Friday, January 27, 2017

Israel Dog Unit Helps IDF search for missing people after Bus Crash at Maaleh Levona and more

Israel Dog Unit helps search for missing people after bus crash in Maaleh Levonah

At 4.12 AM this morning Friday Jan. 27/01 (Lminyananm) The Israel Dog Unit received an emergency call for help from Meir, Chief of Operations for the Shomron Police Rescue Unit: “Mike, we need your help, a bus crashed through the guard-rail near Maaleh Levona, flipping down the steep hill to the valley below.  Two were found dead, four others were found injured and at least two more people are missing. They flew out of the bus as it flipped over and over again and we can’t seem to locate them. Can you bring dogs with capabilities to find living people? Can you also bring cadaver dogs to recover possible dead people?” Naturally we agreed to come with dogs. I woke the guys up immediately. Within 30 minutes we were ushered in by police and army on to the slope where the bus had landed, hundreds of yards half way down toward the valley. We had 8 handlers, 5 rescue dogs and one cadaver dog with us. The heavy rain and mud combined with the steep incline making this a complex search. By 7.00 AM we gave the ok that the area was clear, everyone had been accounted for. I am proud to say that our volunteers operated swiftly and professionally. The army dog unit only showed up after our dogs and handers had been on the scene for more than an hour.



THIS EMERGEMCY CAME IMMEDIATELY AFTER WE SEARCHED FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS NON-STOP FOR A MISSING PERSON IN ASHQELON

Our noble volunteers deserve all the credit in the world. They had only returned from a search in Ashqelon hours before this emergency call about the bus at Maaleh Levona. We had worked almost non-stop in Ashqelon from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday evening, looking for Jeremy Maxim.
(Jeremy has yet to be found, please see attached photo and help forward wherever you can online and offline). Our volunteers worked with the dogs and our drone near the North Ashqelon shore through the night and most of Thursday, returning back to Sde Bar and to Tapuach base. After a few hours of rest they were off again to save the lives of those injured in the bus crash.



Dog training schedule this week with Zhenya

Dog training this week will be G-d willing on Sunday Jan. 29,17 Lminyanam as follows:  10:00 AM in Gush Etzyon.And later:  4.00 PM in Kfar Tapuach. If you would like to come please confirm a time-sot in advance and please call once again before leaving to the training to make certain all is still on schedule as planned.

Monday, January 9, 2017

Israel Dog Unit takes 6 Knesset members to Haifa to show them fire damage and to warn about earthquake

The Israel Dog (IDU) unit brought 6 Knesset members and the head of the Knesset Committee for internal affairs to a tour of the forests and communities in Haifa that were destroyed in recent fires. The Israel Dog Unit also presented facts about a potential earthquake and about steps that must be taken that could save many lives if there is G-d forbid an earthquake, including preparing more rescue dogs that could detect live people covered under the rubble of collapsed buildings. 

 During the fires that raged across Haifa and other parts of Israel last month, the Israel Dog Unit (IDU) took command of the evacuation of parts of Romema rescuing children with special needs, who were left behind in a local school. 

Dudu Commander of Haifa branch of Israel Dog Unit (IDU) receives award from Haifa school



See the link of an article about the rescue of the children and a video. 




emergency project for Israel Dog Unit

http://www.buildinginisrael.com/idu

Israel Dog Unit (IDU) Diary of recent searches for the lost Jews in Israel

Israel Dog Unit (IDU) Diary of recent searches for missing people in Israel

Friday Dec. 23, 16, Ashqelon police called the Israel Dog Unit (IDU) to request assistance in the search for a woman who had been sexually assaulted Thursday and who had left a letter indicating that she was planning to harm herself.

Friday a few hours before shabbat and several hours after we were called, we arrived on the scene with 8 dogs and handlers, planning to spend as much time as necessary to find the missing woman. There was a phone signal from Friday morning, which encompassed a large area of fields, forest, industrial center and building site. We set up camp outside the police station building a make-shift command center. We ran the search from the cold-rainy parking lot near the police station. The dogs and handlers covered a good part of the area we needed to cover by Saturday night, however our missing person was still not found. The police were ready to fold up. As usual when they have no results they call off the search and focus on Tel Aviv. We informed the police that without a warm room that we could operate out of we would have a difficult time continuing, This happens on most searches when the lost person is not found within a matter of hours - the cops go home. I explained to the police that we had at least another 5-10 hours of search time with the dogs to complete all of the areas within the phone signal range. We did what we could with the drone and the dogs, but there was more ground to cover,

The police had no choice, they had to give us the use of their dining room where we could set up our beds and our computers from where we could continue to run the search. It was now Hanuka. The police lit their candles at the front dispatch desk. The dogs remained in cages on the trucks during their rotational breaks and the search continued.

We finished all of the areas that we needed to search without results. Sunday afternoon after to close to 48 hours, we set back for Tapuach, where we would finally light our own Hanukah lights and where we would make a surprise party for Alik, one of our noble volunteers from Bensonhurst Brooklyn.

Thank G-d our missing person turned up in a home for abused women several days later...
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The next Shabbat we would be called out again to look for a missing elderly woman from Haifa. In the end, the woman was believed to have taken a bus and we had no clue where to start the search so we stayed home. She was found Friday night confused and slightly injured in the back of a gas station 5 kilometers away from her home. It was a good thing she was found in time to be brought to the hospital without any major injury. It was good we could stay home shabbat finally.
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Friday the 6th of January 2017 LMinyanam we got yet another call - Three shabbats in a row. This time the missing person was a 51 year old religious fellow married with five kids, who works as an engineer for the national insurance agency, Israel's social security bureau. He had vanished from a hospital that borders on a forest area in Jerusalem. He was not in good mental shape at the time he was released. He had no money on him. He never returned home Thursday. He was consider to be a high-risk case. We knew he frequented the Jerusalem Forest regularly. By Friday afternoon his family and police began to worry.

