Today's Article

"Hank loves the snow. He's been working at the resort for about seven years now. He started working here when he was six months old."

Avalanche dogs are typically working 3breeds, like Hank. He's an Australian 4cattle dog. They begin training for their role as puppies, and ski patroller Max Erpenbach says much of that training is based around a game '5tug-of-war'.

"We call it 'tug is the drug'. And they get so 6hooked on tug of war that they'll do anything for it."

For the dogs, it starts simple. Trainers 7tease them with a toy, then run away and hide. And when the dogs find them, they get to play tug of war. 

Then the game gets more challenging with trainers hiding in snow caves or holes 8obstructed by blocks of snow. 

By the time the dogs reach their final test, the blind search, they've learned to 9rely on their nose to locate where a person is hidden beneath the snow, and tug of war to 10pull them out.

"Our dogs are for people that are not wearing 11beacons, and they're fast like they can move quickly. They can clear 12debris pretty quickly."

Per data from the American Avalanche Association, skiers rescued within 15-minutes of being buried in an avalanche have a 92% chance of survival. But after that 15-minute mark, survival chances drop by approximately 3% per minute.

Because time is 13crucial, avalanche dogs, with their highly sensitive noses, are skiers' best shot of survival in the case of an unwitnessed avalanche or when they don't have a beacon. 

While avalanche 14fatalities within ski area bounds are rare in the U.S., dogs like Hank also play a critical role in search and rescue operations in the 15backcountry.