Woman and her Belgian shepherd ready to rescue

When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti last week, Kim Gilmore was put on 24-hour standby.

Gilmore and her search-and-rescue dog, Brenner, had just a few days to prepare for a possible trip into unknown circumstances. For Gilmore this meant making sure she and Brenner had the appropriate shots and documents to not only leave the country, but also be allowed back into the United States.

Gilmore, of Columbia Falls, is a member of 1st Special Response Group, an international response search-and-rescue unit composed of volunteer professionals. Brenner is a Belgian shepherd certified in several types of search.

The standby notice forced Gilmore to take a few days off from her job as a nurse. Those days were filled with errands like a last-minute trip to the veterinarian's office and preparing gear.

By week's end, Gilmore was taken off standby and notified that she wouldn't be going to Haiti. Her focus then shifted to making up the work shifts she had missed.

It's a life that Gilmore has become accustomed to after spending about 25 years as a member of search and rescue groups. She is a member of the Flathead County Search and Rescue and the North Valley Search and Rescue teams.

"There's plus and minuses (to search and rescue). Sometimes you have to take a day off from work, but you're providing a service," she said in a recent interview. "We enjoy it."

Even so, Gilmore expressed relief at not responding to Haiti. Whenever she works in a foreign country, there's many variables that can put her and Brenner in danger, she noted.

Gilmore has worked in Fiji, the Canary Islands, Austria and Germany. For each call, there's a different climate, altitude and culture.

"You have to be ready not knowing what you'll face," she said. "Here, I know the flora and fauna. I know about bears and mountain lions. I don't know about snakes and poisonous plants — and neither does my dog. I don't know about the different diseases."

Love of dogs

This longtime "non-paying job," as Gilmore affectionately calls search and rescue, began when she was a freshman at the University of Montana in 1985. A flier seeking search members caught her attention.

She attended her first meeting and soon after began training her 4-year-old Doberman pinscher in search and rescue. Working with the canine unit was a perfect fit for Gilmore, who from a young age had trained dogs for 4-H projects.

"I've worked with dogs more than half my life," she said.

At UM, Gilmore had been majoring in business management until her work with search and rescue caused her to take emergency medical technician training. That sparked her interest in medicine and would eventually lead her to pursue a degree in nursing.

When she got a job at Kalispell Regional Medical Center, joining the local search groups was a natural fit. While trained in several search and rescue aspects, much of Gilmore's focus is on working as a dog handler. She is the canine training director for the Flathead unit.

Working with the dogs means hours of training for not only the handler, but also the dog. Gilmore begins by choosing a puppy that is social and playful. Puppies receive socialization and obedience training early on. At 18 months, training becomes specialized for search work.

Dogs can be trained in a number of areas, including area search, track and trail search, avalanche rescue, urban search, cadaver detection and water search. Dogs in the Flathead unit must earn certification from both the Flathead County Sheriff's office and national certification.

Some training is more subtle. Handlers learn to read the changes in the dogs' behavior.

"Many traits are the same for the breed, but some are individual to the dogs," Gilmore said. "A dog might hold their ears or tail a certain way. The dog is communicating back to the handler and the handler has to be respective to that."

Hours are spent on daily and formal training, but the dogs seem to enjoy it.

"It's a big game of hide and seek for them," she said. "There's also some thrill or adrenaline rush for them."

Gilmore enjoys it too.

"Having a new dog is like a new child. I'm like a proud parent when they go through and pass certification," she said. "The first time a dog on our team makes a find, it's as if my child had graduated from medical school. I'm just as pleased as if it was my own dog."

The Belgian shepherd

Gilmore began in search and rescue working with a Doberman pinscher and later a golden retriever, but it was the Belgian shepherd breed she connected with.

"We've communicated very well," she said of her Belgian dogs. "They're light, agile and smart. They are used in military work, and their life span is longer than most breeds."

Belgian shepherds are a medium- to large-size dog that has historically been used as a working dog and known for obedience, tracking and herding skills.

Gilmore still remembers the first time she saw the breed while attending an American Kennel Club obedience competition. She began following a young boy who had a red Belgian shepherd. She found out what the dog was and eventually convinced a breeder to take a chance on her. Still in college, Gilmore didn't even have a job and was living in an apartment.

"I absolutely loved the dog," she said. "All their behavior quirks they have really support my personality."

Gilmore now operates Big Mountain Belgians, under which she participates in breeding and gives search and rescue seminars.

She has two Belgians, Brenner and Willow. This spring she plans to adopt a puppy that she will also train for search and rescue.

"It's really the love of the dogs," she said of why she volunteers her time. "I also like being able to make a difference not just with the dogs, but in all aspects of search and rescue."