I had a serious problem when I received the call for help from the missing man's sister. I was more than half way on the road to Eilat on the way to bring supplies for shabbat for our crew there who were taking a diving course. Having a crew that could dive to search for a missing person when the dog indicates in water is very useful as we learned from previous searches. We had a number of handlers and volunteers in the Jerusalem area who could be called in to search without us. But without our lead crew and the trucks, a serious command center would not be set up. I called Rav Lior our "posek" to ask what to do. Is this the type of search that mandates violating the shabbat? He told me that we should rely only on people in the area who could walk to the search and who would not have to violate the sabbath. Gideon brought Moshe and Yosef there with Teddy, an excellent search dog. They would search in the Jerusalem forest and then walk home. Moshe came back shabbat morning to search in Lifta. Our missing person was found at the kotel, thank G-d, 11 AM Friday morning.
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Saturday, Ariel, our Beersheba director found a missing 3 year old child.
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Saturday night we were called in to another search n BeerSheba which never materialized...
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Sunday we were called to provide another security dog for the community of Bat Ayin for a young family that lives on the edge of that vulnerable area. The Efrat Gush area has been the target of many recent attacks. Two weeks ago one of our dogs - Agree, dispatched to a handler in Elaazar participated in a chase together with the IDF after a terrorist had carried out an attack in Efrat.
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This is only a partial list of operations carried out by the Israel Dog Unit over recent days involving rescue search dogs or security dogs.

Serious volunteers needed:
If you are interested in volunteering a year or two to work with dogs breeding, protecting, searching to save lives on Israel, Email back to us or call in Israel 0544876709

Funds needed:
Naturally there are expenses and costs involved to maintain a fleet of security and search and rescue dogs. Vehicles, dorms for volunteers, kennels, gas, electric, food, vet care and so much more

Visit our website and see how you can help:

http://www.israel-civilian-k9-unit.org/

Checks can be sent to Maginei Eretz LMaan Hazulat. POBox 6592 Jerusalem, Israel, 91060


Israel Dog Unit I.D.U. Update - Seminar with working dogs, recent searches and more

Headlines:

1- Vic Wilms, European Dog Expert to give seminar in Israel together with the Israel Dog Unit I.D.U.
2And upcoming - Training schedule with Zhenya, our Israeli expert trainer


1- Special 3 day seminar for working dogs Tues Jan 16-18 in Efrat

Vic Wilms, a world renowned dog expert from Belgium will be giving a seminar in  Israel on service dogs (tracking, discipline, bite work, sniffing and more for pups and adult dogs), under the auspices of the Israel Dog Unit (IDU).

Monday Jan. 15 to Wednesday Jan. 18, in Efrat

Vic Willms is known for his ability to help handlers reach high ranking scores (BH, IPO 1-2-3  in competitions as well as tracking dogs, and helped police forces around the world to achieve high standard service Sniffing and patrol dogs.
-          Judged many IPO trials in Belgium, Holland, Germany and U.S.A.

-          Gave many seminars and workshops for I.P.O., police,  drugs, explosives, personal protection, security, guard dogs in Belgium, Holland, U.S.A. and Egypt.

-          trouble-shooting behavioral problems

Cost for 3 day seminar only 275 shekels per day, or pay 650 shekels in advance and attend as many days as you wish. Space is limited, so call now to reserve. Seminar free for all I.D.U volunteers. CALL NOW 0544876709

Monday Jan. 15
Jan. 16
Pup segment
10.30 AM Theoretical Lecture on working with puppies at different stages, exposure and socialization, discipline, sniffing, tracking and attack work.
11.15 Practical discipline and attack workshop with pups
12.30 return to classroom theoretical (movie).
13.15  Lunch (bring your own sandwiches or buy sandwiches on premises - light refreshments will be served).
14.15 tracking practical in the field/
15.30 Return to classroom for summary of the day's material re pups, questions - trouble shooting puppy problems and tea.

Adult dog segment
16.00 PM: Adult dogs -Lecture/Seminar on attack work. Theory of prey, play attack aggression, proper bite work, troubleshooting problems for different type of service dogs that need different level bite skills. Detection, seeking finding and attacking on and off leash
17.30 Practical discipline and attack work with adult dogs




Tuesday - Jan 17
11 AM lecture on tracking
11.30 continuation on tracking, movie and questions
12.30 Lunch
13.30 Practical tracking exercises in the field
16.00 beginning of special sniffing detection segment, lecture (movie) Begin practical sniffing work.
17.00 day summary and questions

                  Jan 18
Continuation of Bomb sniffing, and other special sniffing detection theory and practical (and continuation of tracking, discipline and attack work - depends on the participants).

11 - 18 PM (with breaks, bring your own sandwiches, sandwiches can also be bought on premises)

Please note the schedule is subject to change based on weather conditions and based on the needs and the preferences of the participants present.

Achuzat Haklavim in Waze.
Down Rechov Nachal Eshkol (near the tennis courts) or call 0526919989 for more directions.

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2- Training schedule with Zhenya

Thursday Jan. 19 - Zhenya will be in Tapuach at 9.00 AM, and in Gush Etzyon at 2 PM.
Monday Jan. 23, Zhenya will be in Tapuach at 9.30 AM and in Gush Etzyon at 2 PM

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