Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog

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Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 1,284 ratings · 270 reviews

An unforgettable memoir from a search-and-rescue pilot and her spirited canine partner

In the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, Susannah Charleson clipped a photo from the newspaper of an exhausted canine handler, face buried in the fur of his search-and-rescue dog. A dog lover and pilot with search experience herself, Susannah was so moved by the image that she decided to...more

Hardcover, 285 pages

Published April 14th 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (first published 2010)

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Apr 22, 2010 Larry rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've always admired working dogs (from a distance) and their human partners. I'd heard about Scent of the Missing. from friends, and picked it up to find out what they saw in it. And I saw it too. Dogs (and cats and other pets) are NOT just small humans, and treating them as such degrades both the animal and the human. Susannah Charleson does not fall into this trap (which admittedly puts books on the Best Seller list). Ms. Charleson accepts her companions (dogs and cats) on their own terms. She...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Mt. Kisco Library added it

Shelves: staff-picks-2010

When flight instructor Susannah Charleson saw a picture of a canine handler drooped in exhaustion with his search and rescue dog at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing, she knew that she had to volunteer to become a part of the experience of helping to find the missing. And, due to her empathetic and insightful writing skills, readers can become part of this experience too. In this compelling memoir, which is partly anecdotal and partly informational, she recounts her experiences in her search...more When flight instructor Susannah Charleson saw a picture of a canine handler drooped in exhaustion with his search and rescue dog at the site of the Oklahoma City bombing, she knew that she had to volunteer to become a part of the experience of helping to find the missing. And, due to her empathetic and insightful writing skills, readers can become part of this experience too. In this compelling memoir, which is partly anecdotal and partly informational, she recounts her experiences in her search for the perfect puppy to become the other half of her team. The puppy must be intelligent, confident, and have a heightened scent perception, as well as excel in drive and stamina. After contacting many breeders, she finally found “Puzzle”, a beautiful little golden retriever.

Then the real work began. Any puppy is easily distractible, but thousands of hours of arduous tests, practices, and lessons slowly added the needed focus to Puzzle’s playfulness and endearing nature. Slowly, Charleson learned to “trust your dog” and Puzzle learned to work as part of a team. The stakes were very high; there were lost or abducted kids, Alzheimers patients, drowning victims, and teen runaways who needed to be found as quickly as possible! Conditions were invariably extreme, and searches seemed to always happen in brutal heat or cold, with dangerous brambles, jagged concrete rubble and rebar, or dense smoke. Both Puzzle and Charleson were at risk for severe injury. But the alternative – never finding the missing person – was devastating, so search and rescue teams gave it their all. When the search was successful, and someone is recovered alive, it’s all worthwhile, but all too frequently hopes were dashed and teams went home without ever finding out what had happened to the victim(s).

Charleson’s keen powers of observation are the perfect vehicle for this fascinating, “scentsational” book that readers will be unable to put down. Highly recommended to all who love animals but are tired of cutesy pet stories.
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Apr 13, 2010 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have both read the book, and listened to the audio version, which was read by the author. Her voice is very pleasant and expressive, and one does not tire of hearing her. I loved reading the book. Her prose is delightful. I enjoyed re-reading lines and savoring them.

The book itself is a gem. I loved reading it. Her prose is delightful. I enjoyed re-reading lines and savoring them. She teaches so much about work that I had only a glancing knowledge of before, and she informs us about very exact...more

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Jun 01, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Read this review and more on my blog!

Scent of the Missing is a dear memoir. Charleson is grieving from her divorce and figuring out what her new life will look like. She finds two things - flying airplanes and search and rescue. Always a dog lover, working with search and rescue dogs is an easy fit.

