SGSD Inc was founded in 1999 by Rod Gilchrist and Janet Fowler in Albany, Georgia, with the purpose to group highly motivated and trained individuals to respond to emergency situations. In 2000, the Columbus, Ga. unit was created to fill a need for trained search and rescue dogs, in the Columbus, Ga. area.

We use dogs of various breeds, and they are trained in Area (wilderness) Searching, Trailing Search, Human Remains Detection, and Evidence of Crime/Article Searches. All of our dogs are temperament tested and selected for Search and Rescue capability.

SGSD members are required to undergo extensive training at least 3 times a week. Usually it takes approximately one to two years for the “Dog Team” to become fully trained, tested and certified. Teams are required to be tested in both day and nighttime search scenarios, where they locate a live victim, recover articles and human remains. Only certified personnel may participate in a search.

Our teams have participated in searches in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and worked for Law Enforcement such as the Columbus Police Department, County Sheriff Departments, County and City Emergency Management Agencies, FBI, and GBI.

Our teams' training and knowledge was improved by attending seminars taught by the Nation's top dog trainers in the Search and Rescue Field. We also brought in trainers from GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Assoc.) to work with us on an individual basis. All our teams are licensed by GEMA. Currently we are in the process of certifying each team with NASAR (National Association for Search and Rescue) We are a member of NASAR. Two teams have certified their dogs with NNDDA (National Narcotic Detection Dog Association) in human remains detection .

Thank you for visiting our web site! If you have any questions or would like to volunteer as a training victim, please e-mail us directly using the contact link to the left of the page.