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Bay Area Recovery Canines (BARC) is a volunteer canine search and recovery organization dedicated to providing agencies with with highly trained canines and handlers to assist in the recovery of missing persons.

 

What’s New

This is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site as well as events we participated in. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first. Also check News Media for media coverage of BARC activities.


  1. •7/25/12 BARC worked with state archeologists at a southern Maryland slave cemetery helping to find the cemetery boundaries so it can be preserved.

  2. •7/8/12 BARC assisted Anne Arundel County FIre Marshals at a fatal fire in Annapolis.  ABC2 News showed K9 Penta outside the residence between searches. It was the first of two fire scenes BARC worked that week.  The 2nd was a warehouse fire in Cambridge for the State Fire Marshals Office.

  3. •June 16-17, 2012 BARC participated in a multi-team cadaver disaster training weekend with handlers coming from all over the U.S.

  4. •May 2012 Three BARC canines certified or re-certified with LETS in land and water searching at Camp Atterbury, IN.

  5. •4/14/12 BARC’s K9 Penta passed her SUSAR cadaver disaster FSA test in CT.  The test was hosted by CT-TF1.

  6. •March 11, 2012 Posted pictures of the Cadaver Dog II: Assisting in Locating Crime Scene Evidence via K9 Detection Seminar (Picture Album 1 and Picture Album 2)

  7. •March & April 2012  BARC has been asked to participate in searching for soldiers’ graves from the War of 1812 with a team funded by a National Park Service grant that includes archeologists and other specialized resources.

  8. •Nov 26, 2011 BARC is interviewed on the JoAnn Pflug Show in Florida on Seaview Radio to discuss BARC’s activities as well as SAR dogs in general; from how the dogs are trained to what skills the handlers need to have, and to explain SAR teams are mostly all volunteer. 

  9. •Nov 22, 2011 BARC receives a generous donation from the Sence Foundation to go towards training and GPS units

  10. •Oct 2011 BARC is asked to demo training search dogs for water and land missions for Baltimore’s WJZ, CBS channel 13

  11. •Aug - Sept 2011 BARC is featured in books and news interviews about their response at the Pentagon after 9-11

  12. •8-27-11 BARC is activated by MDTF2 to respond with their USAR team for Hurricane Irene

  13. •Aug 2011 BARC received AKC CAR grant for 2011 and is able to purchased special urban disaster search safety helmets and helmet lights

  14. •7/23/11 BARC posts pictures from NAPWDA Nationals taken by AceK9

  15. •6/20/11 BARC attends week-long NAPWDA Nationals and certifies two K9s

  16. •2011 has been a super busy year with many missing person searches.  We are honored to be a part of the search efforts to bring these missing persons home to their families and aid agencies in their efforts to locate them 

  17. •5/28/11 BARC attends SARA’s HRD Disaster Open Training weekend held at their Linthicum rubble site

  18. •5/13/11 BARC starts the 2011 summer water training hosted weekends for handlers in Easton, MD

  19. •4/26/11 BARC attends LETS week-long seminar at Camp Atterbury in Indiana & certifies one K9

  20. •4/13/11 BARC member helps coordinate Elko Co. Sheriff’s Dept hosted ASCTK9 Workshop in NV

  21. •4/9/11 BARC members and K9s search along with MDTF2 (state USAR team) for a missing teen

  22. •3/25/11 BARC hosted another Advanced HRD Building Search Essentials workshops in VA

  23. •1/20/11 BARC updates website to new format

  24. •1/11/11 BARC announces a spring Advanced HRD Building Search Essentials workshops in VA

  25. •12/11/10 BARC searches a five alarm fire in downtown Baltimore for ATF

  26. •11/9/10 Two BARC members teach at Brevard County Sheriff’s HRD Seminar

  27. •10/4/10 BARC hosted a 3rd Advanced HRD Building Search Essentials workshops in VA

  28. •9/24/10 BARC members all come together in Easton, VA to train, certify, and evaluate MDRD HRD teams for CCC certification

  29. •4/25/10  BARC works historical cemeteries as well as searches Melwood Manor’s property in PG County looking for historical graves

  30. •4/24/10 BARC trains at the December house fire site

  31. •5/19/10 BARC holds two Advanced HRD Building Search Essentials workshops in VA.

