Area Instructors

Janet is a member of the North Alabama Search Dog Association. She started out as an area search handler with her first dog Jester (mix) and crosstrained into HRD.  Her current dog Barrington (Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever) is NASAR certified in Area and HRD. Janet has been training in live airscent and cadaver work since 1996, and has also trained and certified her previous partners Chaos (Belgian Malinois) in area and Tusket (N.S.D.T.R) in HRD. Janet has certified all of her dogs through NASAR and is a NASAR evaluator for live and HRD. She is an avid hiker and outdoor person and enjoys combining that with her love of working dogs. She has a background as a dog obedience trainer and instructor. Janet has taught at several seminars, including previous CSAR seminars teaching beginner and intermediate area, and water hrd. Janet has been a member of CSAR for many years, having served on the board in the past and is currently serving as CSAR president.   

Marion has been involved with K9 SAR since 2011. Following a year of volunteer work,

he joined the South Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association in 2012 and

started training his own K9, a German Shepherd mix named Maya, in area search.

SCSARDA was a very experienced team and put an emphasis on mentorship; all

members were encouraged to teach and learn from one another in each of the

traditional SAR disciplines. During his time with SCSARDA, he took classes in Lost

Person Behavior and Managing the Lost Person Incident. He certified as an EMR in

2018 and acquired SARTECH 2 certification. His first dog Maya, went on to become

certified in Area Search with NAPWDA (North American Police Working Dog

Association) and they deployed for several years until her retirement in 2021. 

Marion currently works with his new dog, a three-year-old Border Collie named Dock.

They certified in March of 2024 with NAPWDA in both Obedience Control and SAR

Area Search. He has been an associate member of NAPWDA for nine years and is

currently the treasurer with the international organization and non-profit, Canine Search

and Recovery (CSAR). 

After completing five Area Search seminars with CSAR, Marion became the apprentice

instructor for the Intermediate Area Search class in 2024. “Joining CSAR has been

instrumental in the development of my training philosophies over the years. The

opportunity to work with great instructors and other handlers outside of my immediate

team has been incredibly valuable.” Marion is a 1987 Clemson University Alum and

lifelong Spartanburg resident. As a small business owner, he has always recognized the

importance of community service and volunteerism and is proud to now be a part of a

mission where giving back directly impacts the safety and well-being of those in need.

He currently deploys with Spartanburg County SAR.

Terri has been a K9 handler with North Alabama Search Dog Association since 2003. She is a NASAR SarTech 2 and certified her first K9 partner, Brandi (GSD), with a NASAR Canine Area Level II. Terri’s second K9 partner, Shelby (GSD), has certified to a NASAR Canine Area Level III and is cross-trained and certified as a an HRD Land Type Other (non-disaster operations). Terri is currently training her third K9 partner Madison in Area Search.

Over the years, Terri has attended 1 to 3 search and rescue seminars every year training in area and HRD, as well as other SAR-related training classes including MLPI, Advanced SAR, PER213 - Wide Area Search (TEEX), ICS-300-400, and Wilderness First Aid.

At each seminar Terri has attended as a student, she has enjoyed watching other handlers and their K9 partners as they experience new training locations, training experiences, and training methods. Terri believes that a handler can learn as much or more from watching other handlers and their K9s work as they can from working with their own partner in many cases. She knows that instructors have to be flexible and be able to use their

experience and knowledge to help individual students learn the way that best benefits them. Each handler and K9 is different and the team dynamic is different than every other handler and K9 team. Terri also believes that handlers need a strong foundation in scent theory, search tactics, and reward systems. She has instructed at CSAR and will be instructing at Shreveport FD seminar.

Terri has a strong commitment to Canine Search and Recovery and CSAR’s mission which is training and education, information, and networking to encourage the use of search dogs. She is excited to be a part of that mission.

Karen Paquette began her SAR career in 2003 in Pima County, Tucson, AZ, and has

deployed on over 150 searches in wilderness, urban, water, and support of law

enforcement investigations. Karen serves as Training Director with Pima County’s

K9SAR team, Southwest Rescue Dogs, Inc., since 2014. She has assisted with FACTS

workshops since 2013 serving as a wrangler, assistant instructor, and instructor.

Karen has planned, assisted with, and instructed at several Arizona State SAR

conferences as well as out of Arizona SAR HRD, area search, and tracking/trailing

workshops. She’s had the privilege to work with and learn from five canine

partners. She is currently learning about the discipline of SAR tracking, and the dog

sport of scent work. As SRDI’s training director and as a FACTS instructor, Karen has

enjoyed the opportunity to assist numerous handlers with training their K9s in HRD

and area search live find.

Karen is a retired educator (23 years) working mostly in Special Education with

students with behavior/emotional disorders, developmental disorders, and learning

disabilities. She also served in leadership capacity as a teacher mentor, a teacher

coach, curriculum support provider, behavior interventionist, and specific academic

interventionist. She became a KPA-CTP (Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training

Partner) in 2018.

Darcy is a founding member of the North Alabama Search Dog Association and has been a member of CSAR since 1997. She is running her fourth SAR dog, Blue, a yellow lab, in area/airscent and HRD.  Her first canine SAR seminar was CSAR’s spring seminar in 1997, and she has attended most of the CSAR seminars since. Her team also hosted the seminar three times and both she and team members enjoy learning new things whether they teach or attend. She has previously taught most levels of Area and HRD and HRD Water at CSAR and enjoys working with different dog breeds and handlers with various regional experiences. Darcy and Blue are a NASAR Area team, HRD Land and HRD Water, as

have been all her previous dogs. Darcy is a lead evaluator for NASAR for area and for HRD Land and Water. Darcy is also currently sharing her life with a foster failed Bernese Mountain Dog named Charlie, who gets to play in nose work venues and teaches Darcy every day about working with a non-confident dog.

 Zephrin has spent nearly a decade involved in K-9 SAR as a member of MARK-9 Search and Rescue based in Dallas, TX. Zephrin currently serves as the Team Leader and Head Canine Trainer for MARK-9 and currently deploys a German Shepherd and Labrador Retriever.

He has certified in Live Find and HRD through American Working Dog Association (AWDA) and National Search Dog Alliance (NSDA), where he also serves as the Vice President of the board and as an Principal Evaluator for HRD and Area Search. Additionally, Zephrin is the founder and host of "Hunt-Find-Alert K-9 SAR" podcast, where he interviews experts in the SAR community.

Zephrin is a graduate of the Dick Stall online Detection/SAR courses and a student in the K9 Sensus Detection Dog Training Academy.  Additionally he serves as an Assistant H.R.D. instructor at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State (FACTS).

He believes that the best instruction is helping the handler evaluate and critically think about their K-9s behaviour, and understanding the "Why" behind any challenges they are facing.  His goal is for handlers to feel empowered to troubleshoot their K-9s behaviors and equipped to make informed decisions on how to adjust their training plan based on the needs of their dog.