Neil Day

 

Neil has been involved in the Training of dogs for over seventeen years, including Search and Rescue K9’s.

Starting in the UK where he was an operational handler for over ten years with NSARDA and a national assessor helping in the training and certifying of multiple dogs on various teams around the UK.
He moved to the Flathead Valley, Montana, USA in 2018, with his family and owns All Day Dog Adventures. He trains dogs full time, including Basic Obedience, Behavioral modification, Scent work, Tracking and trailing and the SAR disciplines of Live Find Air scent, HRD, Tracking and Trailing.
He is still an operational SAR handler with dogs currently certified in Air scent, HRD, Tracking and trailing through IPWDA, NAPWDA and NSDA. He also has a young Golden retriever who has just started his SAR journey.
Neil is an NSDA Evaluator in Air scent and HRD. He has taught multiple SAR K9 seminars all over the country including Alaska, Texas, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Arizona.
When not working K9’s you will find Neil in the back-country hiking, camping and skiing Big Mountain with his family and dogs.

Lisa Higgins

Ronda Bowser

 

Ronda Bowser is a seasoned professional with a remarkable 33-year history in the field of canine training and behavior, specializing in the intricate art of trailing, HRD and HHRD. As a Historic Human Remains Detection Specialist, Ronda brings an unparalleled level of expertise to the forefront of her work. Her passion for understanding animal behavior and solving complex problems is evident in her role as an evaluator and instructor for Human Remains Detection with the Institute of Canine Forensics (ICF).
The proud owner of K9 Battalion and Puppy Hotail and Spa, a 23-acer facility specializing in animal behavior. Ronda is not only a distinguished trainer but also an educator, conducting bi-annual workshops since 2021 on trailing techniques and problem solving. Throughout her illustrious career, she has worked extensively with law enforcement and the FBI, focusing on missing persons, crime scenes, and cold cases. Ronda’s invaluable insights have led her to serve as a trusted consultant to law enforcement agencies, offering strategic guidance on the optimal deployment of canine resources and serving as an expert witness.
Her notable achievements include the certification of her past partner, Pandora, in trailing and cadaver detection with the North American Police Working Dog Association. Pandora also was certified with Tactical Tracker Teams. She certified King Solomon with NAPWDA in trailing. Ronda is dedicated to the art of trailing and preserving the trailing discipline through workshops and breeding a smaller working bloodhound line.
Presently, Ronda is deeply immersed in the training and certification process with her Historic Human Remains Detection Canine, Badger, a Kelpie x, Black Tri breed, born on December 23, 2022. Badger’s skills are consistently honed through annual recertifications, showcasing Ronda’s unwavering commitment to excellence.
As she continues to shape the landscape of canine training, Ronda currently has two certified HHRD dogs and two dogs in training. Ronda has several trailing bloodhounds, shed hunting dogs, drug dogs, agility and rally dogs. She runs a training facility that specializes in dog behavior that serves most of the west coast and works with shelter dogs that are deemed unadoptable, to get them to a place where they can get a forever home.

 

Kristin 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 12 year old dutch shepherd, previously certified in trailing and continues in HRD while semi-retired and a 5 year old jagterrier (terriorist) certified in both trailing and human remains detection. 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. She also assistant instructs at the Forensic Anthropology Center of Texas State for human remains seminars.

Kristin’s training style very much involves training “the dog that you pull out of the car that day.” Setting dogs and handlers up for success, but also challenges in which they learn and grow. Having trained with methods and teams all across the US, she’s learned many ways to problem solve and adapt the training to how the dog is working that day.

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.