Rachel has been a SAR volunteer since April 2001, and participated in numerous searches in WI, MI, MN, IL and MO. She was a founding member of WI K9 SOS and served as President (1/15 - present), Vice President (5/05 - 1/15), and Co-coordinator for K9 Training (5/05 - present). She has trained 4 SAR partners, certifying in live area scent and land & water cadaver (with Law Enforcement Training Specialists, Int’l). Rachel has earned her SARTech II certification with NASAR (National Assoc. for Search & Rescue), as well as completed many other courses related to incident command, scent theory, search strategy, 1st aid, K9 1st aid, and many others.

Rachel is a principal evaluator for land HRD, live area scent, and area live + large source with the National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA). She is currently a member of NSDA. She enjoys spending all of her vacation time traveling to SAR seminars throughout the country. She is very grateful for the education she’s received, as well as the life-long SAR friends she’s made across the U.S.

L.B.D. Griffin ("Griff") is a young border collie born in 2018. He was named for two of his handler's mentors who passed in 2017, Larry Barker & David Griffin. If he lives up to his namesakes, he'll provide endless mischief to his handler! Griff is certified in Land Cadaver Recovery through L.E.T.S. (Law Enforcement Training Specialists International Inc.) He currently loves to play Chuck-It and wrestle with Riken.

Riken (Vrijheid’s Riken) is a female Dutch Shepherd born in 2014. She is certified in land & water cadaver through L.E.T.S. Int'l. Riken enjoys working, especially on the water. She also greatly enjoys exasperating her handler. Riken's reward is a 2-handle tug. If you have her toy, watch your fingers! She LOVES to play tug.