Alpha Team K9 Search & Rescue

Congratulations to Team Noctis for passing their Level 2 Trailing test! K9 Handler Levi has been working hard with K9 Noctis to get operational. And thank you to their subject Phil - trailing teams cannot succeed without a great subject to hide!

This weekend we completed a fantastic Wilderness First Aid course with Valkyries Austere Medical Solutions. Thank you Aaron!

Most of ATSAR K9s are toy driven. That means they rush into briars, jump over ditches, swim across rivers, and balance on logs and boulders to get to their finds and earn a toy toss. And yes, sometimes they fly. Like this squad: Lightning (Sierra), Thunder (you guessed) and Queen V (Varya), featuring their paychecks after training.

K9 Jaeger enjoyed trailing and playing with his subject Maddy. Maddy is one of ATSAR's finest 'professionally lost' volunteers. Training a live-find search and rescue dog is impossible without the selfless people who give their time to lay trails and hide for our K9s, rain or shine. You do not have to be a dog handler to join ATSAR. If you would like to help train ATSAR K9s, attend our Saturday events.

Laura has completed her probationary period, showing unparalleled dedication to search and rescue and Alpha Team. Welcome our new member. Stay tuned for Laura’s K9 Moses.

K-9s Varya, Sierra, Sage, and Dodi training for water HRD. On behalf of all SAR teams, we wish you a safe summer ahead. Remember to wear PFDs going out on boats. Enjoy your time and be safe.

K-9 Cain, ready to go look for a live or 'no longer' subject. This SAR K-9 helps save lives, bring closure and serve justice. All that for a simple paycheck - a ball. Humble heroes, SAR dogs.

In training a sharp TFR (trained final response) for an HRD dog, timing is everything. Team Sage are brining their reward delivery timing down to an art. It's a tango, as you see, both handler and dog are learning and teaching. It's beautiful to watch these two work together.

K9 Dodi is enjoying her reward after a good job on a shoreline HRD exercise. Remember: as temperatures keep climbing, check on your K9s and cool them down when needed.

K9s Sierra, Thunder, and Sage are working 'the graveyard shift', finding human skeletal remains among scattered decoys of cattle bones at a nighttime training. FAQ: "How do they know it's human?". Easy - they look with their noses.

"Goose" our youngest member snuggling with his best friend, K9 Sampson. Team Sampson is training for Air scent/Area search.

Congratulations to K9 Handler Jenn2 and K9 ICE for passing their Obedience, Sociability, and Control test! This is required for all of our K9s as they progress to Operational status.

K9 in Training Ember finds her lost subject Melodie. This 5m old Beagle is tiny but fierce!

Congratulations to ATSAR K9 teams on certifying with NAPWDA land and water HRD. Pictured: Master trainer Greg Strickland, Pam and K9 Josie, Sherri and K9 Sierra, Nina and K9 Varya.

Meet Ember - the youngest and tiniest ATSAR K-9 cadet. Don't let the size fool you - this little pup has lots of s***k, is fearless and headstrong. She loves the trailing game and is making great progress.

ATSAR had a great training at King's Ridge Christian School on Sunday. We are very grateful for the opportunity to train on campus and especially for the faculty and students who came out to hide for the K-9s and the drones.

A large portion of our callouts involve people with dementia or Alzheimer's who have wandered away.

One of the ways you can help is to meet them at the "when" they are in, with kindness and respect, and then redirect them.

Here's what that can look like:

TikTok · Debra Kostiw Dementia Educator 2.5M likes, 46.6K comments. “How would your life change if you became an expert, just like Debra? Take the Certified Master Dementia Strategist course. To apply, book a call at Www.answersaboutalz.org”

Congratulations to Team Cain for passing our in-house recertification for Area Search/Air Scent! Not only can this dog find humans, but he can find Leprechauns too!

We had a great training day in a great training location. Here K9 Cain closes in for a find, leading his Handler Cheryl to it.

Go Team Boogie!

A friendly reminder to everyone who finds their way to this page: We Search for, Rescue, and Recover missing PEOPLE. We cannot help you re-home your dog or find your missing dog.

Rescue people - yes ✅
Rescue pets - no ❎

Pictured is Goose, his K9 prospect Sampson, and Sherri rewarding him with a toy.

