Barb has been involved in Search & Rescue since 2003. She is founding member of WI K9 SOS, whose first duties were to make sure everyone had the supplies they needed and that bills were paid.  She currently serves as Treasurer and currently is Co-coordinator for K9 Training.  Barb earned her SARTech II certification with NASAR (National Association for Search & Rescue), and has had additional training in scent theory, search management, First Aid/CPR and K9 First Aid and many others.

After helping with other K9s, the handler drive kicked in and Barb got her first K9 partner, Jaeger.  He was a challenging dog to have as a first partner, but made her learnhow to be a better handler.  She now has her second SAR K9, Zender.

K9 Zender, 2019 – present.  Zender (Zender vom Geistwasser), is a male German Shepherd Dog born in July 2019.  Zen is certified in Land and Water HRD through L.E.T.S.  He has a great work eithic and will work as long as his handler lets him.  He has enjoyed agility classes and learned lots of commands that are useful in the field including waiting his turn and "over" logs in the woods.  Zender shares the same sire as Steve's dog, Eisa.