SCHOOL EVENTS

Almira Okumus, 7, and her dad, Enis, were ready for summer to begin. Enis said the best part of the school year was seeing Almira learning all year.

Several parents said they liked the inaugural four-day school week, noting that the free Fridays allowed for more family time and that Clear Creek Middle/High School students appeared more awake since they had longer downtime each week.

“I would not want to go back (to a ve-day school week),” Garner said.

King-Murphy kindergartner Jonah

Riley, busy putting condiments on a hamburger, said his favorite subject in school was physical education calsses.

Mom Kaylan Riley said the family loved the school year, and they are planning to travel a lot this summer, especially camping.

Dads Tyler Toth and Frank Martin worked at the grill, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers for all to enjoy. ey said their wives were very involved in organizing PTA activities, and their job was to help out wherever needed.

“ is school is the best,” Martin said. “We have a great community, great kids, great families and sta .”

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Search-and-rescue dogs embody the mail carrier motto: “Neither snow, nor rain nor gloom of night” will keep these trusty canines from their appointed rounds — searching for people or items with single-minded purpose.

For the dogs and their trainers who are part of the Colorado branch of SARDUS — Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States — training is a weekly, if not daily, endeavor to prepare dogs to certify in an area of search and rescue or to keep the dog’s skills sharp after certi cation.

“ e training continues for life,” said Cathy Bryarly, a retired Boulder sheri ’s deputy who trains search-and-rescue dogs. “ is has to be part of your life. It goes way beyond a hobby, or it’s not going to work. It’s a calling.”

SARDUS members agree that it’s a labor a love based in their strong resolve to help others. Not only do the dogs and their handlers train multiple times a week, enlisting family and friends to hide, so the dogs have someone to search for, but handlers also attend seminars on a variety of topics and work together by laying trails for others to follow.

Trainers are always learning, so they can improve their canines’ ability to help in emergency situations.

Search-and-rescue dogs and their handlers are not paid; in fact, handlers spend a lot on the dogs, the equipment, the training and more. e goal is to be certi ed to go on missions, the term for helping law enforcement nd people, bodies or objects needed in an investigation.

Call the people trainers or handlers, but more importantly, they’re dog lovers who want to work as a team with their pets to help others.

The humility of training e trainers say it simply: Training their canines is humbling.

“Our dogs don’t make the mistakes,” Anjie Julseth-Crosby of Morrison said. “We do. ere’s so much to remember. e training is about me trying to understand what (the dogs) are saying. e human fails, not the dog.”

In fact, Julseth-Crosby, who started training her bloodhounds two years ago, has compiled a 19-page document called “ ings I wish I knew two years ago.”

Training involves having a dog follow a scent for several miles, helping the dog return to the SEE DOGS, P11