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In Search of the Missing: Working With Search and Rescue Dogs
Renowned as one of the most skilled search dog handlers on both land and sea, Mick McCarthy has over twenty years experience of searching for missing persons. He has experienced first-hand the dangers, thrills, tragedies, and triumphs of search and rescue operations, which he has carried out on flood-swollen rivers, raging seas, through woodland, bog land, and on treacherous mountains, often in the dead of night. This is the captivating story of his dogs, his life, and his adventures in the field, in search of missing persons. ""This story of an unusual job for working dogs and their human trainers well may inspire a new generation of search-and-rescue dog handlers.""-Booklist ""[McCarthy] is brutally honest when he describes how his obsession for Search and Rescue work took over and affected his personal life.""-Library Journal
283 pages, Paperback
First published July 19, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 5, 2018
Good but not great book. It is more about the people who work with the dogs then it about the dogs. It is like reading snippets of the dogs training, work life, and long draw out stories about the people. I did find parts very interesting but I just wanted more. Lots of short stories about rescues and the things that went right and wrong but not put together very well, plus some stories did not have closure.
October 29, 2013
Interesting to compare this with another book by an Irishman, Search Dogs And Me. In this book Mick learns how to train dogs to find people lost on the mountainsides and even trains one to find a submerged body from scent. He was involved in helping with many missing person cases and one turned out to be a crime. The dogs as always are the stars but at times Mick is quite introspective and comes across as leading a lonely life.
November 22, 2021
Had its moments, but neither enough direction/organisation nor enough story for my preferences. McCarthy clearly has an excellent level of training—and track record—with canine search-and-rescue, but at time the book felt more like a lecture on how to train a dog (and what laws surrounding dogs should be) than a memoir of the actual work. Certainly McCarthy's love for dogs comes through, but I don't get a sense from this of what it feels like to be working for hours on end with those dogs, out on land or on water, or what it feels like to be a 'body' in a training exercise, or what any of the bigger stories of the people they rescued or recovered might have been.
The writing's a bit hit or miss—generally fine, but every so often you'll see something like this: ...and, of course, our three-year-old son Jack... (162) and it'll throw you for a loop, because there's no 'of course' about a character who hasn't been mentioned before and is only mentioned once again after that (lots of mentions of Jack the dog, though to be fair this is a book about working with dogs). Nothing wrong with limiting the amount of personal info in a memoir, if that's what one chooses to do, but it feels a bit as though the personal info was all loaded up front (regarding McCarthy's younger life), and then all but dropped as the book continues.
I quite wanted to enjoy this (I do like a good search-and-rescue memoir, can't say why), but ultimately the focus wasn't quite there for me. Presumably has some good insights for those who do work with dogs.
The writing's a bit hit or miss—generally fine, but every so often you'll see something like this: ...and, of course, our three-year-old son Jack... (162) and it'll throw you for a loop, because there's no 'of course' about a character who hasn't been mentioned before and is only mentioned once again after that (lots of mentions of Jack the dog, though to be fair this is a book about working with dogs). Nothing wrong with limiting the amount of personal info in a memoir, if that's what one chooses to do, but it feels a bit as though the personal info was all loaded up front (regarding McCarthy's younger life), and then all but dropped as the book continues.
I quite wanted to enjoy this (I do like a good search-and-rescue memoir, can't say why), but ultimately the focus wasn't quite there for me. Presumably has some good insights for those who do work with dogs.
May 29, 2012
Very disjointed. I found it interesting because I'm really interested in Search & Rescue Dogs. This was from the Irish perspective, so it had a lot of new ideas for me. The writing was not great. I was disappointed that the photos that were included did not show most of the dogs mentioned in the text.
February 12, 2014
Has its charm, sort of rambling-old-man vibe to it, and the stories of the experiences are useful to see the variety and to underline the point that you should TRUST YOUR DOG. Over all, maybe a little too much rambling for what I was looking for, but charming, nonetheless.
June 18, 2012
Informative, but not particularly well-organized or written. Would have benefited from a narrative thread.
September 29, 2015
A very thorough book.
The author took a lot of time describing in great detail the process of becoming certified in Search and Rescue.
Interesting, but it had dry spots.
Felt bad for his family.
The author took a lot of time describing in great detail the process of becoming certified in Search and Rescue.
Interesting, but it had dry spots.
Felt bad for his family.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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