The History of Search and Rescue Dogs

Ambulance Dog

Dogs have been working alongside humans for thousands of years, helping with various tasks.

The story of the St. Bernard dogs goes way back to the 17th century when monks at the Hospiz auf dem Grossen Sankt Bernhard (Switzerland) started breeding their own dogs. Initially, these dogs were used to help find tracks buried in snow that led back to the monastery. But over time, they became famous for their role in rescuing lost people. One dog in particular, named "Barry," saved 40 people’s lives between 1800 and 1812, guiding them back to safety at the monastery.

Fast forward to the late 1800s, when the military started getting interested in dogs for more specific tasks. In 1885, the German military began looking into using dogs to carry ammunition and alert troops to intruders. Around the same time, Jean Bungartz, a painter and animal trainer, started developing training programs to use dogs to find wounded soldiers. In 1890, he founded the “Deutschen Verein für Sanitätshunde” (German Association for Medical Dogs), and private individuals began training dogs for the military, with costs covered by the army.

By 1903, the German military had released a book called Anleitung zur Dressur und Verwendung des Sanitätshundes ("How to Train and Use a Medical Dog"), which included a picture of Bungartz himself. However, by 1911, the military stopped supporting the use of medical dogs altogether. But when World War I broke out, the use of these dogs started up again, and within a few years, more than 4,000 medical dogs were in service. By the end of the war, over 30,000 dogs had been used, though only about 10% of them made it back to their owners.

Training methods evolved during the war, and interest in keeping "medical dogs" grew, especially in Germany, where the general perception of the dog as a working animal began to shift. But the training was still primarily handled by the military.

In 1940, Ferdinand Schmutz became the first person to systematically train avalanche rescue dogs. During World War II, the need for working dogs grew even more. Over 200,000 dogs were used across various fronts, with 25,000 dying on the German front alone. At one point, even family pets were taken from their owners to be used in military service.

By the end of the war, there were two main types of working dogs: air-scenting dogs to find wounded soldiers and avalanche rescue dogs. During the final years of World War II, rubble search dogs were developed after several instances of dogs finding people trapped under the rubble of bombed buildings. A few dogs even helped rescue over 35 people in these situations.

After the war, the idea of rubble search dogs spread to other countries, and by 1968 in Switzerland, disaster dogs were officially trained for search and rescue. In 1972, the Schweizerische Verein für Katastrophenhunde (Swiss Association for Disaster Dogs) published a guide on how to train these dogs. As public awareness grew, especially following major earthquakes in Italy (1967), Romania (1977), and Algeria (1980), trust in these dogs as life-saving tools skyrocketed.

However, in Germany, there was still some scepticism about the effectiveness of dogs in disaster scenarios. The government leaned more towards investing in technology, and it was largely private individuals who kept the training of search and rescue dogs alive.

By the late 20th century, responsibility for disaster response lay with individual countries, and search and rescue teams were either part of fire stations or formed independently. In Germany, the Bundesverband für das Rettungshundewesen e.V. (Federal Association for Rescue Dogs) was founded as a regulating body for search and rescue teams.

The first Mantrailer to be used for police work in Germany was a Belgian Malinois in 2004. Mantrailing as a tool for law enforcement is relatively new, but it’s starting to gain recognition.

At Mantrailing Global we focus on Mantrailing for fun. Although we have adapted our method from operational techniques, we have tailored them to suit pet dogs and their owners in order to enjoy as a recreational activity to do together. We simulate a 'missing person' by safely hiding somebody out on a trail for the dog to find.

None of our Instructors or clients are trained to conduct real-life searches unless they are officially certified by a recognized authority.