Team Info
Task Force: California Regional Task Force 7 (CA-RTF7)
Level: Certified (HRD)
Search Dog Info
Breed: Belgian Malinois mix
Sex: Male
Born: June 29, 2016
Recruited from Charleston Animal Society in South Carolina
Paul, a German Shepherd mix, was discovered at the Charleston Animal Society in South Carolina by SDF recruiter Charlie Freeman in 2018. Shelter staff shared that Paul was left neglected in his crate, so they stepped in to provide him with a better quality of life. A local to that area himself, Charlie was able to quickly evaluate Paul and notified SDF staff that he believed he had a good candidate waiting for us.
Paul was transported to our National Training Center (NTC) in Santa Paula, CA, and upon official acceptance into our training program, began working more intensely with our trainers. At a certain stage in his training, it became apparent that Paul was not particularly interested in playing tug with the “victims” he found hiding in the rubble pile. He had all of the skills necessary to do the job well, but that piece of the puzzle was missing for him and for a minute we were not sure what this meant for his career.
Soon the decision was made to transition Paul from a live-find search dog to human remains detection (HRD). This way Paul was still able to utilize his new skillset, but he got to enjoy playing tug just with his handler, like he preferred. SDF was not yet training HRD dogs for task forces and so SDF’s Director of Canine Training & Behavior, Mandy Tisdale, adopted him for herself.
Mandy shared the following about her first HRD dog, “Paulie is has come a long way and developed into a confident and awesome partner. He is pushy and bossy, yet sweet and affectionate. Paul has pushed my boundaries and taught me a lot about toy play. He has made me a better handler.”
Mandy and Paul continued to strengthen their bond and first achieved certification on November 12, 2019. This allows them to work as an asset for the Ventura County Fire Department and deploy as members of Regional California Task Force 7.
The team has deployed on the following missions:
- June 19, 2020 – Structure Fire – Pasadena, CA
- November 29, 2021 – Missing Person – Castaic, CA
- July 15, 2022 – Structure Fire – Oxnard, CA
- November 27, 2022 – Structure Fire – Santa Paula, CA
Originally named Carlos, we renamed this handsome boy in honor of Paul Jolly of the Petco Love organization. They not only helped SDF to construct our beautiful Canine Pavilion at the NTC, which houses the dogs while they are in training at SDF, we also facilitate the Petco Love Canine Cancer Grant, which provides financial assistance to working dog handlers nationwide whose canine partners are battling cancer. One way or another, Petco Love’s generosity has affected countless numbers of canine teams across the country, and we are very grateful!