Retriever has golden moment finding lost San Jose couple
DOG WOULD RATHER WORK THAN GOOF OFF
By Linda Goldston, Mercury News
When Michael Freeman and his dog hiked down to Maria Ampuero Stehle and her husband, Arnaud, in a deep canyon in Castle Rock State Park on Thursday afternoon, Susanna did not hide her joy at seeing the lost couple she helped find. “She was very happy,” Freeman said. “She was barking loudly and jumped around. She got dirt on them.”
Nicknamed Susie, the 5-year-old golden retriever is the quintessential search and rescue dog. She loves to fetch and bark, but she is happiest when she is working. Locating the San Jose couple that had been missing Saturday was just a good day’s work for the dedicated canine. “She’s very much a career girl and pretty focused,” Freeman said. “She has her pleasures. but she’d rather work than goof off.”
Susanna and Freeman are members of WOOF, one of two statewide organizations that are approved by the state Office of Emergency Services to provide dogs for search operations. The retriever also is certified as an “area search dog” and as a Type II cadaver dog, which means she can help locate the remains of people, too.
And there’s more: “She protects the citizens of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties as an avalanche dog,” said Freeman, 62, who retired a couple of years ago as general counsel for Silicon Valley start-up companies.
