|
Sue's unique
combination of professional experience working in the outdoors all of her adult
life makes her a well-rounded and competent dog team handler. She chose a career
in geology at the University of Montana in the early 1980’s. Since then, Sue has
worked, traveled and lived all over the world working primarily as a geologist
and explorer. Most of her work involved looking for mineral deposits and water
in the Caribbean and Mexico. She now has focused her energy on staying close to
home and training her search dog Tasha. So instead of looking for precious
metals Sue and Tasha look for precious lost souls.
"Looking for lost persons is similar to looking for
mineral deposits", Purvis states. "Whether you're thrown into a foreign country or
show up at a search in the middle of the night 5 hours away from home, you need
to figure out where you are, make sure you have everything you need and get the
task done".
That is why she loves search work. "I feel comfortable
walking around in the wilderness by myself. During searches I usually have my
husband (also a geologist) with me who serves as my navigator. Looking for a
person is like going to work. I feel that if Tasha and I can help families find
their lost ones then we have done great work".
The biggest challenge Sue faced while training
Tasha was the fact that the nearest search dog handlers were 3-6 hours away from
Crested Butte. There were no established search dog groups in Gunnison County
like there are in other counties. Some counties in Colorado have over 10 search
dog handlers per group.
|
Gunnison County has never had a certified search
dog team. "I had to travel extensively for three years to figure out how
to train Tasha and then put it all together for certification." She joined
SARDOC immediately and trained and certified to their standards. SARDOC in
Sue’s opinion has one of the most difficult and rigorous certification
processes in the US. "During my first several years of training I was
determined to certify so I logged over 20,000 miles on my truck and spent
$4,000 per year on training". Search dog training is Sue’s passion and she is able to
combine it with everything else she loves to do. Although her geology work is on
hold for awhile, Sue's passion for the outdoors continues. She is a backcountry
ski guide in the winter at Irwin lodge as well as a medical technician at a
local urgent care clinic. "I love the medical knowledge because it helps me
understand how to take care of myself and my dog in the field if something
should ever go wrong".
In the off season Sue co-owns, operates and teaches
wilderness medicine courses in Crested Butte. Her company, Crested Butte
Outdoors offers highly successful and well respected wilderness medical courses
to people from all over the world. If you are looking for a course be sure to
check the schedule at
www.cboutdoors.com.
|
(Click for a larger image)
TO THE
RESCUE