Lesson 14:Dogs to the Rescue

Level: R
DRA: 40
Genre:
Informational Text
Strategy:
Summarize
Skill:
Author’s Purpose
Word Count: 1,154
3.3.14
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books
1388047
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN H ARCO URT
3_253756_AL_LRSE_CVR_L14_DogRes.indd 1
3/27/10 2:43:18 PM
by Sienna Jagadorn
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Tom Kidd / Alamy. 1 © FORESTIER YVES/CORBIS SYGMA. 2-3 Robert Glusic/Getty
Images. 5 © South West Images Scotland/Alamy. 6 © FORESTIER YVES/CORBIS SYGMA. 7 Associated Press.
8 © Gabriele Maerz/Alamy. 9 (tl) © Artville. (tc) G.K. & Vikki Hart. (tr) G.K. & Vikki Hart. (bl) © Photospin. (cr) © Artville.
(br) G.K. & Vikki Hart. 10 © Dale C. Spartas/CORBIS. 11 © TOUHIG SION/CORBIS SYGMA. 12 © Tom Kidd/Alamy.
13 (l) © Photospin. (r) © Shutterstock. 14 (all) © Photospin.
Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests
for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers,
Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Printed in China
ISBN-10: 0-547-25375-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-547-25375-6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers
retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited.
Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into
electronic format.
One fall morning, a sheriff in Montana got a
call from a rancher about an abandoned car he had
found. Sheriff George Ames knew that he might have
trouble on his hands. He sent Deputy Mike Rodriguez
to investigate.
2
The news wasn’t good. The car belonged to a
73-year-old man from Wyoming. The man suffered
from an illness that makes it hard to remember things.
His family reported him missing on Tuesday—he had
been lost almost five days. It was likely the man did
not remember how to get home.
3
The sheriff’s office called search and rescue (SAR)
groups in the area. A number of SAR teams arrived at
the scene. Each team was made up of one dog and its
handler, or owner.
Everyone was worried. The lost man could have
walked miles from his car. Even worse, rain began
falling. If the temperature went below freezing, the
rescue teams would be searching in the snow!
The SAR teams had three things on their side.
First, they had pieces of the man’s clothing, which
the SAR teams called scent-articles. The scent-articles
carried the man’s scent, or smell. The dogs could sniff
the man’s clothing and learn the man’s scent. Then
they could track him by following his scent along the
path he walked. Second, the dogs and their handlers
were well prepared. Each dog and handler had spent
many hours, or even years, practicing for just this
type of job. Third, if it took many hours to find the
man, each team was ready to work a very long shift.
4
Rescue dogs are required to wear vests to identify them as
official SAR workers.
Unfortunately, the man’s scent trail
wasn’t very strong, since it was now four
days old. The dogs couldn’t find any clues
to which way he had wandered.
The rescuers had to find another way
to locate the missing man.
5
Roxanne Dunn and her dog, Ash, made up one of
the SAR teams. Ash, a Newfoundland dog, had been
trained in air-scenting. Instead of following a trail
with her nose to the ground, Ash sniffed the air for
the scent of the missing man.
As the temperature fell and storm clouds
gathered overhead, Roxanne and Ash started walking
downhill. Suddenly, Ash started to run. The dog
paused with her nose in the air. She ran back up the
hill and sniffed again. Roxanne became hopeful, but
she was too far away to see anything.
Newfoundland dogs have an excellent sense of smell and
make great rescue dogs
6
Helicopters allow injured people to be removed from
places where ambulances cannot go.
As Roxanne hiked toward her dog, she heard
someone blowing a whistle. She looked across the
small valley and saw a police officer pointing toward
Ash. When Roxanne got closer, she spotted the
missing man lying on the ground, trying to get up.
Ash had found the man by sniffing the air!
The man was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty.
Roxanne saw his legs quiver, but he was not injured.
Soon a helicopter arrived and took the man to a
nearby hospital.
7
Hi-Tech Heroes
Global Positioning Collars
Some dogs wear a special collar that sends signals
to a satellite. The dog’s handler can track the dog
without seeing it, using a hand-held computer.
