the PRSAR water rescue dog project
PRSAR's water K9 program was built for the water we actually work in: Charlotte Harbor, the Peace River, and the canals, mangrove edges, and shallow flats of southwest Florida. Teams work from the PRSAR boat or from any vessel an agency puts them on.
Water K9 work covers three different jobs. They get run together often enough that it is worth separating them, because they involve different training, different expectations, and — importantly — different standards and footing.
1. Live subject search from a vessel
A dog working from a boat can detect the scent of a living person in or near the water and indicate the direction it is coming from. This is an area search problem solved on the water rather than on foot, used to narrow the search area for surface craft, divers, or aircraft.
2. Water assist in a live rescue
Where conditions allow, and it is the right call, PRSAR dogs can enter the water to assist in reaching a person. This is a support capability under the direction of the on-scene incident commander — not a substitute for lifeguards, rescue swimmers, or a marine unit.
3. Drowned victim and water HRD detection
A dog working from a vessel can detect the odor of human remains rising through the water column and indicate the area where the scent is strongest. This narrows a dive search from an open expanse to a workable area, which in a recovery operation is most of the problem.
This is water human remains detection, and PRSAR states plainly what its standards footing is.
There is no published consensus standard for human remains detection in water.
ANSI/ASB Std 076-2026, the American National Standard for HRD, is land-only by its own scope clause. The 2009 SWGDOG SC8 guideline covered both land and water, but only the land half was carried forward. A project number for a water standard was reserved in 2018 — BSR/ASB Std 075 — and, as of ANSI's August 2026 listing, it has still not moved past “new project initiated.”
PRSAR maintains a separate written water HRD policy built on that gap, and we have published on why we believe water detection warrants its own standard rather than a paragraph inside a land one. Odor in water behaves differently: it moves with current, it surfaces at an offset from the source that varies with depth and flow, and it does not sit where the dog indicates. Treating a water indication as a point rather than an area is the most common way these searches go wrong.
Any team that tells an agency it is “certified to the standard” for water HRD is describing something that does not presently exist. We would rather say that than let it pass.
What an agency gets
To request a water K9 team or to discuss whether one fits the search you are running, contact us.
Water K9 work covers three different jobs. They get run together often enough that it is worth separating them, because they involve different training, different expectations, and — importantly — different standards and footing.
1. Live subject search from a vessel
A dog working from a boat can detect the scent of a living person in or near the water and indicate the direction it is coming from. This is an area search problem solved on the water rather than on foot, used to narrow the search area for surface craft, divers, or aircraft.
2. Water assist in a live rescue
Where conditions allow, and it is the right call, PRSAR dogs can enter the water to assist in reaching a person. This is a support capability under the direction of the on-scene incident commander — not a substitute for lifeguards, rescue swimmers, or a marine unit.
3. Drowned victim and water HRD detection
A dog working from a vessel can detect the odor of human remains rising through the water column and indicate the area where the scent is strongest. This narrows a dive search from an open expanse to a workable area, which in a recovery operation is most of the problem.
This is water human remains detection, and PRSAR states plainly what its standards footing is.
There is no published consensus standard for human remains detection in water.
ANSI/ASB Std 076-2026, the American National Standard for HRD, is land-only by its own scope clause. The 2009 SWGDOG SC8 guideline covered both land and water, but only the land half was carried forward. A project number for a water standard was reserved in 2018 — BSR/ASB Std 075 — and, as of ANSI's August 2026 listing, it has still not moved past “new project initiated.”
PRSAR maintains a separate written water HRD policy built on that gap, and we have published on why we believe water detection warrants its own standard rather than a paragraph inside a land one. Odor in water behaves differently: it moves with current, it surfaces at an offset from the source that varies with depth and flow, and it does not sit where the dog indicates. Treating a water indication as a point rather than an area is the most common way these searches go wrong.
Any team that tells an agency it is “certified to the standard” for water HRD is describing something that does not presently exist. We would rather say that than let it pass.
What an agency gets
- Trained water K9 teams deployable from the PRSAR vessel or your own.
- Search area reduction for dive and surface assets.
- Written records of area worked, conditions, and indications, in the same format as our land deployments.
- Coordination with the PRSAR Dive Team and Water Recovery Team where a recovery follows.
To request a water K9 team or to discuss whether one fits the search you are running, contact us.