  32. •3/16/10  BARC attends Dr. Pope’s lecture on fire scenes at the VA International Association of Arson Investigators

  33. •2/19/10 Added pictures from two 2009 events: Instructing at the 2009 ARDA National Training Weekend - building searches (sheriff department's live fire building which had a catwalk for observers) & BARC participated in the Maryland Cub Scouts' JOTA event Oct 2009.

  34. •2/5/10 Pictures from training at Eastern State Hospital abandoned buildings Jan 2010.  ESH buildings will be used at the upcoming HRD seminars in March & May.

  35. •2/5/10 Pictures from searching in NY Dec 2009, including a hazardous collapsed abandoned school building

  36. •2/5/10 Pictures from the Fall 2009 VA seminar crime scene house and a fatal house fire in Annapolis Dec 2009

  37. •2/5/10 Pictures from participating in a multi-school program with law enforcement Dec 2009 (program runs through 2010), added Cathy's K9s Rusty & Dante's pictures on the Members page.

  38. •1/25/10 2nd HRD Building Workshop announcement: May 7-9th, 2010 in Williamsburg, VA. (March workshop is full)  More information and registration forms on our Seminars page.

  39. •1/25/10 Links to pictures of past HRD Seminars posted on the Seminars page

  40. •1/14/10  Video of Instructor Heather Roche's HRD canine 'Red' working a few building problems at the ARDA National Weekend (U-Tube) - showing a class participant the automatic down indication (using a clicker).  Video taken by ARDA handler, Autumn Manka Oct 2009

  41. •BARC canines locate house fire victim in Annapolis tragedy

  42. •BARC canines assist NCMEC on a NY search for a missing child

  43. •10/02/09  The Bay Weekly in August 2009 features a well written story on BARC and The Northshore Report writes an article about a BARC member

  44. •10/02/09 New pictures posted online: Summer water & land trainings 2009, early summer 2009 search and working a historic cemetery

  45. •7/24/09  Spring 2009 training pictures posted: rubble, on lead targeting, land and water

  46. •7/21/09  BARC is the guest speaker at the Severn River Lions Club dinner

  47. •6/12/09  BARC is a guest speaker and performed demonstrations for the children and staff of the Goddard School in Hanover, MD

  48. •4/26/09  BARC instructs an HRD seminar for Canfield K9 Training in VA.  The local paper dedicates a full page to the seminar, complete with several pictures of dogs working.

  49. •5/22/09 Announcement of a fall HRD seminar in FL with top notch nationally recognized instructors from law enforcement and BARC hosted by Brevard County Sheriff Department

  50. •4/22/09  BARC presentations on new Articles page & the Brevard County Sheriff Department's (Florida) press release pictured a BARC handler & canine doing water search training at their March seminar

  51. •4/10/09 Training pictures at Belle Grove: 4 days in Jan 2009 & Feb 2009

  52. •4/10/09  In February 2009 BARC responded to Oklahoma with NCMEC's Team Adam and NecroSearch International, to assist Tulsa Police Department in hopes of locating additional evidence of a missing girl.

  53. •12/18/08  SAR Training Using Food Rewards - the pro's & con's and suggestions on when and why to use food as a reward, or as part of the reward system, for training SAR dogs. 

  54. •12/14/08 Training at Belle Grove rubble site and news about an upcoming BARC instructor led seminar in VA hosted by Canfield & Mosley K9 Training

  55. •11/19/08 Training at Belle Grove 11-9-08 (new scent box with reward system) 

  56. •10/29/08 K9 Dino is pictured in the Charlotte Gazette article about training SAR/HRD dogs while attending a class in VA and a photo gallery of the week's training.

  57. •10/3/08 Pictures from water trainings in 2008 - Summer & Fall

  58. •8/29/08 One of BARC's founding dogs, Alley, lost her battle with cancer after having a long successful career serving the community.  Alley is the canine in BARC's logo. 

  59. •9/8/08 K9 Alley is awarded the AKC ACE Award Honorable Mention for her service in Search and Rescue. 

  60. •4/22/08  Raven attended K-9 Specialty Search Associates' Intermediate Cadaver class in Chico, CA in April 2008.