It was pretty shocking to me to learn that search and rescue dogs and their handlers are an entirely volunteer organization. These people are not paid for their time or personal costs to train the do...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals

If you know nothing at all about the care and training of a search and rescue dog (as I did -- or rather didn't), then when you finish this book, you will. That's not as trite a statement as it sounds, because the fact that this book stayed true to it's title and didn't veer off course into barely related anecdotes is one of the reasons for it's four star rating. The author describes how she decided to become an owner/handler/trainer for a search and rescue dog, the process of choosing a dog, an...more

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Nov 02, 2012 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

What an enjoyable read. Still, it was not what I expected. The determination and dedication of these people was driven home as the author detailed the intense and constant training they undergo juxtaposed with the difficult searches. There were very few heart-warming stories of success. Granted this is the very personal story of one dog and her woman, but nonetheless, I was surprised. This is an interesting peek behind the scenes of these dedicated volunteers.
-A second surprise came for me in t...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review is of the audio book. Charleson's vivid, engaging, and even at times poetic prose limns a challenging but rewarding relationship with her new search dog, Puzzle. A golden retriever with all the puppy problems inherent to that breed, she must teach the pup all the usual skills of living in a human world while both take on the harder tasks of learning how to perform search and rescue. Puzzle must learn to use her nose and tell her handler what she finds -- while knowing where and when...more

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Sep 02, 2011 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love books that make me learn something about the world that I never would have thought about before. Scent of the Missing: Love & Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog is just such a book. Susannah Charleson chronicles her time learning the ropes with a canine search-and-rescue team, the trials and joys she had training her own future search-and-rescue dog, and giving us some insight into how these dogs really work.

I learned that most canine search-and-rescue units are made up of volun...more I love books that make me learn something about the world that I never would have thought about before. Scent of the Missing: Love & Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog is just such a book. Susannah Charleson chronicles her time learning the ropes with a canine search-and-rescue team, the trials and joys she had training her own future search-and-rescue dog, and giving us some insight into how these dogs really work.

I learned that most canine search-and-rescue units are made up of volunteers who may get called out in the middle of a night to travel three hours away to search for a missing child, only for the child to be found by neighbors fifteen minutes after they arrive, and still have to go to their full-time job in the morning. These people are dedicated. They search through woods and swamps, over lakes and snow, and battle not only the elements, but have to be wary for other wildlife and aggressive people/pets. They search in burned out or bombed buildings covered in debris and dust, and have to be careful of falling or getting trapped themselves.

Not everyone understands just how amazing a dog's nose is, especially one that's been trained to search for specific scents. The dogs Susannah worked with could be used to find the scent of an Alzheimer's walkaway, a lost little boy, a teenager presumed dead, or pinpoint where in a lake a man drowned. They could be given an article of clothing and search only for that scent, dismissing all others, or just search for any human scent they could find in a secluded area. The key for Susannah was to learn to read the dogs' reactions, because each one worked differently. The handlers were able to tell when their dog had a slight interest in an area (boy was here, but not recently), and interest (boy is here, here). She told a story about a teenager that had runaway, and whose brother claimed left town going East in a car. None of the dogs even thought about heading East when they were let loose on the search, and three separate times, three different dogs kept going back to a neighbor's house that the police had already cleared. After the dogs showed such intense interest in only one location, the police went back to the house and found the missing runaway.

This book is one that will teach you and help you learn about a life, a career, that not many know or think about. I have a new respect for not only search-and-rescue dogs, but for the people who dedicate themselves to the search. Perfect for any dog lover and anyone interested in broadening their horizons.(less)

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Aug 01, 2011 Annie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Among the real everyday superheroes that protect our communities, such as police officers and fire fighters, is the unpaid, volunteer Search and Rescue Canine Unit. These four-legged noble animals, with their owners, perform a variety of essential roles to assist our society. This book, told from the perspective of one volunteer in the unit, Susannah, is training her first SAR dog, a Golden Retriever, named Puzzle. The chapters inform the reader about the dogs’ incredible scent and tracking abil...more Among the real everyday superheroes that protect our communities, such as police officers and fire fighters, is the unpaid, volunteer Search and Rescue Canine Unit. These four-legged noble animals, with their owners, perform a variety of essential roles to assist our society. This book, told from the perspective of one volunteer in the unit, Susannah, is training her first SAR dog, a Golden Retriever, named Puzzle. The chapters inform the reader about the dogs’ incredible scent and tracking abilities, recall real-life field searches, reveal the intensive training process and share Susannah’s personal, every-day life. All these topics make for a little disjointed structure, but I was used to it by its victorious end, a satisfying account of Puzzle’s first search. I feel such full-hearted appreciation and respect for the canine teams. The true field searches were suspenseful and the most interesting part. Susannah has a confident, easygoing manner that translated well to paper; her own personal story combined with her volunteer line of work, is moving.
I couldn’t believe all the skin we shed that animals can use to track us by. There is some scientific jargon and technical explanations, but the book does not get bogged down in that. Despite all the scientific technology we have, our furry friends are still invaluable: whether it’s finding a body underwater (which still produces a scent to a dog) or scouting rubble and debris after a natural/manmade disaster for survivors, or tracking missing persons, runaways, dementia patients who wander away; the touching combination of dogs, tirelessly working with a human duo to make a our world a better place, is honorable.

