Our TOWN-Austin monthly meeting occurs each month on the fourth Tuesday.
Our agenda is typically the following: bring your brown-bag dinner or a snack; we gather at 6 pm & socialize; 6:30-7:00 greetings, introductions, business, outings reports and planning; 7- 8 speaker; 8 – 8:15 adjournment and cleanup.
Our speaker Matthew McDermott is a certified NASAR (National Association of Search and Rescue) SARTech II and worked as a volunteer K9 Search and Rescue Dog Handler for 10 years serving the FBI, Austin, San Antonio, Lakeway Police Departments, Travis County and Bexar County Sheriffs Departments. In that role, Matthew assisted in several high-profile cases and many more that never made the news. The missions ranged from body recovery, clandestine grave detection, evidence recovery and primary investigation to establish probable cause for a search warrant. Matthew also assisted in recovery efforts in Louisiana and Texas following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike.
There are two parts to Matt’s planned presentation which are both fun and informative. He works hard to provide an entertaining look at what it means to be a K9 handler.
Staying Found: This program is suited to children, young adults and their parents. This presentation discusses preparations that you can make before venturing out to be sure you are ready for a search emergency. He will discuss what to do if you find that you are lost and how to stay safe. Matt will review how search emergencies are handled and how search dogs do their job. This presentation is perfectly suited to anyone interested in the outdoors.
Dog Training: Matt will discuss how he raises and trains his search dogs. He will discuss various training techniques specific to Search and Rescue and the many types of training scenarios that should be considered when preparing a dog for SAR work.
Join us and bring a friend!