Tyra 

Seymour / SARII

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Human Resources/Air Scent & Trailing

K9 Roscoe

Trailing

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K9 Cricket

Air Scent

AMPWDA Level 2

Air Scent

Tyra Seymour joined SCSAR in 2013 and quickly became SAR II Certified by the Summer of 2013.  Since that time, Tyra has taken numerous classes, participated in numerous searches, and has become a proven leader on this team. 

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During Tyra's SAR career, his interest in SAR K9's grew and beginning in 2018, Tyra began training his first trailing dog, Cricket.  Since then, Tyra adopted the infamous trailing dog Roscoe in February 2019, one of Mark Webb's well known SAR dogs (Coastal Carolina).  Now, Tyra the ground searcher is Tyra the K9 Handler/ground searcher.

When Tyra isn't "Tyra: K9 Handler/Ground Searcher", Tyra is a loving husband and proud father of two children.  In addition to his 2 children, Trya also has 4 fur babies and 1 cat.  When Tyra's isn't wide open at home, he's wide open at work.  Tyra is the owner of Eastlight Home Services where he specializes in home repairs and/or renovations.  

Valerie

Vernet / SARII

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Training Coordinator/Trailing

K9 Gracie

AMPWDA Level 2

Trailing

Valerie joined SCSAR in 2019 after several years with SC Foothills SAR.  Valerie and her trailing dog Gracie recently achieved Level 2 Trailing Certification with AMPWDA and Valerie recently obtained SARTECH II certification through NASAR.  Valerie also holds a Part 107 UAS Pilot’s License and is active on the drone unit.

Valerie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (Go Gators!), and has a career in Gas Turbine Development.  She spent many years doing data analysis and control software for aviation Gas Turbine testing and is now writing modeling software for Power Plant turbines. 

Valerie enjoys a hobby farm with her husband, and visits with her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren.  In addition to SAR, she loves back-country hiking and kayaking.

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Deputy Michel

Galliot / SARII

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Air Scent/Cadaver/HRD Handler/Trainer

K9 Shadow

NAPWDA

Air Scent

NNDDA

Cadaver/HRD 

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K9 Hammer

NNDDA

Cadaver/HRD 

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K9 Nikita 

NNDDA

Cadaver/HRD 

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K9 Rex

Acclimation K9/Special Needs

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Deputy Michel Galliot joined SCSAR in March, 2019 and brought with him 5 years of SAR K9 Handling Experience.  In addition, Michel also brought his impeccable work ethic which eventually resulted in Sheriff Steve Mueller offering Michel a full time position with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

Now a dual member, Michel’s first responsibility is naturally to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office where he serves in the following capacities:

• K9 Division

  • K9 Shadow / NAPWDA Certified Area Search / NNDDA Certified Cadaver/HRD Land

  • K9 Nikita / NNDDA Certified Cadaver/HRD Land

  • K9 Hammer / NNDDA Certified Cadaver/HRD Land

  • K9 Rex / K9 Acclimation for Special Needs/Autistic Children

• Crime Scene Investigation/Evidence room

Needless to say, we are honored to have Michel on our team and have enjoyed watching him grow throughout the years.  We are ecstatic that the Cherokee County Sherriff’s office affords Michel the opportunity to maintain a dual membership.  In addition to his dual roles with ourselves and Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Michel is the founder and director of K9 Search Special Operations.  

K9 Search Special Operations offers various levels of K9 training and other services for Local and State agencies.  In addition, K9 Search works closely with those in our special needs communities, such as those with autism and dementia.  With his new initiative, Michel is assisting K9 operations at multiple levels.  The amount or knowledge and expertise he brings to our team is second to none.    

Leah

Cook/SARII

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Air Scent/Live Wilderness Area Search

K9 Mina

NSDA Area Search II

Leah Cook has an Associates of Science Degree, is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, and one of less than 400 trainers in the world to hold the Certified Dog Behavior Consultant credential through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. In addition to her professional certifications she is a member of the National Search Dog Alliance, the American Mantrailing Police & Work Dog Association, and is a SARTECII. 

