As a volunteer for the New Brighton Fire Department, Mark Clark first thought the dispatcher's call was a crank. The sirens in the background told him differently.
His house was on fire, but his thoughts raced to the family dog, Bart. An overnight ice storm had sealed a pet door shut, and Clark locked the German shorthaired pointer in the laundry room.
"I got on the phone through the dispatchers and tried to direct them, because I knew where he was," Clark said of the dog, which had hunted with many of the firefighters now racing toward his home.
When Clark arrived, volunteers were fumbling with a human oxygen mask.
Bart didn't make it.
The moment stuck with Janet Olson, who is married to a New Brighton firefighter. Even though firefighters are under no obligation to save pets, they often try. Using a customized medical kit and a lifelike doggie training dummy, Olson is showing them how to do it better.
"As a veterinarian, it made me think that firefighters and police officers, they just don't have any training to help them," Olson said.
She named the program Basic Animal Rescue Training, in memory of Bart. Olson offers her two-hour course to area fire departments and provides medical kits that include first aid supplies, leashes, dog and cat treats, and oxygen masks that fit over animal noses.
So far, Olson has trained the New Brighton Fire Department and a crew of Minneapolis/St. Paul airport police who work with dogs trained to find narcotics and explosives. Next year, she'll train all 430 sworn members of the Minneapolis Fire Department. Several other departments have expressed interest, she said.
"It's something, to my knowledge, that's not available anywhere. Which is crazy," Olson said. "If there's a firefighter that saves one dog, it's worth it."
Charlotte Holt, director of emergency medical services for the Minneapolis Fire Department, heard about the fledgling program through a veterinary technician friend. Holt signed Olson up to lead six weeks of training beginning in February.
"Dogs, cats, boa constrictors, you name it. We run into people's pets," Holt said.
Holt said the program could not only help firefighters rescue pets, but also could protect the firefighters themselves. Part of Olson's training focuses on safely handling frightened animals.
"In the settings that we run into them, they are afraid and they're not necessarily going to be themselves," Holt said.
More than firefighters are interested in the program, too. Sgt. Mike Rudolph, who works with the K-9 unit at the airport, said dog handlers don't receive a lot of training on what to do when their partner suffers a medical emergency. Trainees at a session earlier this month, for example, asked about treating drug-sniffing dogs that suffer toxic exposure.
"There have been times when they have ingested narcotics," Rudolph said. "This is a good course. You never know what's going to happen."
Though Olson offers the training free, it costs money to provide. "Critical Care Jerry," a dog-training dummy used to demonstrate pulse-taking, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and breathing patterns, cost several thousand dollars. The medical kits aren't cheap either, and Olson hopes to give potentially dozens to the Minneapolis Fire Department next year.
The Minnesota Veterinary Medical Association is supporting the program financially, at least in the short term. Director Sharon Vangsness said her organization would like to see it become a long-term project.
"I'm aware of no other program like this in the country," Vangsness said. "People love the idea. Our board was just thrilled and amazed to have it brought to us."
Mark Frieden, deputy chief of the New Brighton Fire Department, said the training was well received.
"It's something else you can do. If nothing else, you can try to rescue the family pet," Frieden said. "It gave us the tools to do it."
And, as someone who hunted with Clark, it's a fitting legacy.
"Bart was a wonderful dog," Frieden said. "He was a heck of a pheasant dog, that's for sure."
Distributed by the Associated Press