This book contains a brief smattering of language, some suspenseful environments; dealing with crime and death.

Favorite Quote:
I say “Sit” so much that when a salesperson hovers over my shoulder and interrupts me for the fourth time in a complicated transaction, I hold up my hand reflexively and say, “Sit,” as I lean over the contract. He blinks. I blink. “New dog.” I say in apology. “Ah,” he replies and points at the picture of his black lab, all muscular intensity with a shining head. “How old?” I ask. “Ten months,” he says, “Yours?” “Six months,” I answer. We have a moment of empathy. He does not, however, interrupt me again.
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Apr 12, 2011 Alexandra rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book, have already read it twice. The writing is more than good, funny at times, and the narrative is well-balanced between the story of Puzzle and the process of training her, and the actual search and rescue work, both with and without Puzzle. I think the criticism that the reader doesn't necessarily find out the results of some of the searches is a bit misled, the story is about the partnership itself, and as the author states several times, when there is no resolution on some of...more

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Feb 25, 2011 stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, non-fiction, would-rec

i cried at the end.

this book is awesome. if you love dogs, please read it. if you love animals, this is for you.

but mostly it was eye-opening and perfect to read as someone that eventually wants to canine SAR - and there was a pit terrier on the team! yaay.

the writing is strong and crisp and doesn't fall into the trap of romanticizing the work at hand. it's hard, discouraging, scary, and important. it was also fascinating to follow susannah's keen observations in the different of between the...more

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Aug 21, 2010 Shaya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animal-non-fiction, memoir, summer-2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 27, 2010 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am not that familiar with the search and rescue aspect involving dogs, so it was nice to get to learn about this field. Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog really made me appreciate the devotion and dedication that the men, women and dogs spend day after day searching for people. The word “quit” is not in their vocabulary.

I could relate to Susannah and Puzzle’s strong bond. I raised a guide dog for the blind and we got close. His name was Patriot and we rel...more

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Jul 25, 2010 Denise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally an author who can write with a dog story worth telling has come along! In Scent of the Missing Susannah Charleson illuminates the often romanticized, but little known world of search and rescue dogs. She starts with her own introduction to the SAR, as a field assistant and finishes the book with an accounting of the training of her own SAR dog, Puzzle. If you are expecting sappy, feel-good accounts of rescues you may be disappointed. Susannah tells it like it is including the disappointm...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Our flight attendant...gives a nervous little shriek. I feel sure the young woman saw the puppy come aboard, but now Puzzle sleeps upside down in my arms, her round belly upward, feet akimbo, head limp and tilted backward toward the aisle. Gravity has pulled down the puppy's ears and lips and bared her fangs. Her eyes are open buy unseeing, rolled up in her head with the whites exposed. It's not a good look. It's not even canine -- more Hell-Spawn Bunny of the Undead.

"It's a puppy," says my sea...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Deborah Darsie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-nf, read-dog

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, interesting and informative book exploring a personal journey from small plane pilot to Search & Rescue work. One of the best aspects of the book is the absence of romanticism in regard to S&R work.

Glimpses of how her S&R organization works, the different dog\handler teams and the trust they have with each other. As Ms Charleson earns her stripes and becomes eligible to raise & train a potential canine partner. The time and training demands, let al...more

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Apr 26, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dog lovers

Recommended to Susan by: Tara Chevrestt

Shelves: arc-edition, animals

3 1/2 stars. This is a story of Search and Rescue dogs but also of life with a golden retriever puppy named Puzzle who is being trained for SAR work, of living in a household full of rescued Pomeranians, and of all the training that goes into making a successful SAR dog and handler. There are also sad stories about why some of the author's rescued dogs needed to be rescued in the first place, and it never fails to amaze me how thoughtless and cruel people can be at their worst.

