The first FACTS seminar was held in March 2013. The two initial lead instructors were Ann Christensen and Bill Dotson who were brought it to establish the program due to their years of experience, their integrity and the quality of instruction they provided. Their guidance helped to establish the program and while they are no longer actively teaching at FACTS their influence will forever be a guiding force in our program. Thank you both Ann and Bill!
There are now level 1, 2 and 3 seminars which focus on different aspects of training human remains detection dogs.
There are now level 1, 2 and 3 seminars which focus on different aspects of training human remains detection dogs.
LEAD INSTRUCTORS
Dr. Michael BEN Alexander began dog training in 1972 with his parents GSD's for confirmation, obedience and later schutzhund. Ben continued training dogs for a variety of venues over the 50+ years, settling with search and rescue dogs in 2000 and has dedicated his life to the furthering the science behind the dogs since 2010.
Ben has a MS degree in Animal Behavior from Texas A&M University. His studies were on search dog performance. His PhD is in Forensic Soil Science where he looked at soil components under decomposing bodies and cadaver dog capabilities. Two published papers are available on request.
Ben has trained 5 K9's to certification and is currently training 2 new partners, 1 for historic/pre-contact and one for HRD. Ben has been a lead evaluator for NASAR for HRD. He has certified dogs with national organizations: NNDDA, NAPWDA, NASAR and TASK. His current partner Rip has located historic grave sites 150 - 250 years old and pre-contact graves 2500 years old and older.
Ben began teaching at seminars in 2010 after being encouraged to do so by his own mentors Shirley Hammond, Cheryl Kennedy, Ann Christensen and others. In 2013, through his PhD research at the forensic anthropology center at Texas state (FACTS), he began a pilot seminar program which developed into the robust K9 training program that now exists at Texas State. Ben is the FACTS K9 training coordinator. While he still continues to do seminars and certifications across the country, he has focused his efforts on providing one of the best learning environments in the United States for cadaver dog teams at FACTS. However, he is always available for consultation and strongly believes in the service cadaver dog teams provide to their community.
Ben has a MS degree in Animal Behavior from Texas A&M University. His studies were on search dog performance. His PhD is in Forensic Soil Science where he looked at soil components under decomposing bodies and cadaver dog capabilities. Two published papers are available on request.
Ben has trained 5 K9's to certification and is currently training 2 new partners, 1 for historic/pre-contact and one for HRD. Ben has been a lead evaluator for NASAR for HRD. He has certified dogs with national organizations: NNDDA, NAPWDA, NASAR and TASK. His current partner Rip has located historic grave sites 150 - 250 years old and pre-contact graves 2500 years old and older.
Ben began teaching at seminars in 2010 after being encouraged to do so by his own mentors Shirley Hammond, Cheryl Kennedy, Ann Christensen and others. In 2013, through his PhD research at the forensic anthropology center at Texas state (FACTS), he began a pilot seminar program which developed into the robust K9 training program that now exists at Texas State. Ben is the FACTS K9 training coordinator. While he still continues to do seminars and certifications across the country, he has focused his efforts on providing one of the best learning environments in the United States for cadaver dog teams at FACTS. However, he is always available for consultation and strongly believes in the service cadaver dog teams provide to their community.
Tiffanie Turner’s experience in behavior and learning theory started with horses. While still in high school her talent at behavior modification was recognized and landed her in a position working with problem horses and problem solving for speed event horses. She has over 40 years of professional experience working with behavior modification.
She has used learning theory and behavior modification to train horses, cats, dogs, pigs and chickens. Honing her skills at observation and understanding the scent detection dog, she has successfully selected and trained several HRD dogs for wilderness and urban search and recovery missions.
She has trained dogs for Conservation work. Dogs were trained to find invasive or endangered species of plants and animals. Some of these projects were with Dogs for Conservation and the Houston Zoo, The Biosecurity Agency in the Galapagos Islands for Giant African Land Snail eradication, Texas A&M University for otter population studies, along with other conservations projects.
She obtained her degree from Texas A&M University, College of Biomedical Science where she now works imaging hoof stock and teaching 4th year vet students techniques in safety and imaging. Handling Rodeo bulls to Olympic equine athletes. She has been recognized by Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital as an outstanding employee on many occasions.
