K9 Sasha

Garfield County Search & Rescue (Colorado)

I was honored to have Sasha walk beside me for 13 years and two months before we had to say good bye.

K9 Sasha’s career was with the Garfield County Search and Rescue for 10 years. Sasha taught me the art of tracking and cadaver work. Sasha was a member of High Desert Police K9 Association and National Police Canine Association and was certified in Tracking and Human Remains Detection. Sasha was certified in Trailing with Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States. Sasha was also a member of Western Slope Search Dogs.

On one of Sasha’s urban training tracks which was 3 hours old, Sasha gave me the look saying “get over here the track goes this way”. After we got to her toy, she played and rolled in the grass like she loved to do.

Sasha’s middle name is May. Meaning Sasha May do what she was supposed to do, or Sasha May not do what she was supposed to do.

On one of our missions for a missing person, Sasha left from the individuals house up a county road, Sasha kept looking to the west and finally left the road and went down to the creek. Sasha could not make it through the two feet of snow without continually bogging down. The dog search was terminated due to environmental conditions. The search was expanded to the west the next day and the individual was located.

During human remains detection, as Sasha got older she would sit and look over her shoulder saying “it’s right here” don’t you know.

Sasha did numerous tracking demonstrations during Hug-A-Tree presentations to local elementary children. She made friends wherever she went.

Every time I worked or played with Sasha, she taught me something new and kept me humble I can’t imagine what went through Sasha’s mind and how she processed her decisions but they were mostly right.

Keep teaching me Sasha, I have so much to learn from you. I miss you!

K9 Handler Dee Lehman
Garfield County Search and Rescue(Colorado)