Congratulations to Team Varya and Team Cain for passing their NASAR recertification exam for Air Scent/Area Search!

Congratulations to Team Jager on their first demo. Melodie and her 7 m.o. GSD pup Jager have passed their CGC exam today and participated in their first ATSAR demo, inspiring young scouts to become SAR K-9 handlers. Looking forward to Team Jager's future accomplishments.

Thank you for arranging these scenarios!

K-9 Varya is "supervising" the evacuation of an injured hiker she found during a joint training of ATSAR and Geneva Volunteer Fire Department. Our newest member Christian ("Goose") Lockhart juggled two duties: ATSAR field support while searching and firefighter during the extraction of the subject.

Welcome back Cody!
Cody is a team member of ours who traveled for education, and now he's back and hiding for Team Cain.

Congratulations to K9 Handler Levi and K9 Noctis for passing their level 1 test in Trailing! We are going to see great things out of this team!

Congratulations to K9 Handler Nina and K9 Varya for passing their last test in HRD - Varya is now operational for Area search and Human remains detection!

And a special thanks to all the responders who joined this search Thanksgiving night and the following morning! I hear one of our team members even brought some of the turkey with him in the car.

UPDATE 11/24 @ 8:30am: We are incredibly happy to share that Mr. Butler has been located safe, and is in the process of being medically evaluated and returned to family.

We want to extend our deepest thanks to all of our law enforcement, media, and community partners who assisted us with this search, and helped bring about the best possible resolution.

In particular, we would like to thank Alpha Team K9 Search & Rescue, Roswell Fire Department, Milton Police Department, City of Milton Fire Department, Milton Fire Corps, Alpharetta Department of Public Safety, Alpharetta Fire Corps Volunteers, Cherokee County Fire & Emergency Services, Mountain Park Volunteer Fire and Rescue, Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency, GSP Aviation, and the countless residents of Wildwood Springs and surrounding subdivisions for your help.
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UPDATE 11/24 @ 7:45am: Our officers continued our search efforts overnight and will be ramping up larger search operations this morning with the arrival of daylight. Please continue to share this post and contact us with any information at 770-640-4100. If there is a need for additional volunteers, it will be communicated here.
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UPDATE 11/23 @ 8:20pm: As a part of our ongoing search, officers and volunteers will shortly be going door-to-door in the neighborhoods surrounding Wildwood Springs Dr. for additional canvassing. Do not be either alarmed or surprised to find a knock at your door this evening from us as we continue our search efforts. Updates will be provided on this post as they become available.

Original information below:
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🚨 Missing Person - Mattie’s Call Issued 🚨

Have you seen Gary Butler? Mr. Butler is diagnosed with dementia and walked away from his home in the 12000 block of Wildwood Springs Dr. (between Trailside Ct. and Flowing Spring Trail) this afternoon around 1:30pm.

Mr. Butler is 73 years old, 6’, and was last known to be wearing a plaid shirt with a puffy black jacket and gray pants.

Our officers are actively searching for Mr. Butler and following up on all leads. We would encourage anyone in the Wildwood Springs or Mountain Park area to check their property (including any unlocked vehicles) for Mr. Butler.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the Roswell Police Department immediately at 770-640-4100.

On October 9, 2023, the Opelika Police Department began investigating a report of a missing Opelika man, 28-year-old Reggie Cornelius Stokes. During the course of the investigation detectives contacted Alpha Team K9 Search & Rescue to assist with searching the wooded area near the 100 Block of Bay Court. On October 11, 2023, during a search of the area, canines alerted to the presence of human remains. The remains will be sent to the medical examiner’s office for further examination.

Stokes was last seen by family on September 22, 2023.

This is an ongoing investigation and if you have any information, please contact the Opelika Police Department Detective Division at (334) 705-5220 or the Secret Witness Hotline at (334) 745-8665. Tips can be submitted through our Opelika Police Mobile App. You may wish to remain anonymous.

Tips can also be forwarded through Central Alabama Crimestoppers at (334) 215-STOP(7867), toll-free at 1-833-AL1-STOP, or via their page: www.Facebook.com/215stop or their website: www.215STOP.com.