On the flight home...more

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Jul 19, 2010 CorLostForWords rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book chronicles the life of Puzzle, from puppyhood, to training, and ends with her certification for search and rescue. We also get to see the human-canine bond flourish, during the training sessions as well as at home, between both Susannah, and Puzzle. Scent of the Missing takes an in-depth look at what it takes to both volunteer, and train a search and rescue dog. Puzzle is still a mischevious puppy, and we get to see the curious and playful side of puppyhood clash with the seriousness o...more This book chronicles the life of Puzzle, from puppyhood, to training, and ends with her certification for search and rescue. We also get to see the human-canine bond flourish, during the training sessions as well as at home, between both Susannah, and Puzzle. Scent of the Missing takes an in-depth look at what it takes to both volunteer, and train a search and rescue dog. Puzzle is still a mischevious puppy, and we get to see the curious and playful side of puppyhood clash with the seriousness of training.
Puzzle already from birth had the markers for being a service dog. She has an affable nature, and is willing to search. Through many trials and tests, she has honed her skill. Search and rescue is not up to just the dogs though. The handlers have to learn what signals their dogs are sending out, if they are working a trail with no scent, old scent, or fresh scent. They need to know exactly what each twitch of their tail or nose means, and they need to be able to keep up. Search and Rescue is definitely a team effort. It is up to the handler to decide whether or not they are going to respond to certain calls. Some areas are exceedingly dangerous to both the dogs, and the handlers. These teams put their lives on the line to track missing persons, as they track anywhere they are needed. Conditions are almost always hazardous, though in one chapter, one of the extreme calls mentioned was one where the area had to be swept for bombs and cyanide before the teams would be allowed in.
The sacrifice that the teams make is astounding. They pour their time, and money into an occupation that is mainly volunteer, with the hope that they can make a difference and help those in need.
Charleson writes a no-holds-barred account of what life is like for the search and rescue teams. Through her writing, and Puzzle's training, we get a glimpse of what is entailed for those who are in the search and rescue field. The misery, exhaustion, defeat, when cases are still ongoing, and yet, we also get to see the joy, when they successfully find someone, and bring them home.
All in all, this was an authentic representation of the life of the Search and Rescue teams, and it was also a heart-wrenching read. The teams are absolutely dedicated to finding and helping those in need. The dogs are brilliant, and they are phenomenal in their tracking. In the words of Charleson, trust the dog.

Many thanks goes to Julie from FSB Media for sending me this book to review. I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.(less)

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Mar 05, 2011 Keri ★TX rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, nonfiction, animals, biography, challenge-spring-2011-read

An incredible story about some very tough volunteers of the two-legged and four-legged varieties! This book is read by the writer, Susannah Charleson, who gives a wonderful insight into the lives of SAR (Search and Rescue) teams during the good times and not so good times. It is very clear from her descriptions just how caring a person she is, and just how in tune she is with not only Puzzle, but her other dogs she has fostered out and are permanent fixtures at home. I learned a lot about the ph...more

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Mar 25, 2010 Gwen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-read, memoir, non-fiction

Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog was a compelling, informative, emotional, funny, and fanastic read. I don't own a dog but consider myself a dog person.

Susannah Charleson starts off following and assisting other Search and Rescue Dog teams on sites of emergencies. She didn't think she'd ever become a handler and when she decided to do it, it took a while to find what might be the right dog for the task.

I loved the manner in which S. Charleson inflected th...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Meghan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't come across this book before, but I received it as a birthday gift and I really enjoyed it.

The book chronicles the author's progress from novice to experienced and certified dog/handler team. She writes her interactions with her dog so well, sounds and sights described in perfect detail. She brings the reader into the searches. Most of the searches end with disappointment and sadness. It is kind of fristrating that she never really tells a story where the search dogs find someone missi...more

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Sep 02, 2010 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: animals

I would actually give this between 3-4 stars. I am amazed by people who are willing to put the time and energy (and money) into search and rescue for no paycheck. I admire them greatly and unfortunately know I would never have it in me to do that type of work. I enjoyed her stories about how she came to do dog search and many of the stories, but I felt like she didn't finish a lot of the stories... I kept waiting to find out whether someone had been found or what happened but never did find out....more

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May 23, 2010 Kristin rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is such an adorable tale of the makings of a search and rescue dog and the early portion of her handler's career in search and rescue. Rather than telling the tale of all of the rescues the pair has been on during their time together, the author focuses on their initial time period during Puzzle's training and her own acclimation to the role the humans must play in enabling their dogs to make the most of the searches.

