REDOG dog handlers often give up all of their spare time for helping people in need. And they are volunteer. Why would they do that? We have asked our youngest members from various regional groups about what motivates them. This week, we present to you Tatiana Hartop. The 31-year-old trains with Shadow for disaster victim search and rescue in the Geneva regional group.

What motivated you to join REDOG?

Tatiana Hartop: I want to contribute to a cause that is close to my heart and where I can make myself useful. When I got a highly active and intelligent dog, it was the perfect moment to combine the pleasure of working with my dog and my wish to one day help people. REDOG is the very cause to which I want to dedicate my time.

How did the people around you react?

My family was surprised at first but when they saw how much fun I have when training at REDOG and how well I do in this environment, they were happy for me. And some of them are even proud. They respect the time I put into this and encourage me.

What does it mean to dedicate yourself to such intensive training? Until you can be deployed, it takes at least three to five years, and even then, training continues all the time to ensure that your skills remain at a high level.

This high level of commitment means you have to make a choice! You have to accept that you have to put other activities on the back burner and that you cannot take part in every family event. Even when REDOG training takes place only once a week, you work a lot with your dog if you want to get ahead with your training. But even though, I still have time for other things as well.

And anyway, it is great to work with other people who share my love for dogs and the motivation to train for a worthy cause. When I watch other dogs at work, I can put many things into a relative perspective and realise that every dog has its own personality and that none of them are “perfect”.

What do you hope to achieve with your work for REDOG?

The feeling that I am working for a cause that I regard as useful and that is close to my heart, namely to help people. I often think that all of the hard work will have been worth it when one day my dog finds a survivor. It would be priceless to find a disaster victim and return them home to their family.

What are the characteristics of you and your dog?

Shadow and I are pretty similar – a little hyperactive, we both want everything quickly and at the same time do everything right. We are perfectionists... We are very close (are there actually any duos that are not close?) and our trust for one another has kind of made us accomplices.

Which challenges have you and your dog faced during training – and how have you overcome them?

We only started training last October so therefore we have not had many challenges to overcome quite yet. The biggest challenge up to now has been not to rush things and to take our time, to take one step after another. I had to let go and stop putting Shadow under too much pressure because subconsciously I wanted him to be good at everything immediately.

During one exercise, the role player opened the door just enough to show Shadow his prize, a blood pudding. When I sent Shadow into the exercise, he was so excited that he did not stop and crashed into the door with a loud bang – which did not bother him at all. He finished his task. But he slowly needs to learn that he could injure himself if he doesn’t watch what he is doing.