Team Info
Task Force: California Task Force 7 (CA-TF7)
Agency: Sacramento Fire
Level: FEMA Certified
Search Dog Info
Breed: Labrador Retriever
Sex: Male
Born: November 4, 2020
Recruited from: Liz Paape
Sponsor: The Joel and Dena Gambord Family
Buck was generously donated as a puppy to SDF by Liz Paape, so he practically grew up on campus and benefited from being around trainers his whole life. As a young candidate, Buck was initially shy around strangers, so the focus was put on building his confidence by having new people handle him in search and going on off-site field trips to the airport and Petco. As he progressed through the program, he mastered his foundational elements and became a self-assured, happy boy who enjoys offering snuggles to everyone. He also developed into quite the character, making his office mates laugh daily with his habit of pushing his chew bones around the floor and rolling on them! Buck graduated from search training and was paired with his first responder handler, Michael Harcos, on September 24, 2022.
Michael always wanted to be a firefighter and started on his path as a first responder at sixteen years old. He worked as a lifeguard for ten summers and as an EMT for a private ambulance company during the colder months starting in his twenties. At 25, he became a paramedic and worked providing 911 services in Alameda County before becoming a firefighter with the Sacramento Fire Department. After Michael joined California Task Force 7 as a Rescue Specialist in 2012, he was introduced to the abilities of search dogs. He was immediately impressed by the realization that the dogs were the most efficient way to locate victims trapped under rubble. Over the years, he contemplated applying as a handler, but with young children at home, he didn’t feel he had the necessary time to dedicate to being a handler. His youngest now a teenager, Michael felt like everything was in place for him to pursue a role as a canine search specialist, and his family agreed.
Upon meeting Buck for the first time, Michael was blown away by the energy and excitement Buck pours into every activity. “He is so excited to do any and every kind of training that he literally bounces when he sees me strap on my reward pouch before we start,” Michael says. An exciting moment for him during the Handler Training Program was coming to campus for the first time and “seeing the dogs in various stages of training and recognizing the amount of work and patience that the trainers have put into the end product, which is a skilled and efficient search dog.”
Michael recounts that he knew Buck was a good fit for him when he was loading Buck into a kennel one day and noticed he was wearing a cowboy collar. “I said to him, ‘Oh hey, you’re a buckaroo.’ Buck gave me a look and licked my face, and my heart melted. From that moment, I have had an emotional attachment with Buck, and I was extremely grateful that he was selected to be my partner.”
Buck is now home with the Harcos family whose members include Michael, his wife, three daughters, and two golden retrievers. Although initially jealous that Buck gets to go everywhere with Michael, the two family dogs are coming around. The rest of the family is already on board with having a search dog as a pack member, even participating in training by volunteering as victims in search drills.
Michael is looking forward to continuing his training with Buck and eager to get him exposure to as many environments as possible as they strive towards FEMA certification. We’re happy that Buck has an enthusiastic new family to go home to and look forward to sharing this new team’s achievements!