Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog

Susannah Charleson sort of fell into search-and-rescue. After volunteering as an assistant for her local search-and-rescue team, she eventually received approval to train a dog of her own. After a prolonged nation-wide search, the Golden Retriever Puzzle landed in her lap.

I'm not a huge non-fiction reader. Let's take a peek at my shelves, shall we? Let's see.... I've labeled 1252 read books as fiction and 129 as non-fiction. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the true stories.

Yet I was drawn to the story of Susannah and Puzzle. I don't watch the news a lot, but even I have noticed that whenever a disaster happens, there's always footage of a SAR (search-and-rescue) worker and his or her dog in the background. I did not realize that these show more workers are volunteers who spend hours training each week, not to mention the time that they spend actively searching. What a huge commitment to make to help out other people.

When I was asked if I wanted to read and review this book, I asked the publicist, "Is this one of those books where you get all attached to the animal and then you sob the last fifty pages as they get sick and die? 'Cuz I don't do the whole crying thing." To my relief, the answer is that Puzzle is still alive and well.

And what a dog Puzzle is! She is highly intelligent and creative, and through Susannah's eyes we can watch Puzzle reasoning her way through the problems she's confronted with. I was amazed at some of the stories I read, not just about Puzzle but about all the dogs in their SAR team. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say much, but just think about training in burnt buildings and the myriad of scents these dogs must be confronted with. I had no idea that SAR dogs can work on the water also. Who knew? Oh, and the picture of the volunteer and his dog rappelling down the side of a building together blew me away. A dog calmly rappelling? Wow.

There's one section where Susannah writes feelingly about her time as an assistant on the search after the Columbia space shuttle exploded. She handled it with sensitivity, but it was heart-breaking to read about. Even the dogs suffered from burnout on that search.

I think part of the reason the author chose to write this memoir is to confront the misconceptions the public, especially those who work in public services such as law enforcement and emergency medicine, have about what exactly the dogs can do. She quotes one officer who tells her that he hates to see the dogs called in because that means they've given up hope on finding a live person and believe they're now searching for a body. She gears up to tell him that these dogs can practically work miracles and they should always be called to a search early on when he cuts her off and says, "We only use dogs for human remains....Live people just don't smell bad enough." Susannah amply proves her point in this book that the dogs absolutely should be called in before all hope is given up.

Training Puzzle is no easy task. A dog as bright, independent, and inquisitive as she is has her own ideas about proper behavior. Convincing her otherwise provides some entertaining moments. Especially when they share the house with a multitude of jealous Pomeranians. They all have to play the searching game! And when Puzzle decides to find someone's hidden stash of treats--well, let's just say the results aren't pretty but they're funny.

I think animal lovers of all kinds will love this book. It kept my attention, and I even kept reading bits to my husband, something I don't recall ever doing with a non-fiction book before. I also think it's important for the law enforcement and emergency medical communities to give it a try just so they do know the dogs' abilities. I loved learning about these dogs and their volunteer handlers, and I loved "meeting" Puzzle and Susannah, may they share a long and healthy partnership!

Thanks to the publicist for sending me a copy of this wonderful book for review. show less

Susannah Charleson first found herself drawn to search and rescue through the air – piloting a small plane on searches for missing people and in disasters; but later, a dog lover and someone who found she liked the work “on the ground,” she decided to certify a search and rescue (SAR) dog with the Metro Area Rescue K9 unit in Dallas, Texas. Scent of the Missing is Susannah’s story of that journey with Golden Retriever Puzzle by her side.

From the first page of this heartfelt book, I was hooked – and not just because I too have traveled that long, difficult, heart-rending and rewarding journey from novice to mission ready SAR K9 handler, but because Charleson can write. She writes from the heart, but it is never sappy or overly show more emotional. Her prose is descriptive, intuitive, and honest. She writes about the big searches (like the search for human remains following the Columbia tragedy), but she also gives the reader details of the “small” searches, the searches that no one ever hears of except in the small town with a child or adult go missing. The stories she tells are the ones that every searcher remembers – the ones where the person is not found, or where they are found days later deceased. She shares the heavy weight of responsibility which all searchers carry, and the mix of emotions which accompany every search.

Reading Charleson’s book, I was drawn back to my own experiences of being a K9 handler – the long trainings in all kinds of weather and conditions, the 2:00 am “wake up call” when my pager would sound and I would be instantly on alert, the fatigue, the hard work…and ultimately the incredible partnership with my dog. Charleson effortlessly captures all of that in Scent of the Missing.

Dog lovers will love this book and fall in love with Puzzle, Charleson’s adorable, full of life Golden Retriever who takes to the field naturally and challenges her partner from the start. The bond that develops between handler and dog is beautiful and hard won. And, of course, for anyone who has worked in the field of search and rescue (or is considering volunteering for a team in their area) Scent of the Missing should be required reading. Despite my tears at times reading Charleson’s words, despite the fact that it made me ache with missing my own SAR dog Caribou, I am glad I read this beautifully written book.

Highly recommended. show less

This is a very engaging read about the journey of Susannah Charleston and her puppy, Puzzle, working toward their Search and Rescue certification. The journey begins while Susannah is still working as a SAR field assistant, helping other dog-and-handler teams. When she's ready to train a SAR of her own, she finds Puzzle and they begin a wonderful relationship.

