Yesterday, ASDA president Donna Waugh and team members visited the Museum of Discovery for a very fun assignment-- to meet with young students participating in the Museum's summer camp program. 

We always want to encourage learning, so SAR dogs Ziva and Brandi tagged along to demonstrate how powerful and accurate canine dogs' noses were, while Donna talked about what it takes to train dogs for search and rescue assignments. She also shared valuable advice about what to do in case any of the children ever found themselves separated from their parents. 

The presentation ended with a unique test of human noses. Turns out, on top of great questions and answers, the students had pretty good noses, too!

On Sunday, April 27, 2014, tornadoes ripped through central Arkansas. Many communities were leveled, including Mayflower and Vilonia. As we waited out the storms, our team packed bags to deploy if called. On Monday, we drove to Vilonia to support the Faulkner County SPCA, who was trying to help find, treat and reunite animals with their owners. This time it was humans searching for scared animals among rubble—a daunting task.

As the week went on, we were able to help reunite five dog families, extricate one badly injured dog from beneath a house, search collapsed houses for other missing animals, assisted in emergency field care of horses and dogs, and identified hospitalized or homeless pet owners whose dogs were left behind and made sure their animals would receive care. We were able to work with the American Humane Association’s Red Star Emergency Response team and watch true heroes in action.

It was an emotional week; sometimes chaotic and heartbreaking, but ever hopeful. People immediately began work to clean, donate, support and rebuild. Flags flew everywhere. The human spirit is strong, and as always, we were grateful for the chance to show love and care to our neighbors. 

ASDA's dogs are known for finding missing people, but it's a special dog that helps people find new friends...online!

Take, for example, the story of ASDA’s photographer, Verna Higgins. Verna has been an integral part of documenting the story of ASDA’s SAR and cancer detection dog, John D, who won the 2013 Search and Rescue Hero Dog Award. She helps promote ASDA on Facebook by spreading awareness about using dogs for cancer research. That’s how she came to know Dingsma Missouri, or Rose Gabel for short.  

Rose had been following several dog, community and organization pages when she found John D on the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards website. At the time, he was a nominee whose story caught her eye and heart right away. 

During the Hero Dog Awards campaign, she and her friends would meet online for chatting, swapping stories, poems and jokes. After seeing Verna’s photograph’s on John D’s page, Rose invited Verna to join her group of friends for the evening online sessions.

The two quickly became friends, telling jokes, venting to one another, checking on one another when not feeling well, and sharing a close fellowship together.  When Rose mentioned she would be traveling to Arkansas, she and Verna decided to meet face to face!  

Rose drove an extra couple hundred miles last month to meet Verna, John D and ASDA president Donna Waugh for dinner.  Though Rose had not met any of them before, she and Verna hugged like they had been long-time friends.

“Without John D, Rose and I would not have met at all. So thank you John D and Donna Waugh for contributing to Rose and I becoming friends and inspiring us to never give up hope,” said Verna.

Rose shared, “To think that the furry pup (John D) was responsible for me making relationships that will make a difference in the rest of my life amazes me.  John D not only rescues people that are lost, have been in horrible tragedies, and have lost their way; he rescues those online, that he can’t smell or see.”

ASDA President Donna Waugh has been involved in search and rescue efforts for more than ten years. Through her leadership, our organization has expanded beyond the typical scope of k9 duties with dogs being cross trained to detect cancer in humans. 

If you've ever wondered what inspired her to take this path, you can check out her recently published profile in Blue & You Magazine, the quarterly publication for Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield.   

Last night's Fox 16 Health Alert featured  ASDA's cancer detection squad.  From Dr. Bodenner, director of the thyroid cancer study, "Over 95% of the time, they're correct..." 

Follow the link to learn about our next step: hint, it's around the 1:35 mark (the video actually counts backwards).

On Black Friday, several team members volunteered to ring the bell for the Salvation Army at a local area Walmart store. Dressed in festive, holiday attire (dogs too!), we cheerfully drew attention to ourselves and the Salvation Army’s mission to provide a merry Christmas to families in need.

