"That Others May Live"

Meet Our Team : Sharon Ballweg

Position : K9 Handler, Treasurer

K9(s) : Miko and Bear

Sharon joined MDRD in January 2002. In February 2002, K9 Bear joined the team as a 10 week old German Shepherd puppy. Sharon worked hard over the next 4 years to develop Bear into a wilderness airscent SAR K9. During this time Bear earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen as well as Therapy Dog International’s Therapy Dog certificates and passed the MDRD Obedience Test. In the fall of 2006, Sharon made the difficult decision to remove Bear as a K9 SAR prospect. Bear continues to contribute to MDRD by attending PR events. In March 2007 K9 Miko, a Border Collie, joined the team as an 8 week old puppy to be trained for wilderness airscent search and cross-trained for human remains detection. Miko has proven to have more energy than Sharon knows what to do with. He has little time for sleep and has no patience for others that waste their time doing so. Certainly 20 minutes should be more than enough for anyone … at least by his standards! Miko is serious about his job and can tug like nobody’s business. He earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate and passed the MDRD obedience test. Sharon and Miko will be taking their Open Field Assessment, the first step towards becoming an operational team, in November 2008. Sharon currently serves on the Board of Directors as the Treasurer. She is qualified as an Escort and has assisted other K9 teams on numerous occasions. She is a SARTECH II and has taken and passed additional certifications.