Six Canine Disaster Search Teams trained by the Ojai-based National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) have arrived in Japan and will soon be traveling to the devastated region where the skills of the canines are critically needed to use find people still trapped in the rubble.

The group includes two Ventura/Santa Barbara based teams: Eric Gray & Riley and Linda Tacconelli & Joe.

The teams have their gear ready and are waiting to leave the Misawa Air Base and head to Ofunato City on the North East coast of Japan where they will be conducting reconnaissance and primary searches. The group is divided into the RED team (Jasmine & Cadillac, Eric & Riley, Gary & Baxter), and the BLUE team (Bill & Hunter, Linda & Joe, Ron & Pearl).

The teams were called into action on Friday by USAID as part of Los Angeles County Task Force 2. They traveled on a chartered plane out of LAX together with Virginia Task Force 1 (America’s other international Task Force). Some 75 tons of rescue equipment and supplies for each Task Force were sent into the disaster zone via military transport.

The teams flew by way of Alaska where the plane touched down to re-fuel. An airport van shuttled the dogs and their handlers to the snow so they could stretch their legs (and paws!). They landed at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan on Saturday at 10:30pm PST. The group of 12 dogs did well on the flight over and bedded down with handlers to rest after their long journey.

The job of the dogs is to find live victims, conscious or unconscious, in the debris left by the earthquake and Tsunami. All rescue personnel will be awaiting a “Bark Alert” from the dogs, letting them know there is someone in need of rescue. Everything the teams have learned during their intensive training will be put to use in saving lives.

Since SDF founding 1996, SDF’s teams have been part of 75 deployments—including the World Trade Center attacks, Hurricane Katrina, and the Haiti disaster, where they helped bring 12 people to safety. Each time the teams deploy they come back with crucial lessons that are shared with all Search Teams to sharpen training techniques and tactics and enhance emergency response in our country…and abroad.

SDF will train 21 new teams in 2011 at a cost of $15,000 per team to be ready for the next local, national or international disaster – at no cost to the government, or to taxpayers.

For more information about the Search Teams or to make a donation to turn rescued dogs into rescuers, help form our new 2011 teams, and provide the highest level training to our existing teams: visit www.SearchDogFoundation.org, and follow the teams on Facebook and Twitter.