Search and Rescue dogs are the most generally admired and publicly useful of all our canine citizens. As far as we know, Sage has become the only fully qualified Search and Rescue Bull Terrier in North America. Through casual happenstance, it appears she was the one who thought of it first.

She quickly acclimated to our Bedrock routines after arrival at four months from Banbury. Agile as a cat and clever as a mongoose, she quickly learned to go where she pleased, which was often different from my expectations. For instance, she would open her own yard gate every morning just in time to "help" walk the pig. Her weakness was a ball, any ball, and I used that to keep her busy. She never gave up; she became obsessed with balls.

My FEMA friend, Pat Hawn, whose Border Collie, "Cody" (S&R qualified at the highest level), brought me gradually around to the idea of channeling Sage's boundless intellect and energy. Using the ball as the reward, we started shaping Sage's behavior to search for objects and then people, first by tracking them and then by their air scent.

Her quickness, sagacity, and tenacity were amazing all of us. Then she broke a leg playing, so to keep her busy and progressing, Pat added the cadaver dimension; Sage learned to recognize and find dead body parts in sealed containers underground, and finally, under water.

Sage made such a deep commitment to her new calling that the ball has become secondary--almost trivial in her priorities. Her skills and achievements got so far advanced that she has moved her "office" to Pat's house, and has made a great ally of "Cody".

Sage has passed every level of test at first asking and is making a celebrity of herself in the Search and Rescue community. She has been on several "missions" in our region and has found a drowning victim when two more seasoned dogs could not. She still doesn't love swimming though.

Sage is still delighted to see me, but she has far more important work to do than I could ever provide. She has lost nothing of her special Banbury-Bedrock sparkling personality, and still invents amusements for her spare time.