The Nose Knows
Dogs find people by tracking the scent of our
skin. Human skin is made of cells that are always
dying and regrowing. Every second, hundreds of dry
cells fall off the human body and float into the air. The
dead skin carries the smell of the person.
Both dogs and humans have places in their noses
that can smell scents. But in a dog’s nose, this area
is much bigger. It means dogs have a much stronger
sense of smell than humans. So dogs’ noses make
them natural experts in SAR work.
8
What Makes a Good SAR Dog?
Good SAR dogs come from many different
breeds. German Shepherds, golden retrievers,
border collies, and Newfoundlands can all be good
rescuers. They are intelligent, attentive, and have the
ability to follow instructions.
9
A good personality is probably the most
important quality of good SAR dogs. Here are
some clues that a young dog is right for the job:
• The dog likes to play with toys.
• The dog brings toys to its handler.
• The dog keeps looking for a toy when
you hide it.
• The dog likes people.
Puppies who like to play for hours may have what it takes
for SAR work.
10
Hi-Tech Heroes
Helmet Cameras for Dogs
Some SAR dogs now wear video cameras on their
heads. The cameras let the dogs’ handlers see
everything the dogs see by watching the video
pictures from the camera.
A SAR dog needs
playful energy, but it
must also know when to
be calm. If a young dog
tries to snap at strangers,
it might not be able to do
the work.
The dog is often part
of the handler’s family. A
strong relationship grows
between them. They
become very loyal to each
other over years of hard
work and play.
A SAR dog wears a video
camera on top of its head.
11
Training a SAR Dog
Usually, the first step in training an SAR dog is
teaching it how to follow the “find sequence.” This
is a set of tasks similar to those in real rescue jobs.
Trainers supervise a handler and dog team as the
team goes through the sequence.
First, the dog go into the woods or fields to look
for a person who is hiding. When the dog finds the
person, it barks. Then the dog returns to the handler,
and then leads the handler to the hiding person.
In training exercises, volunteers might even bury
themselves in the snow so dogs can practice finding them.
12
Finally, the person who was hiding
plays with the dog. This teaches the dog
that finding people is fun! The dog and
handler learn how to work as a team,
building trust between them so that they
can patrol together.
Hi-Tech Heroes
Scent Transfer Device
Some SAR teams use a special machine called a
Scent Transfer Device. It lets them copy the scent
from one scent-article onto many pieces of thin
fabric. This way, when a rescue mission needs more
than one SAR team, each team can have a copy of
the scent from the scent-article.
13
Helping Save Lives
When a dog and handler get really good at search
and rescue, the team takes a test. If the team passes
the test, the dog and handler are ready to help in a
real emergency.
More than 150 rescue organizations in the United
States use dogs to find missing people, disaster
victims, and criminals. The teams work day or night,
in any weather and in any environment.
Most people on SAR teams are volunteers. They
don’t get paid for their work. SAR dog owners spend
their own money on the dogs’ training, equipment,
and medical bills. It’s a tough job for both partners,
the human and the dog. But they do it, as their motto
says, “that others may live.”
14
Responding
Author’s Purpose What
was the author’s purpose in writing this
story? Copy the chart below. In each box,
list details you learned from this book.
Write the author’s purpose at the bottom.
TARGET SKILL
Detail
?
Detail
The dogs
sniff the air.
Detail
?
Purpose
Write About It
Text to World Write a paragraph that tells
how to use a type of technology that helps
people do their jobs such as a computer or
a cell phone.
15
TARGET VOCABULARY
ability
loyal
lying
partners
patrol
quiver
shift
snap
EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY
handler
personality
sequence
track
Author’s Purpose Use text
details to tell why an author writes a book.
TARGET SKILL
Summarize Tell the
important parts of the text in your own words.
TARGET STRATEGY
GENRE Informational text gives factual
information about a topic.
16
Level: R
DRA: 40
Genre:
Informational Text
Strategy:
Summarize
Skill:
Author’s Purpose
Word Count: 1,154
3.3.14
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN
Online Leveled Books
1388047
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN H ARCO URT
3_253756_AL_LRSE_CVR_L14_DogRes.indd 1
3/27/10 2:43:18 PM