Many people would stop to pet the dogs, chat with us about our work, and make a gift. Little did we know that one of the visitors was Fred Moseley, a principal at SCM Architects. Fred and ASDA president Donna Waugh had spoken at length, and a week later, he contacted us to say he wanted to make a donation to our organization.

Naturally we were surprised and thrilled by the unexpected generosity. When Mr. Moseley said he wanted to make the gift in the name of one of his clients, First Security Bank, we were moved by his desire to keep with the true spirit of Christmas.  We can’t thank him and SCM Architects enough for their support and recognition. (Also for their patience as we encountered some technical difficulties, prepared brochures for their friends, and even in posting this blog!)

And as appreciative as we are for the financial assistance that small 501(c)(3)s like ours need, we are even more grateful that just by putting a little spotlight on us, they have helped us stand a little taller and prouder, and made us strive that much harder to be ready when our community needs us.

As an all-volunteer group, our team members incur ALL expenses related to searches. To continue to provide reliable, quality services, we must invest in equipment, training and resources. We have added 4 new handlers and 3 new dogs to our team in the last three months: can you help them become mission-ready before the next call-out?

With canine participants in the early phases of cancer research at UAMS, our goal is to develop SAFE, non-invasive detection methods that will help diagnose cancers EARLY. So far, our dogs have more than a 90% accuracy rate (and the lack is often a result of handler or administrative malfunction). Our dogs ARE proving they CAN find ovarian and thyroid cancers in urine samples: can you help them prove this to the medical community so it can become an accepted testing method?

We will feature all those who support us o_n #GivingTuesday on our website, Facebook page and Twitter account. We want to get the word out what a great movement #GivingTuesday is, and we want to whole-heartedly show how GRATEFUL we are for the support we receive.

Thank you and many blessings this season!

ASDA is thrilled to announce that the Planet Dog Foundation has approved two grant requests!

The first grant will help our team become SARTECH II certified by the National Association for Search and Rescue.
The curriculum for the certification focuses on rural and wilderness environments, which is quite appropriate for the state of Arkansas, where almost half (48%) of the state’s population resides in rural areas.  

The second grand will fund canine participation in two cancer research studies by covering the resources members need to bring the dogs to the lab. ASDA dogs (and their handlers) voluntarily participate in two, multi-year studies aimed at determining dogs’ reliability in identifying hard-to-diagnose  thyroid and ovarian cancers. 

Planet Dog, the pet industry’s socially responsible leader, is on their way to achieving another million dollar milestone.  Earlier this year, PDF announced it had given over $1 million dollars since 2006 to help dogs help people in need.  Planet Dog is proud to donate 2% of every purchase of its award-winning products to PDF-- so please check out their site and consider their AMAZING products as you shop this holiday season!

The Top-Rated Nonprofit award was based on the large number of positive reviews that the American Scent Dog Association received – reviews written by volunteers, donors and clients. People posted their personal experience with the nonprofit.  

For example, one person wrote, 

ASDA is an amazing organization that does not hesitate to answer'"yes' when asked to volunteer their time, their dogs and their effort whenever they are needed. They do so whether it is for community education, response to natural disasters or to find missing persons. The ASDA's dedication and time is given freely and with heart and passion, and lives are saved and loved ones found as a result. Their recent work with cancer research is another example of their amazing dedication.

While the Top-Rated Awards run through the end of October, ASDA was part of the inaugural group to qualify for the year.

 “Savvy donors want to see the impact of their donations more than ever,” said Perla Ni, CEO of GreatNonprofits, “People with direct experience with American Scent Dog have voted that the organization is making a real difference.”

Being on the Top-Rated list gives donors and volunteers more confidence that this is a credible organization.  The reviews by volunteers, clients and other donors show the on-the-ground results of this nonprofit.  This award is a form of recognition by the community.


You can check out the rest of our reviews on the GreatNonprofits website.

THANK YOU to all of our friends who contributed. We invite everyone to provide feedback throughout the year!