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Guillelmina Della Fuoco “Mina” is a KNPV line Dutch Malinois. The Della Fuoco lines are specifically bred for working dog applications. Her littermates serve the police as apprehension and detection K9’s, as well as, serving the Tennessee Fema Task Force One. In addition to search and rescue, Mina is also a certified therapy dog through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and serves with their local chapter, Paws2Care

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Kay

McDonald

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Cadaver/HRD Handler

K9 Poppy

IPWDA 

HRD Land & Crime Scene

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Kay McDonald began in search and rescue in 2010 and trained her border collie in live find.   He certified Level 3 in 160 acres through the Massachusetts Search and Rescue Dog Federation.  She trained a second dog in human remains detection and she certified in crime scene through the International Police Work Dog Association as well as Advanced Human Remains through the Massachusetts Search and Rescue Dog Federation.  Kay was the VP and Training Director for Massachusetts Rescue and Recovery Canine Unit, then Training Director for Massachusetts Canine Response Team.  In 2020 Kay and her Human Remains dog, Poppy, moved to South Carolina and joined SCSAR.  On February 27, 2021, Kay and K9 Poppy received their accredidation from the International Police Work Dog Association in Human Remains Detection for Land and Crime Scene.  When Kay isn't training h Poppy, she's working her 2 other K9's in her 9-5 business of bed bug detection.

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Kay has trained two other dogs in bed bug detection and through her company, Bed Bug Detection K9s, does bed bug inspections for commercial and residential facilities.  For fun she does dock diving and agility with her three dogs with K9 Poppy winning the Atlantic Coast Dock Diving Regional for Lapdogs in 2020.  Her son lives and works in Massachusetts.

Allison

Scott / SARII

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Trailing w/plans to certify in 2020

K9 Dusty

Air Scent

K9 Muggy

Trailing

Allison Scott joined SCSAR in 2019 and recently completed SARTECH II certification. Her focus lies in SAR K9 and she is training her Border Collie/Catahoula, Muggy, in trailing work and her Catahoula puppy, Dusty, in Air Scent/Area Search. 

Allison is an Arizona native who moved to the Upstate at the end of 2017. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Arizona State University and an MBA/Management from WIU. Her current occupation is stay-at-home mom to two girls and two boys. When she's not on mom-duty, she enjoys riding her horses and spending time with her husband, fellow SCSAR member Carl Scott.  Carl is also working with both Dusty and Muggy with aspirations of both Allison and Carl certfying with both K9's.

Marty

Hester

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Air Scent Area Search (K9 in training)

K9 Gunner

Air Scent 

Marty was born and raised in Memphis, TN and has lived in South Carolina since 2007.  He and his wife have been married for 29 years, have a son, have daughter and have one grandson.  He grew up in the outdoors, having had many hunting dogs over the years, but never a working dog.  Gunner is his first working dog, he is a very high energy Golden Retriever.  His favorite activity is fetching, followed by swimming and hiking.  According to Marty (thank you for the kind words), he has learned more about dogs in the last few months by working with the K9 Team than he had during the first 53 years of his life. 

Shirley

Ball / SARII/NOLS WFA

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Air Scent Area Search (K9 in training)

K9 Raven

Air Scent 

Shirley joined SCSAR’s Ground Unit in April of 2019 and obtained her SARII certification in Summer 2019.  Prior to joining SCSAR, she completed a NOLS Wilderness First Aid certification due to her interest in building skills for safety in support of her trail running hobby.  This course heightened her interest in learning more about search and rescue—which would allow her to build more skills and become proficient at helping regularly on a team.

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Shirley’s interest in the K9 team grew from working as a ground support/flanker during mock search exercises.  Seeing the K9’s and Handlers working in the field inspired her to get more involved and to find a suitable pup to train for air scent area search.  She found a breeder in Landrum that specializes in breeding working Aussies. She is currently working towards air scent certification with her Australian Shepherd pup, K9 in training “Raven”.

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Shirley holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland (GO Terps!).  She works as a Product Development/R&D Manager in the field of Fiber Optic Connectors and Apparatus.  She is a proud Mom of two daughters that she hopes to set a good example for by volunteering to help others.  When not training Raven, Shirley loves several hobbies—SCUBA diving, trail running, road running, road biking, hiking, boating, camping and traveling whenever possible.

Jame "Jimmy"

Riley / SARII

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In-Training 

K9 Neko

Air Scent

James "Jimmy" Riley has been a member of SCSAR since October 2018. He has obtained his SAR II certification. 

After joining he found a special interest in K9 along with all facets of work.  He said "he found the best way of learning is just doing whatever was needed from ground pounding to being the “lost” person to whatever else."  Neko and he hope to become trailing assets to the SCSAR K9 Unit. 

Jimmy has worked in various medical areas, emergency and non emergency services for the last 37 years.   After obtaining a BS in Human Resource Management he started working in the administrative end of things and currently continues to do so for SRHS.

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