Lauren joined NDSD in 2017 initially just planning to volunteer as a hider. At the time she had an 11 month old chocolate Labrador and soon realized Finn may have what it takes to be a disaster search dog. Lauren had been on a SAR team for 5 years in Eastern Idaho prior to her move to Washington. Lauren first got into dog training when she began bird hunting in 2001 and trained a Labrador for both waterfowl and upland game. Lauren is also a K9 handler for Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Police with wildlife detection K9 Benny and yes he is another Labrador.
Lauren and Finn certified in April 2019 as NSDA disaster HRD search team.
Lauren is also certified as a second Handler with Live-Find K9 Cassia. They passed their NSDA disaster live find certification in April 2019.