6 days ago
"Special" K-9 and handler were among the Colorado first responders who helped out in Texas after flooding
At first glance, Pickles looks like any other working dog -- eager to get to work and ready to move. But a closer look reveals something different.
"He's a bit of a special dog," said Michael Zukowski, Pickles' handler and longtime member of Colorado Task Force One. "He's got kind of a malformed face."
Pickles, a 3-year-old black Labrador, was born with a cleft palate and some facial paralysis. Still, none of that affects what he was born to do: work.
"With his nose, I jokingly say it's a cheat code sometimes because when he gets an odor and he starts taking those big deep breaths, he actually snorts," said Zukowski. "I can hear it from quite a distance so I can tell when he gets an odor."
Pickles is a human remains detection dog, one of just three certified by FEMA in Colorado and one of only 90 in the U.S. His keen nose and unrelenting drive make him a critical part of the task force.
"I jokingly say it's a cheat code sometimes," Zukowski said. "When he gets an odor and starts taking those big deep breaths, he actually snorts, and I can hear it from quite a distance. So, I can tell when he's got something."
Pickles and Zukowski recently returned from a two-week deployment in Texas following deadly flooding in Kerr County. Along ravaged riverbanks and through large debris fields, the pair searched for the missing – including at Camp Mystic, where several young girls and counselors lost their lives.
"There were several days when I had to dial it back and put him in a kennel in an air-conditioned vehicle for about two hours to cool his body temperature down," Zukowski said. "And he still wanted to work."
Zukowski, who's responded to disasters around the world during his 15-year career with Colorado Task Force One, said the flooding in Texas was some of the worst he's ever seen.
"It's probably one of the more destructive ones I've seen for water damage," he said. "Second to the typhoon in the Philippines."
Now back home, Pickles is getting some well-deserved rest and playtime with Zukowski. It's a chance to just be a dog, even if he doesn't quite look like the rest.
"You're a happy dog," Zukowski said to Pickles.
Still, that downtime won't last long. Pickles has at least 30 hours of training scheduled each month to stay sharp for the next mission – whenever and wherever that call may come.