This book is very well written. The pacing is much better than your typical "best dog in the world" book, since there are chapters focusing on the SAR events intermixed with the chapters focusing on Puzzle herself. Puzzle has an actual story here -- her efforts to become SAR certified -- so it does keep you reading to see what happens next. Susannah's style is very conversational. show more I enjoyed her obvious love for Puzzle and her SAR teammates, her wry sense of humor, and her honesty about fears of not being good enough.

Thank you, Susannah and Puzzle, for the hard work you do. And thank you for sharing your story with us! show less

Finally an author who can write with a dog story worth telling has come along! In Scent of the Missing Susannah Charleson illuminates the often romanticized, but little known world of search and rescue dogs. She starts with her own introduction to the SAR, as a field assistant and finishes the book with an accounting of the training of her own SAR dog, Puzzle. If you are expecting sappy, feel-good accounts of rescues you may be disappointed. Susannah tells it like it is including the disappointments, heartbreak, and the rescues that may have been better staying unfound. Still, in the end, you will have a profound appreciation for the incredible work and dedication demanded of the handlers and dogs.

While SAR is a fascinating world, what show more really makes the book is Susannah's writing style. The book flows effortlessly and the vocabulary and subject matter are sophisticated. I learned a lot from this book and enjoyed myself along the way. I can only hope that Susannah continues the story of Puzzle! show less

Great book and excellent narrator (audiobook), highly recommend for dog lovers and "life" lovers. This book covers the author's own background in rescue work and her life in general, but the main focus is on the life of Puzzle, a Golden Retriever, as Puzzle is trained for Search and Rescue work. It's told in a casual and easy-flowing manner, though occasionally the style turns into a "stream of consciousness" rambling type book and, whoo-boy, and those are the areas that drag down the quality. Fortunately those digressions are few and 90% of the book is easy to read (or, in my case, listen to). The book is more of a well-connected group of stories and chapters could almost be written by different people: some chapters on dog training show more how-to, some on the author's personal issues, some are stories of rescues. show less

A very personal memoir about a divorced woman who is worrying her family with her newly invigorated zest for life. Through a series of happenstances, she finds herself helping with search and rescue and eventually decides to train a search dog of her own. Already the single-parent of a number of rescue dogs, the author's newest edition to the household causes something of a stir. Moreover, the extremely intensive search and rescue training will test her determination, drive, and boundless love for her dogs.

For anyone interested in the training and nature of search and rescue operations, this book is an uncommon look into this rarified world. It is also a very intimate look into the life of an ordinary woman searching for purpose in a show more challenging field. show less

Did you know that working search & rescue with a dog is, for the most part, a volunteer position? I didn’t.

Did you know that a potential handler goes through months and months (maybe even years) of training before he or she is ready to even consider raising & training a dog to work with? I didn’t.

And did you know that, once a handler has acquired a dog to train, that dog AND the handler must go through months and months (again, maybe even years) of more training before the dog/handler team is ready to actually head out in the field on their first search? Remember — this is all volunteer. Again, I had no idea.

Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson is the autobiographical story of a handler and her partner, from before the show more partnership even began. I say story because it’s not a memoir, per se — both members of the team are still living — and it’s not strictly a detailing of either member’s life. Rather, Charleson tells the story of life before her partner, meeting her partner, training with her partner, and the maturation of both handler and dog to form a complete, trusting, bonded pair that could work together in the field.

It’s fascinating to see the level of commitment and dedication that both Charleson and her partner, a Golden named Puzzle, had to the job. From birth to present day, Puzzle was groomed to be a search dog (she showed search tendencies during the assessment tests… yes, assessments when she was only weeks old!), and it’s clear from Charleson’s story that the dog truly loved (I should say, loves… she’s still alive and working) her job and was meant to work search & rescue.

Though she downplays her own role in the book, it’s also evident that Charleson is an excellent handler, dedicated to search & rescue, and very in-tune with what it takes to make a potential working puppy into a full-fledged rescue dog. I found that Charleson came across as very humble in her position, and maybe that’s because of the nature of the work… but I think she’s to be highly commended for working such a difficult field and for giving her all to it.

My only question by the end of the book was, if this is all volunteer, how on earth is Charleson (or anyone working search & rescue, for that matter) making a living? They’re on call at all hours of the day and night, and sometimes searches can go on for days, so where is the income coming from? I would have liked to see a little more insight onto how working search affects the humans’ daily lives and how they balance family, paid work, volunteering, training, etc… but understandably, the book wasn’t about humans, it was about working with a dog. Still, I wonder…!

Finally, though every so often I took issue with what seemed to be an excessive projection of human thoughts & emotions onto the dogs mentioned (particularly Puzzle), I also realize that when you work so closely with an animal for an extended period of time, you see things & understand things about his or her movements and moods that others simply cannot see. So, while I didn’t always like the “human thoughts” given to Puzzle, I give Charleson the benefit of the doubt — after all, don’t we all speculate about our pets’ thoughts and emotions from time to time?

And you wouldn’t believe the emotional toll that search takes on the dogs, for that matter. But, rather than tell you about it, I’ll let you read the book and learn a few things for yourself. I love reading animal-related books that teach me something, both about the animal(s) and the human(s) who work with them, and this book was no exception. Canine search & rescue teams are incredibly hard working, and I honestly had no idea whatsoever about them before reading this book — not to mention how brilliant some dogs are when their brains are put to good use, given real challenges.

If you love animals, this is a great book for you to learn more about the intelligence of dogs. If you’re interested in law enforcement, rescue operations, or even human-animal relationships, this is also the book for you. If you love a good story about two souls discovering they were meant for each other, and the long journey toward that moment of discovery… here’s your story. Read, learn, and enjoy. show less