Sachi had been living on the streets as a stray when she was picked up and taken to the North Central Animal Shelter in Los Angeles, California. There, she caught the interest of an adopter, but her first attempt at home life was short-lived—when she arrived at her new home, her adopter realized how intensely energetic she was, and swiftly returned Sachi to the shelter. Sachi was then assessed by Woof Project Rescue, who recognized her working dog potential and reached out to SDF.
Here, trainers were immediately taken with Sachi, noting her fun personality and incredible focus when working for a toy. As her relationship with her trainers grew, so did her love of the search game, and she seemed to be having a blast in her training. However, there was one thing she didn’t love—the rubble pile. She searched the flat ground enthusiastically for hidden people, but wasn’t as confident traversing rubble to find the hidden “victims.”
Thankfully, there are plenty of alternative working dog careers out there for a talented girl like Sachi, and our team set out to find her perfect fit. After just a few weeks of searching, we were thrilled to connect with a wilderness search and rescue (SAR) handler in Iowa who was interested in training Sachi as her partner.
Upon meeting, Sachi and her soon-to-be adopter hit it off beautifully, and arrangements were made for Sachi’s transport to Iowa. There, she discovered a whole new life waiting for her: a home to call her own, a welcoming family, and an exciting new career!
Sachi is now training to become a certified human remains detection wilderness SAR dog, and loving every minute of it! She gets to hunt and bark for her toy reward, as she loves to do, while searching and running in wide open spaces. She works alongside her mom—a helicopter paramedic and wilderness K9 handler—who reports that Sachi is doing incredibly well in her training. She’s consistently impressed with Sachi’s intelligence and drive, and says she’s a ton of fun to work with!
At home, Sachi enjoys running and playing with her three dog siblings on the family’s acreage, and during the cold winter months when she can’t go outside as much, she likes to run on the treadmill for exercise. Ever the active girl, her family also recently discovered that she loves to swim! Now that she’s fully come out of her shell, she’s quite the social butterfly, and has acquired a myriad of adorable nicknames from family and friends, including our favorite: Sushi!
Sachi’s mom says, “We LOVE our Sachi girl so much. […] I am so happy to be her handler and momma.” Likewise, we are so incredibly happy that Sachi has such a wonderful partner in search and happy home life. We know she has a bright future ahead, and we look forward to all of the future updates to come!
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