Tiffanie Turner began her SAR career with a border collie mix named "Fanta" who would go on to be recognized as the National Association for Search and Rescue's K9 of the year in 2010 for her outstanding work on multiple recoveries and incredible working ability.
Tiffanie has trained and certified dogs for national certifications in wilderness HRD with: NNDDA, NASAR, NAPWDA and currently fields a FEMA disaster Live find K9 "Croc-it" and has retired her FEMA HRD disaster K9 “Fetchit”. Tiffanie participated in the recovery efforts for hurricane Ike and the Memorial Day floods of 2015, California wildfires as well as many missing person searches.
With her outstanding patience and commitment to the dog’s success she has helped many handlers and canines overcome hurdles and improve their partnership and overall performance. Tiffanie has taught HRD classes at seminars from AZ to NY over the past 12 years and has aided many handlers in starting their HRD dogs on odor as well as challenged the advanced K9 teams and improved overall performance with her insight and troubleshooting abilities. Tiffanie’s experience and dedication has help make the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University HRD K9 seminars an amazingly successful seminar since the start of 2013.
She has used learning theory and behavior modification to train horses, cats, dogs, pigs and chickens. Honing her skills at observation and understanding the scent detection dog, she has successfully selected and trained several HRD dogs for wilderness and urban search and recovery missions.
She has trained dogs for Conservation work. Dogs were trained to find invasive or endangered species of plants and animals. Some of these projects were with Dogs for Conservation and the Houston Zoo, The Biosecurity Agency in the Galapagos Islands for Giant African Land Snail eradication, Texas A&M University for otter population studies, along with other conservations projects.
She obtained her degree from Texas A&M University, College of Biomedical Science where she now works imaging hoof stock and teaching 4th year vet students techniques in safety and imaging. Handling Rodeo bulls to Olympic equine athletes. She has been recognized by Texas A&M University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital as an outstanding employee on many occasions.
Tiffanie Turner began her SAR career with a border collie mix named "Fanta" who would go on to be recognized as the National Association for Search and Rescue's K9 of the year in 2010 for her outstanding work on multiple recoveries and incredible working ability.
Tiffanie has trained and certified dogs for national certifications in wilderness HRD with: NNDDA, NASAR, NAPWDA and currently fields a FEMA disaster Live find K9 "Croc-it" and has retired her FEMA HRD disaster K9 “Fetchit”. Tiffanie participated in the recovery efforts for hurricane Ike and the Memorial Day floods of 2015, California wildfires as well as many missing person searches.
With her outstanding patience and commitment to the dog’s success she has helped many handlers and canines overcome hurdles and improve their partnership and overall performance. Tiffanie has taught HRD classes at seminars from AZ to NY over the past 12 years and has aided many handlers in starting their HRD dogs on odor as well as challenged the advanced K9 teams and improved overall performance with her insight and troubleshooting abilities. Tiffanie’s experience and dedication has help make the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University HRD K9 seminars an amazingly successful seminar since the start of 2013.
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Karen Paquette began her SAR career in 2003 in Tucson, Pima County, AZ, and has deployed on numerous searches in wilderness, urban, water, and in support of law
enforcement investigations. Karen serves as Training Director with Pima County’s K9SAR team, Southwest Rescue Dogs, Inc., (since 2014). She is a NASAR Lead Evaluator and an evaluator for NSDA. Karen has assisted with FACTS workshops since 2013 serving as wrangler, assistant instructor, and instructor. Karen has planned, assisted with, and instructed at several Arizona State SAR conferences. She’s been invited to instruct at seminars and workshops in CA, UT, WA, and TX. Karen has worked with and learned from four canine partners in air scent, HRD, and recently in tracking/trailing. She also trains and competes in scent work with one dog that was not SAR appropriate. As SRDI training director and as FACTS instructor, Karen has enjoyed the honor and privilege of assisting numerous handlers with training their K9s in HRD and area search live find. Karen was an educator for 23 years, working mostly in Special Education with students with behavior disorders, developmental disorders, and learning disabilities. She also served in leadership capacity as a teacher mentor, a teacher coach, a curriculum support provider, behavior interventionist, and specific academic interventionist. She became a KPA-CTP (Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner) in 2018. |
Greg Strickland Gregory has worked in law enforcement as a sworn police officer since 1993. During this time, he has held positions in Road Patrol, Traffic Homicide Unit, Motor Unit, DUI Task Force, Community Policing Unit, K-9 Unit (narcotics detection and search and rescue/recovery) and as a Detective assigned to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Task Force.