  61. •4/18/08 Karen Garvin, a student at Unv. of MD, presented a summary of a journal article that appeared in Forensic Science International on the use of cadaver dogs success rates on contaminated carpet squares.  The presentation cover slide shows BARC's K9 Tyler working a pallet pile for HRD and is posted on her blog.

  62. •2/13/08 Peggy Johnson, author of the Annapolis Capital's Dog's World newspaper column wrote about BARC's accomplishments.

  63. •2/13/08 pictures of abandoned building training weekend Feb 9-10, 2008 added to Photos section.

  64. •1/18/08 new pictures added - trainings fall 2007 & winter 2008: Nov 07 agility & trailer search, Dec 07 rubble, and Jan 08

  65. •1/9/08 K9s Red, Alley, and Raven respond to an apartment complex fire on Jan 2, 2008 in Gaithersburg, MD.  The Gazette newspaper covered the search and posted online 26 pictures of the dogs working the debris in their "We Spotted" photo gallery.

  66. •1/8/08 K9 Alley is one of 15 dogs featured in Marilyn Jeffers Walton's new book "Badge On My Collar".  Alley's chapter tells stories from past searches, from 9-11 at the Pentagon to a buried child to working with archeologists to the Space Shuttle mission to many other searches where Alley responded to help find those who were missing.   

  67. •12/21/07 K9 Raven certifies in Human Remains Detection.  Her first search is the apartment fire on 1/2/08.

  68. •10/07  Two BARC handlers participate in IPWDA Nationals 2007. 

    1. ◦  BARC K9 Red is shown climbing down the ladder at the police training grounds during WRAL's news story on IPWDA Nationals 2007 held in Fayetteville, NC.

  69. •10/07 BARC participates at the Kent County Parks and Rec Fall Festival

  70. •8/07 BARC participates in the Severna Park Library's "Dog Days of Summer" event and appears in the Severna Park Voice newspaper  (photo and interview - Sept 6, 2007)

  71. •9/07  The September 2007 issue of Dog Fancy magazine features Red, a BARC canine, as one of three Hero Dogs in the article "Everyday Heroes: Meet 3 brave dogs who make a difference" by Cherie Langlois. The story focuses on Red's work after Katrina as well as all her search successes, complete with several photographs.

  72. •7/07  BARC is a guest presenter at Washington College for the Johns Hopkins University's Center for Talented Youth program.  The students participated in an interactive discussion and demonstrations on using dogs to detect human odor.

  73. •Training Pictures added: Water search, FEMA Eval, & more

  74. •Brian and Tyler pass their land cadaver evaluation & Water evaluation.  

  75. •Meet Susan and Blaze and see Blaze's first full weekend training at the BARC Open Training Weekend where teams came to prepare for the upcoming IPWDA disaster test as well as participate in general water training.

  76. •BARC attends IPWDA 2006 Nationals in Rhode Island

    1. ◦ Raven as a puppy at Rocky Point's burnt down structure rubble pile

  77. •Kent County Parks & Rec demo and other October training pictures

  78. •BARC assists LASAR for a Florida water search

  79. •See BARC canines' excerpts from Nona Kilgore Bauer's amazing book "Dog Heroes of September 11th" released for the 5th anniversary of 9-11. 

  80. •Red was shown working Bay St. Louis, MS Katrina damaged areas in the May/June 2006 "Just Labs" magazine (pics on contents page and page 23).  Contents, page 22 & page 23

  81. • BARC's indications on a MS Indian mound in 2003 & 2004 were confirmed on 3/24/06 after the mound had been cleared of heavy brush and a week of downpours revealed pre-historical human remains.

  82. •One of BARC's founding dogs, Cassy, passed away after having a long successful career serving the community.

  83. •BARC responded to hurricane Katrina's aftermath in Bay St. Louis to help LaSAR Dogs & the BSL Fire Department in their search & recovery efforts.

  84. •BARC updates website to include 2004 pictures, including BARC working Indian Mounds in Mississippi (appx 1,000 years old).  Two MPEG video clips show Alley & Red working a full burial.

  85. •3/21/03 Bay Area Recovery Canines Establishes Internet Presence.