2010 Missing Animal Response (MAR) Seminar Schedule
Missing Pet Partnership no longer trains or certifies individual, for-profit pet detectives. Instead, we've shifted our focus to training and certifying volunteer pet detectives who form community-based lost pet search-and-rescue teams through our "CERT-MAR" program. CERT stands for "Community Emergency Response Team" and is a national disaster training program approved by FEMA and available in most communities. Through CERT, civilians are trained in how to protect themselves and their neighbors in a disaster by turning off utilities, extinguishing small fires, administering first aid, and conducting light search-and-rescue. The CERT-MAR teams being developed by Missing Pet Partnership would first attend a CERT course, then the 21-hour Missing Animal Response (MAR) course offered through Missing Pet Partnership.
CERT-MAR volunteers not only rescue animals in times of disaster - they are encouraged to sharpen their lost pet recovery skills during non-disaster times by recovering lost pets in their own community. Doing so provides valuable hands-on experience, saves taxpayer money (by finding loose/lost pets before they end up in shelters), helps distraught families, and saves animals lives. Training teams of volunteers (instead of one individual pet detective in a community) will increase the types of services and time that can be spent on lost pet investigations. Examples of where a team of volunteers helped facilitate the recovery of a lost pet include the recoveries of Sophie, Roxie, and Tabu.
Our Missing Animal Response (MAR) course is open to anyone interested in learning more about lost pet behaviors and lost pet recovery techniques. It is fantastic training for animal industry officials (veterinarians, shelter workers, dog trainers, pet sitters, disaster workers, rescue group volunteers) but CERT-MAR Certification will only be issued to those graduates who also graduate from a CERT course and who intend to offer their services as a CERT-MAR volunteer.
MAR Seminar Schedule for 2010:
We've completed our MAR courses scheduled for 2010. Check back for upcoming CERT-MAR webinar training opportunities!
How To Prepare For Our MAR Seminar
To prepare for our CERT-MAR seminar, we strongly recommend that you take the following training courses:
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) - www.citizencorps.gov/cert/ – Check with your local Emergency Management Division for CERT training opportunities in your own area.
Missing Pet Partnership and HomeAgain have partnered to create an on-line lost pet recovery training module at www.petdetectivetraining.com This module has great information that will help prepare you for the CERT-MAR course.
Pet First Aid Training from www.petfirstaidonline.com (Tuition $35.00) or from a similar source (i.e., American Red Cross Pet First Aid, etc.).
FEMA offers several courses at training.fema.gov. Click on "FEMA Independent Study," "Our Courses," and follow the directions. All FEMA courses are self-paced and FREE of charge! The below FEMA courses will prepare you to search for lost pets after disasters:
- FEMA Course IS-55 Household Hazardous Materials: A Guide for Citizens
- FEMA Course IS-10 Animals in Disasters: Module A: Awareness and Preparation
- FEMA Course IS-11 Animals in Disasters: Module B: Community Planning
- FEMA Course IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System
- FEMA Course IS-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS)
In addition to the above training courses, we recommend that you read the following books. If you don't have the ability to read all of these, we suggest that you read at least the first four books. All of these books contain elements that will be covered in the MAR course:
- BLINK by Malcolm Gladwell *
- THE LOST PET CHRONICLES by Kat Albrecht *
- DOG DETECTIVES: Train Your Dog to Find Lost Pets by Kat Albrecht *
- "CORMAC: The Tale of a Dog Gone Missing by Sonny Brewer *
- ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION by Temple Grandin
- SCENT and the SCENTING DOG by William Syrotuck
- READY to SERVE, READY to SAVE! Strategies of Real-Life Search & Rescue Missions by Susan Bulanda
- A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO TRAINING AND WORKING THE TRAILING DOG by John Lutenberg and Linda Porter
- ONE AT A TIME: A Week in an American Animal Shelter by Diane Leigh and Marilee Geyer
- SHERLOCK BONES by John Keane
- THE HIDDEN LIFE OF DOGS by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
- FOR THE LOVE OF A DOG by Patricia McConnell, Ph.D.
- INTRODUCTION TO SEARCH & RESCUE (ISAR) by NASAR (National Association of Search and Rescue) Available only through the NASAR bookstore.
- FORENSIC INVESTIGATION of ANIMAL CRUELTY by Leslie Sinclair, DVM (etc.)
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