Haley Joel Osment’s character may have seen dead people in the film, The Sixth Sense, but Clarkfork-Bitterroot Search Dogs look for dead people. Well, some of them.  The Montana dogs also serve as Tracking/Trailing Dogs, Air Scent Dogs,  “dead people” dogs (better known as Cadaver Dogs), Avalanche Dogs, and Water Dogs. Each discipline calls on different talents in which a dog excels, but all of them participate in a variety of mock searches with local SAR units and other agencies including the Forest Service. In most cases, it takes at least 16 months to two years for a dog to become operational. The dogs will train for hundreds of hours before their search skills are perfected and they’re tested for certification. “Ruby,” Fegus,” “Dawson,” and “Luke” are current Clarkfork-Bitterroot Search dogs,  and each of them is either a Labrador Retriever or German Shepherd Dog. Purebred dogs. Just saying. We thought you’d want to know about these hardworking dogs in Big Sky Country.

Photo of “Fergus” from Clarkfork-Bitterroot Search Dogs‘ website.