Gregory is a currently a member of Florida Task Force 1 as a Canine Search Specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He has partnered with FEMA certified live search canines, Indy and Zeus, and Human Remains Detection (HRD) canines, Jewel and May. Gregory has deployed to large scale disaster events to include hurricanes, plain crashes, the Haiti earthquake in addition to state and local searches for criminal investigations as a canine search specialist. He is recognized in the State of Florida as an expert witness in the field of cadaver canines and has testified as a fact witness on numerous occasions for detection canine related cases.
In addition, Gregory is a Canine Instructor, Evaluator (Live/HRD) and Mentor with FEMA and a Master Trainer with the North American Police Working Dog Association (NAPWDA) in Cadaver. He is requested to conduct seminars and workshops throughout the United States for live-find and substance detection applications. Gregory’s 23 years of service provides a very diverse background that brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the instructor team.
Gregory is a currently a member of Florida Task Force 1 as a Canine Search Specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He has partnered with FEMA certified live search canines, Indy and Zeus, and Human Remains Detection (HRD) canines, Jewel and May. Gregory has deployed to large scale disaster events to include hurricanes, plain crashes, the Haiti earthquake in addition to state and local searches for criminal investigations as a canine search specialist. He is recognized in the State of Florida as an expert witness in the field of cadaver canines and has testified as a fact witness on numerous occasions for detection canine related cases.
In addition, Gregory is a Canine Instructor, Evaluator (Live/HRD) and Mentor with FEMA and a Master Trainer with the North American Police Working Dog Association (NAPWDA) in Cadaver. He is requested to conduct seminars and workshops throughout the United States for live-find and substance detection applications. Gregory’s 23 years of service provides a very diverse background that brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the instructor team.
Nadine Conner has been on board with 35 years as a professional dog trainer and has been involved in EMS for over 30 years. In 2011 Nadine acquired her first SAR K9 and is presently working her 6 th (Gizzy-certified HR land/open water/shoreline) and 7 th (Ggee- certified livefind 160 acre) K9s having certified with 6 including these 2 present ones. Nadine has been involved in many searches nationwide over the last 10 years including the disastrous Blanco Floods of 2015. She is a founding member and the training director for GPSK9s Inc. while managing her own dog training facility and president of a UKC dog club. Nadine has been an evaluator for NASAR livefind, HR land and water, article scent detection and SARTEC II along with AMPWDA Livefind and HR. She has attended FACTS first as a student in 2015, then as a wrangler
moving into the instructor role having only missed 3 seminars out of the dozens since 2015. As a member of AMPWDA, NASAR, CSAR and First Detection K9 she has taught seminars throughout the US under their auspices and has been invited to work with AWDA and NSDA teaching. Some summers she drives between CA and NC to serve as an instructor
with stops in IN and most often here at FACTS. Having taught special education students, adult swim lessons and dog
handling she is able to easily adjust to the students/dogs needs and
requirements.
moving into the instructor role having only missed 3 seminars out of the dozens since 2015. As a member of AMPWDA, NASAR, CSAR and First Detection K9 she has taught seminars throughout the US under their auspices and has been invited to work with AWDA and NSDA teaching. Some summers she drives between CA and NC to serve as an instructor
with stops in IN and most often here at FACTS. Having taught special education students, adult swim lessons and dog
handling she is able to easily adjust to the students/dogs needs and
requirements.
Kristin Blackmon-Smaltz. Kristin has been involved in search and rescue since 2009. She’s certified and trained 3 trailing dogs and cross trained 2 for human remains detection canines. Kristin’s current dogs are a 13 year old dutch shepherd, previously certified in trailing and continues in HRD while semi-retired, a 6year old jagterrier (terriorist) certified in both trailing and human remains detection, and a young jagdterrier female pup. She is a founding member and current president of Alpha Search and Recovery based in Houston, TX. She is a NASAR instructor and evaluator for FUNSAR, SARTECH II, and all levels of trailing and human remains canine disciplines.
