Somewhere between hunting for gold in Latin America as a geologist and getting married to a new husband, thirty-three-year-old Susan Purvis loses her way.Susan comes to believe that a puppy and working on ski patrol at the last great ski town in Colorado will improve her life. When she learns about avalanches that bury people without warning, she challenges herself: “What if I teach a dog to save … dog to save lives?” This quest propels her to train the best possible search dog, vowing to never leave anyone behind.
With no clue how to care for a houseplant, let alone a dog, she chooses a five-week-old Labrador retriever, Tasha. With the face of a baby bear and the temperament of an NFL linebacker, Tasha constantly tests Susan’s determination to transform her into a rescue dog. Susan and Tasha jockey for alpha position as they pursue certification in avalanche, water, and wilderness recovery. Susan eventually learns to truly communicate with Tasha by seeing the world through her dog’s nose.
As the first female team in a male-dominated search-and-rescue community, they face resistance at every turn. They won’t get paid even a bag of kibble for their efforts, yet they launch dozens of missions to rescue the missing or recover the remains of victims of nature and crime.
Training with Tasha in the field to find, recover, and rescue the lost became Susan’s passion. But it was also her circumstance—she was in many ways as lost as anyone she ever pulled out of an avalanche or found huddled in the woods. “Lostness” doesn’t only apply to losing the trail. People can get lost in a relationship, a business, or a life. Susan was convinced that only happened to other people, until Tasha and a life in the mountains taught her otherwise.
more
I enjoyed this book, because of the wonderful characters. The dog and all the other characters. I loved Sue’s determination to get her dog avalanche trained, which led her to really interesting adventures and many other certifications. I am a native of CO and loved hearing about some of my favorite places. I was sorry to hear about all the male chauvinism she had to endure, but not surprised. I think things are slowly changing. I was also blown away by how sharp a dog’s sense of smell really is. It’s incredible!
I liked the dog and the detailed descriptions of training a search dog and the owner/handler’s trials and tribulations of training toward certifications. A lot of very informative information in this book and the pains it must have taken to write it.
Slow to start – but gets moving about half way through.
It was okay. Seemed it could have moved faster. Did like the main character but it just seemed to take so long to get to the meat of the book. Someone who has more interest in the topic would probably enjoy it very much.
The story of this woman’s experience with training her dog as an avalanche rescue and recovery dog is fascinating. The finding herself part is not a big focus.