drownings
Earthquakes
Victims and evidence of crime

 


How Search Dog Teams Work

Teams carry the equipment necessary, including a radio, to be self-sufficient in the field for three days. Handlers are qualified as First Responders and some have higher medical training. They are skilled in canine field care, SAR (Search and Rescue) procedures, year-round wilderness survival, and backcounty travel. All unit members are experts with map and compass and GPS.

WOOF uses German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, Belgian Terverns and mixed breeds, dogs that can do the job. The SAR dog shows bright intelligence, eager trainability and steady temperament. Dogs have optimal conformation with respect to strength, size and coat to deal with searches demanding agility and endurance. Handler and dog live, train and work together for life.

WOOF Teams are trained, tested and certified yearly in different disciplines of SAR dog work. All WOOF dogs are certified area search dogs and all have expertise in at least one other discipline that may include: Avalanche Search, Disaster Search, Forensic Search, Water Search, Evidence Search, Tracking/Trailing and Obedience.

 

WOOF Saves Lives

Alive at 10,000 feet near Yosemite - it could have been you in that 30-foot crevasse for three days in freezing water with a broken back and numb legs, certain you were going to die.

But it was not you. It was Lester Needham, an ordinary businessman from Reno who, while on a hike in the backcountry, fell into that crevasse. He had what it took to survive those three days until he was found by Zeke.

"I wouldn't be alive except for the WOOF dog." Lester smiles as he pets the Golden Retriever's head. The WOOF team found and rescued him against great odds. Amazing his doctors, Lester was able to walk again.

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