For the first time in decades, an avalanche rescue dog will call Silverton home."When you see one work and how efficient they are, and how much faster they can find somebody than any human could it was eye opening," said Ryan Mason, Ed's handler.
Mason, a longtime ski patrol member at Telluride, saw a need for an avalanche dog after relocating to Silverton.
According to the Durango Herald, Mason ran into an acquaintance who breeds working dogs earlier this year and recognized the opportunity to train a rescue dog of his own. He founded Silverton Avalanche Rescue Dogs.
It will take about two years for Ed to complete his training.
"It's just a game to him. We are going to play hide-and-seek and we are going to keep making that hide-and-seek game more difficult until it is eventually somebody fully buried in snow," Mason told our sister station KOB.
There has not been an avalanche rescue dog in the San Juan Mountains since the 1970s.
