Experts hope high-tech police dogs will 'revolutionize' rescue
TORONTO - Search-and-rescue dogs mounted with two-way cameras will revolutionize how lives are saved during a 9/11-scale crisis, says a canine handler and constable with Ontario's elite Provincial Emergency Response Team.
"What's great about a dog is that they can actually get into smaller spaces; they can search much more effectively with their nose," Const. Kevin Barnum said as he crouched in the debris of Toronto's half-demolished Regal Constellation hotel with his rescue dog Dare.
"With the camera it allows us a proper mapping system and you can actually know exactly where the victim is and what we have to expect as rescuers."
"I truly believe that this could revolutionize search-and-rescue dogs."
The camera-mounted harness, which now sports two pan-and-tilt infrared lenses on either side of the dog, was subject to ridicule until they found a model that worked, said Ryerson University professor and project leader Alex Ferworn.
"At first? People thought it was a horrible idea," Ferworn said with a laugh.
"People don't see the relationship between the technology and the animal . . . and as soon as I wanted to mount something on a dog, it became a huge problem."
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