Charleson freely admits that Puzzle is not the perfect dog, not brd with s...more This is such an adorable tale of the makings of a search and rescue dog and the early portion of her handler's career in search and rescue. Rather than telling the tale of all of the rescues the pair has been on during their time together, the author focuses on their initial time period during Puzzle's training and her own acclimation to the role the humans must play in enabling their dogs to make the most of the searches.

Charleson freely admits that Puzzle is not the perfect dog, not brd with search-and-find in her genes, nor is she the perfect handler. It becomes evident though over the course of the book that Puzzle has an easier time overcoming her weaknesses. In Charleson's defense, Puzzle was a puppy when her training began, her mind impressionable as can be, whereas Charleson had been through many experiences and this was a new chapter in her long book of life. By including the team's interactions with other dog/handler pairs who had been doing this for years, and tales of the training exercises, Charleson emphasizes not only the present but also the future, allowing Puzzle to grow over the course of the book while in constant company of those they aspired to be.

Charleson also balances the book with tales from off the job and what it is like to integrate a 'working' Golden Retriever into a home already occupied by a pack of Pomeranians. There is an occasional mention of people in the author's life besides coworkers, but for the most part, the dogs in her life are her friends and the book revolves around them. In fact, the other humans are given just the basics to identify them, while the dogs are the ones who get the full detailed description of who they are and what their personalities are like.

If I had one complaint about the book it was that it at times felt like there were 2 independent stories going on. Puzzle finishes her initial training, but there wasn't much attention given to her opportunities to show off her new abilities except on training runs. Instead, for most of the real search and rescue opportunities described in the book, Charleson was serving as an assistant to the other teams. Puzzle was still training at the time, and the author mentions right at the beginning that serving as an assistant is an important step towards eventually becoming certified with your own dog, but I wish that there would have been more stories of jobs that Charleson and Puzzle took upon being certified, to tie the stories together. She did provide an epilogue to update readers about the search and rescue teams she described in the book, since her experiences as an assistant spanned a number of years, so the epilogue was a nice touch.

On an aside, I found Charleson's chapter on the Columbia shuttle disaster fascinating. I was in college at the time, but don't recall seeing much written about the recovery efforts in order to help the government figure out what happened. Until I read this book, I thought that the explosion and effects of being so high up had rendered the shuttle and all inside to little more than dust, much as we heard had happened on 9/11. So her description of the futility experienced by the search dogs (not Puzzle who hadn't even been born at the time) trained to hone in on scent but being completely overwhelmed because there were bits of human scent everywhere but no humans or large remains to be found was profound, yet she also mentions standing vigil over part of a spinal column until the proper authorities could come to collect it. I can only imagine how difficult that must be, knowing that there was a job to be done, but the satisfaction of a 'job well done' would be minimal in the grand scheme of things.(less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Linda C rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a sweet, easy read. Good book for animal lovers, especially dog people. Charleson does an excellent job of getting inside the head of the animals. Unfortunately, she used less skill when writing about people, including herself.

While I felt like I knew her dog Puzzle very well, I didn't feel like I knew her at all. It was unclear what she did for a living (she was a pilot, but she didn't seem to be working all that much), why she did search and rescue, even who was in her personal life....more This was a sweet, easy read. Good book for animal lovers, especially dog people. Charleson does an excellent job of getting inside the head of the animals. Unfortunately, she used less skill when writing about people, including herself.

While I felt like I knew her dog Puzzle very well, I didn't feel like I knew her at all. It was unclear what she did for a living (she was a pilot, but she didn't seem to be working all that much), why she did search and rescue, even who was in her personal life. There was one section where she wrote about herself as a little girl, terrified of tornadoes but living in Tornado Alley, then ultimately sent off to live with her grandmother when her fears started to overwhelm her family. That was an excellent section, which shows that she has the skill to write about people, but she just didn't utilize it.

