Meet Our Instructors
SDONA instructors have a collective wealth of experience in the realm of Search and Rescue. Our core group of instructors not only have the skills to teach, but they are actively engaged in the field as member of FEMA teams and local Search and Rescue teams from across the country. This real-world perspective and experience makes their instruction exceptionally valuable. SDONA also regularly brings in outside instructors that are leaders in their area of expertise to instruct on specialized topics such as water recovery, detection, and disaster.
Bill Dotson began dog training in 1971 when he and his wife became interested in AKC obedience. He later transitioned to Schutzhund (German protection dog sport) in 1975 and then founded and was training director of the California Rescue Dog Association in 1977. He earned "Mission Ready" status with the Swiss Disaster Dog Association after training in Switzerland. From 1978 to 1980, he assisted the Davis California police department as a volunteer police dog team. After moving to Virginia, Bill joined Dogs East and was an operational member from 1982 to 1997. During his long canine career, Bill has responded to a very long list of national and international disasters. Because of his experience, he was tasked with assisting FEMA in the development of their criteria for FEMA Disaster Task Force dog teams. He also worked with Virginia Task Force 2 (VA-TF2) in the development of their K9 teams.
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Jackie McCarty started her career in Search and Rescue with Kentucky Search and Rescue Dogs in 1992. She has trained two dogs in wilderness & HRD and two dogs in live-find disaster to the operational level. The Falmouth, KY, flood in 1997 was her first disaster. Working that disaster made her realize the need to increase and standardize the education and training for SAR K9 teams. She transitioned exclusively to disaster dog work in 2005, and is a member of the Indiana Task Force One. She is currently working with her fifth SAR dog, Gabe, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois. She is a disaster dog evaluator and has been deployed to several disasters including searching for survivors after Hurricane Katrina.
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Lynn Packard began training dogs as a Helper for Police Dog trainers in the 1990s. Since then she has worked with various SAR teams to learn what techniques worked best. She eventually found her home with IDK9, a nonprofit SAR K9 training group that was the predecessor to SDONA. Lynn has certified dogs through the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA) in tracking, evidence search, and area search. She is training her current K9, Gator, in IPO-R standards for Disaster Response and she recently began training her newest partner, a Dutch Shepherd puppy named Toby from Loganhaus Kennels.
Joan Brehm began training SAR dogs in 1998 while living in Missoula, MT. She has been a volunteer K9 handler with the Missoula County Sheriff's Office, Weber County Sheriff (UT), Illinois Search Dogs, and is currently the Corporal for the K9 Operations Team with the McLean County Emergency Management Agency in Illinois. She has trained and certified four SAR K9s (a Redbone/Lab mix, a Redbone Coonhound, and three Golden Retrievers), Her K9 partners have certified through the North American Police Work Dog Association, the International Police Work Dog Association, and the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association in a variety of disciplines, including avalanche, wilderness area search, disaster search, land and water human remains detection, and trailing. She has participated in hundreds of missions over the years with her K9s across the country and has also served on several international missions.
Matthew Noar began training dogs in 1999 as decoy/handler in a local Schutzhund club, and as an instructor for the Woodford County, Illinois 4H dog obedience program. Since then he has volunteered with Illinois Search Dogs as a decoy/flanker and is currently the Corporal for the K-9 Operations Team with the McLean County Emergency Management Agency in Illinois. He began training his first K9 partner Küster (German Shepherd Dog) in 2011 and they have certified in tracking and trailing with the North American Police Working Dog (NAPWDA) and wilderness area search with the International Police Work Dog Association (IPWDA). Matthew has served on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Search and Rescue Council (ISARC) and has been active with Search Dog Organization of North America (SDONA) as a helper/victim, hiding for dogs, since 2015.
Brianna Acevedo began involvement with search and rescue in June 2014, when becoming a member of Texas Search & Rescue (TEXSAR). After certifying her Belgian Malinois, Kovu, in area search with NASAR in October 2015, she applied and became a canine handler for Texas Task Force 1. Brianna certified under FEMA’s type 1 LF-CE in June 2017, as well as certifying her border collie, Snitch, for area search under NASAR. In 2018, Brianna certified her Belgian Malinois, Khrona, under NASAR’s HRD Other certification. Brianna has consistently responded to SAR deployments, including the Wimberly Floods of 2015, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Hurricane Micheal in 2018, and numerous other local deployments. Brianna currently works full time training dogs for her private training business, Einstein K9 LLC, as well as doing detection contract work, and other occupations in the dog training field. Brianna also handles both narcotics and explosive detection dogs for contract searches for schools, prisons, stadiums, and other facilities.
Courtney Brown began her dog training career training service dogs at Texas A&M University. She assisted in the raising and training of service dogs for four years, including one year serving as President of the organization. She actively trains and competes in a variety of dog sports, including agility, competition obedience, rally obedience, and dock diving. She attends seminars on competition training and dog behavior across the country, taking a special interest in building drive and motivation, proper toy play mechanics, and managing arousal in working and sport dogs. Courtney began training search and rescue K9s with Texas Search and Rescue and is an active member of TEXSAR. She is also a member of NASAR, NASDN, and SDONA, and handles two German Shepherds, Chief and Echo, in area search and trailing.
Lori Tocke graduated from VT in 1992 with a degree in Human Services. Her first job was working with dually diagnosed adults in a residential setting. This involved writing and implementing reward based behavior training programs and writing and implementing plans for teaching life skills. Lori received an Assoc. of Applied Animal Science from Bel Rea Institute in 2000 and worked as a vet tech for many years. Lori has always had a strong interest in behavior and training. She started her first USAR k9 in 2001 and became a member of Virgina Task Force 2. She has FEMA certified 4 different dogs over the years, a pittie mix and 3 malinois. She has also mentored many new handlers through the entire training process and beyond certification. Lori has deployed many many times, most notably Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and Sandy as well as the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Lori has helped instruct obedience classes and earned a Canine Good Citizen and UK AG1 title with her first dog. She has passed the FEMA Certification 8 times with 4 different dogs .
Ariel Peldunas has handled and trained dogs in the Marines from 2001-2005. She has worked as a trainer, handler, and SME for the DoD, LE, and civilian organizations from 2005-present. She has conducted human remains detection for the DoD in the Middle East from 2008-2009. She has also competed in Protection Sports Association (PSA), becoming the first female handler to earn a PSA3. Ariel has earned numerous High In Trial, High Obedience, High Protection and Highest Overall Score Awards in PSA. Through your years, she has raised and trained hundreds of puppies and dogs to work in a diversity of venues and has developed a unique detection training system currently used by numerous trainers in the US and abroad. Her training included studies in biology, neuroscience, and behavior science at the University of Mary Washington where she earned a BS in biology with a neuroscience minor with highest honors.
