Like an excessively boastful soccer mom, I, like many dog owners, tend to believe my dogs walk on an elevated pedestal of self-inflated awesomeness. In reality, most of our dogs are spoiled, untrained terrors that make an ADD preteen on a Ritalin hiatus look tame.
And then there are dogs like Piper who actually live up to their advanced billing. Piper is one of Deer Valley Resort’s avalanche-rescue dogs. Her handler, Chris Erkkila, is the resort’s assistant ski patrol manager. He handpicked Piper as a puppy, rescuing her from the Salt Lake County Animal Shelter. “Deer Valley’s philosophy is that we’d always rather rescue a dog than buy one from a breeder if we can,” Chris said. “We’ve found mutts can work just as well as purebreds.”
After watching Piper in action, it’s clear she is the poster-pooch of hope for all pound puppies. She appears to have some German shepherd in her. Possibly some red heeler. Chris thinks he sees some Australian cattle dog. And the rest? Plain old sneaky neighbor dog. “A true Heinz 57 mixture,” he calls her.
Chris sprung Piper from the pound about seven years ago, when she was three or four months old. How did he know she’d eventually make a great avalanche dog? From his description, it sounds an awful lot like dating. “You put them through a number of tests in the 30 minutes of meeting. You test how well they listen and respond. And you test their reaction to things you do. A lot of them will fail, but in the end, you’re only looking for one to take home.”
After selecting Piper, Chris began her training almost immediately. He followed the Wasatch Backcountry Rescue (WBR) training curriculum and by her second year, Piper was already certified a Level A avalanche rescue dog. According to Chris, that’s quite an accomplishment. “Most dogs take a few years to earn their Level A credentials.”
According to WBR, Level B dogs are ski-area operational, which means they’re only eligible to search within their home ski resort. Level A dogs are avalanche search and rescue ready. During this training, the dog travels to another resort where it is tested with its handler. When the team tests to the Level A status, it is then available to respond outside of its home ski resort, making it a backcountry search and rescue responder for the local sheriff agency.
As Chris says about Piper’s quick rise to Level A status, “She’s gifted.”
She’s also quite popular. During her nearly seven years working at Deer Valley, Piper has earned almost celebrity status. As we skied with her, her fans on the chairlifts above constantly called out her name. In the lift line, she was “oohed” and “aahed” over. When she jumped on the chairlift, she practically got a round of applause. And while she loved the attention, Piper seemed to know she was on the clock and had her game face on.
“She’s a completely different dog at home than she is at the resort,” Chris says. “When we get to work and she has her vest on, she’s on alert. She knows she has a job to do and she’s ready to spring into action. At home, she’s a regular goofy dog. She plays with my other dog, sniffs the garbage, takes naps. But when she comes to work, she’s ready for action. And she really loves it. To her, working the snow is the most fun she ever has and that’s the key for an avalanche dog to be successful. They have to see their job as fun and rewarding.”
After meeting Piper, I’ve come to realize my own mutts, Boston and Sabor, might not be quite as talented as I had believed. Sure, they might be capable of finding my snow-covered body in the backcountry, but only if I were covered in bacon and deep-fried.
But the one thing my pooches and Piper do have in common? A powerful and undeniable bond with their owner. “The bond I have with Piper is really strong,” said Chris. “I think shelter dogs somehow just know you saved them. And for that they’re always grateful.”
Amy Roberts is a freelance writer, public-relations guru and globe-trotting thrill seeker. In a former life she worked in TV news, both as a reporter and sports anchor. She has bagged peaks on six continents, kayaked the Zambezi and Nile rivers, swam with great white sharks in South Africa and tracked mountain gorillas in Rwanda. She was once very nearly sold for 2,000 camels while traveling through Morocco.