There is another section towards the end of the book where she reveals that she is going through a bad time with serious, chronic illness, which may derail Puzzle's training as a SAR dog. The timing of the section felt off, as if she knew she was reaching the end of the book, looked at her checklist, and thought "Oops, haven't written about the illness yet. Better get it in."

Timing, come to think of it, is an issue throughout the book. I don't have any problem with books bouncing back and forth between present and past, but when they do, the periods need to be clearly noted. After finishing the book, I can't say exactly when anything took place. Puzzle was born a year or two after the Columbia explosion, but short of googling the date, that is the only marker. How hard would it have been to start a chapter with a date?

Speaking of the Columbia, that was another oddly spaced chapter. In the midst of Puzzle's testing and certification, and Susannah's illness, there was a long chapter about Susannah searching for pieces of the Columbia, in the time before Puzzle. While the mission made a lasting impression on the writer, it was out of place in a book about Susannah and her dog.

The book had a lot of good things going for it, but it was a mixed bag in the end.(less)

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Aug 07, 2010 Dee Toomey rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a great book. I originally chose to read it because it was a "dog story". But I got so much more from this book then the story of a dog. Puzzle is a Golden Retriever who is trained by the author from puppy for the task of being a search and rescue dog. This takes a special dog... not all dogs can be trained in this field. Puzzle was chosen carefully from a reliable breeder, was tested as a puppy for temperment and intelligence, and was found to be a good candidate for search and rescue....more

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Feb 20, 2012 Jude rated it 3 of 5 stars

"In the long light of early morning, Hunter circles what remains of a burned house, his nose low and brow furrowed. The night's thick air has begun to lift, and the German Shepherd's movement catches the emerging sun. He is a shining thing against the black of scorched brick, burned timber, and nearby tree charred leafless."

Charleson writes so well, I kept looking for a co-writer credit. The book is a nice mix of personal experience, insights into the search and rescue world, and observations on...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Steven rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is a pleasant-enough dog book, following the day-to-day training of a search and rescue dog. I was not overwhelmed, but I think most dog lovers would enjoy this book. Some fascinating observations from working the search and rescue over the debris field following the high-altitude explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia. The other searches are realistic: victims are often never found, searches are called off, and the reader is left in suspense--a result as unsatisfying on paper as it must b...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Mary (BookHounds) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-book-challenge, from-publisher-author

This is the first book about a dog that hasn't made me cry and I get teary while reading most dog books. This is a fearless look at life and what happens when you decide to help other people. Susannah Charleston doesn't mention how she really earns a living and pays for all that dog food, but you get the feeling that she would scrub floors to keep her rescue dogs well fed and in good health. Yes, she has a search and rescue dog and several cute little Poms that she has taken in as well. The stor...more

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Jun 06, 2010 Cornerofmadness rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’m not a huge reader of the feel good animal stories but I do like true crime and forensics and search and rescue dogs sort of fit into that. My one great fear is that I’ll like the animal and think the owner is a big jerk and heaven help you if you say that in a review. People will go berserk. No fears here. Susannah is both knowledgeable about her field and down to earth and likeable.

There’s a bit of non-linear going on here which was a little disconcerting at first but she gets around to we...more

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Jun 03, 2010 Heidideifel rated it 1 of 5 stars

I thought this book would be about the compelling stories of people who were missing and how this woman and her dog found them. And from the title, do you blame me? Instead it was a bit about how the author helped other trainers before she got a dog, some about how she trained her own dog, a lot about the dynamics of the dog with the other pets in her house, some sad information about her bad health and failed marriage, and one actual search with the dog on the cover. She starts the book with a...more

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About Susannah Charleson

Susannah Charleson is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Scent of the Missing, as well as a flight instructor, service dog trainer, and canine search-and-rescue team member, who most recently began a non-profit organization called The Possibility Dogs, which rescues, trains, and places dogs with people suffering "unseen" disabilities. She lives with her search partner, Puzzle, a golden r...more

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The Possibility Dogs: What a Handful of "Unadoptables" Taught Me About Service, Hope, and Healing

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title link	preview: Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog
avg rating	preview: Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog Goodreads rating: 3.98 (1284 ratings)
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Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue Dog

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