When not volunteering for search and rescue, Kristin is a rocket engineer for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket taking astronauts back to the moon during the Artemis missions.
When not volunteering for search and rescue, Kristin is a rocket engineer for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket taking astronauts back to the moon during the Artemis missions.
Kryssie Thompson joined Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 2015 and then joined the K9 team in late 2017. Her first K9 partner was a human remains detection Belgian Mal/German Shep mix name “Dexter”. They had a great career together until K9 Dexter was medically retired in April of 2024. Together they went on over 300 K9 searches with recoveries in drownings, homicide investigations, and missing persons cases as well as natural disasters. Dexter now enjoys retirement at home with Kryssie and her family. Kryssie got her second K9 partner the Spring of 2024 which is a black lab named “Rizzo”. K9 Rizzo is a human remains detection K9 as well.
Kryssie began assisting at FACTS in 2018, moving quickly from assistant instructor to lead instructor. Kryssie also instructs at Surf N Turf for drowning recovery from boats.
ASSISTANT INSTRUCTORS
Zephrin Allen has spent nearly a decade involved in K-9 SAR as a member of MARK-9 Search and Rescue based in Dallas, TX. Zephrin currently serves as the Team Leader and Head Canine Trainer for MARK-9 and currently deploys a German Shepherd and Labrador Retriever.
Zephrin has certified dogs in Live Find and HRD through American Working Dog Association (AWDA) and National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA), where he also serves as a board member and Principal Evaluator for HRD and Area Search. Additionally, Zephrin is the founder and host of "Hunt-Find-Alert K-9 SAR" podcast, where he has the opportunity to interview experts in the SAR community.
Zephrin is also a student in the K9Sensus Detection Dog Training Academy and a graduate of the Dick Stall online Detection/SAR courses. Zephrin has attended FACTS Level 1,2, and 3 as a student, and has served as a FACTS staff member since 2023.
Zephrin has certified dogs in Live Find and HRD through American Working Dog Association (AWDA) and National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA), where he also serves as a board member and Principal Evaluator for HRD and Area Search. Additionally, Zephrin is the founder and host of "Hunt-Find-Alert K-9 SAR" podcast, where he has the opportunity to interview experts in the SAR community.
Zephrin is also a student in the K9Sensus Detection Dog Training Academy and a graduate of the Dick Stall online Detection/SAR courses. Zephrin has attended FACTS Level 1,2, and 3 as a student, and has served as a FACTS staff member since 2023.
Tammy Robertson
My passion for SAR began in my hometown, OKC in 1995 when the Murrah Federal
Building was bombed. I saw firsthand the important and necessary work of a search
dog. I’ve been involved with SAR for 14 years in both Wilderness & USAR. My first
wilderness air scent K9, a Golden Retriever, was trained in both Live Find and HRD. I
currently have two Labs, one Live Find and one HRD. I am a Lead Evaluator for NASAR
in both Live Find and HRD Land and Disaster, Article Search and SARTECH II. I am
also a WFA & FUNSAR Instructor.
I believe that a love for SAR is necessary to carry you through the countless hours spent training, traveling and deployments, not to mention the financial investment and family sacrifices. I like intentional, goal oriented training that’s challenging enough for continued growth while also keeping it fun and educational for you and your K9. My initial FACTS workshop was in 2014 and I’ve been returning ever since. I’m excited to share lessons learned!
My passion for SAR began in my hometown, OKC in 1995 when the Murrah Federal
Building was bombed. I saw firsthand the important and necessary work of a search
dog. I’ve been involved with SAR for 14 years in both Wilderness & USAR. My first
wilderness air scent K9, a Golden Retriever, was trained in both Live Find and HRD. I
currently have two Labs, one Live Find and one HRD. I am a Lead Evaluator for NASAR
in both Live Find and HRD Land and Disaster, Article Search and SARTECH II. I am
also a WFA & FUNSAR Instructor.
I believe that a love for SAR is necessary to carry you through the countless hours spent training, traveling and deployments, not to mention the financial investment and family sacrifices. I like intentional, goal oriented training that’s challenging enough for continued growth while also keeping it fun and educational for you and your K9. My initial FACTS workshop was in 2014 and I’ve been returning ever since. I’m excited to share lessons learned!
Piper Scholfield has been smitten with Human Remains Detection since 2012 when she and
her first SAR dog, Booter, stumbled upon Dr.Ben Alexander. This fortuitous meeting
led to her first becoming a wrangler at FACTS, then an assistant instructor. Booter
is now retired and Piper and her third Dutch shepherd, Pig Pen, continue forward.
Piper is also a lead evaluator for NASAR in both land and water HR, and has helped
instruct at the FIRST Detection’s Surf n’ Turf seminars. She considers human
remains detection to be the perfect Venn diagram of dogs, science and the outdoors.
her first SAR dog, Booter, stumbled upon Dr.Ben Alexander. This fortuitous meeting
led to her first becoming a wrangler at FACTS, then an assistant instructor. Booter
is now retired and Piper and her third Dutch shepherd, Pig Pen, continue forward.
Piper is also a lead evaluator for NASAR in both land and water HR, and has helped
instruct at the FIRST Detection’s Surf n’ Turf seminars. She considers human
remains detection to be the perfect Venn diagram of dogs, science and the outdoors.
Tami Stone I have been involved with local search and rescue teams since 2002 - Austin Police Dept SAR team, Williamson County SAR team and Travis County SAR. Although I have primarily served as K9 handler in Live Find / Air Scent and Human Remains Detection disciplines, I also served as a Ground Search member, Search Manager and DIspatch. During the mid-2000's I served in my local volunteer fire department as firefighter and medic. In 2015 I became a Canine Search Specialist with the Texas A&M Task Force - FEMA USAR team.
Bruce Trzeciak My name is Bruce Trzeciak. I’m currently in my 26th year as a police officer for the same agency in the Austin, Texas area. I have been training historical human remains detection dogs since 2007. My dog Se7en is a rescue that came to me by way of Dr Alexander. She is trained pretty exclusively on old old human bone. I started at FACTS seminars on the very beginning as a wrangler and through several years of learning from Dr Alexander, Tiffany, Lisa Higgins and Ann Christianson etc I worked my way to assistant instructor. I love doing this and I am forever grateful to Adela Morris her guidance early on and for connecting me to Dr Alexander and Tiffany. She told me to align with Dr Alexander and Tiffany and never leave them lol. Yes ma’am !
MENTORS
Ann Christensen has been active training and handling search dogs since 1994. She is the President and Founder of Idaho Search & Rescue Dogs, Inc. and is a member of the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA) where she serves as a SAR Liaison for the organization. In 2009, Ann was appointed the Canine Committee Chair for the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) and served in that position until the committee was disbanded by NASAR in 2015.
Ann and her dogs have responded on numerous incidents and have been credited with both live finds and body recoveries. She has worked with numerous local and federal law enforcement agencies and is recognized in Idaho courts as an expert witness regarding cadaver dogs. Ann and her K9s also regularly assist in locating historical gravesites. In addition to working her own dogs in SAR, Ann has taught land cadaver, water cadaver, tracking, and first responder disaster to thousands of dog teams and organizations both in the U.S. and internationally. |
Bill Dotson began dog training in 1971 when he and his wife became interested in AKC obedience. He later transitioned to Schutzhund (German protection dog sport) in 1975 and then founded and was training director of the California Rescue Dog Association in 1977.
He earned "Mission Ready" status with the Swiss Disaster Dog Association after training in Switzerland. From 1978 to 1980, he assisted the Davis California police department as a volunteer police dog team. After moving to Virginia, Bill joined Dogs East and was an operational member from 1982 to 1997. During his long canine career, Bill has responded to a very long list of national and international disasters. Because of his experience, he was tasked with assisting FEMA in the development of their criteria for FEMA Disaster Task Force dog teams. He also worked with Virginia Task Force 2 (VA-TF2) in the development of their K9 teams. Bill is a regular speaker and seminar leader on Search and Rescue, Disaster and Cadaver search dogs. He has taught over 200 seminars and workshops around the world. He has acted as an advisor to numerous search and rescue teams around the world. He is also the founder and President of Applied K9 Technologies. He is also the president of Search Dogs of North America (SDONA) http://www.sdona.org/. |