b'BythetimeMagnuswas16 her fitness training into training both Towers South, she watched for loosemonthsold,hewascertifiedin people and their dogs.debris, broken glass or rebar, and fornarcotics operations, making him the Thereareathousandwaysto slippery surfaces. He went in naked,youngest dog to do so at the time.achievetheresults.Wejusthaveto she said, referring to the fact that heEverythinghedoeshedoeson figureouttherightoneforeach wears neither a collar nor a vest.odor,Imbarosaid.Heworkshard, personand/ordog.Thisappliesto Everymorning,herunitwasand knows exactly what he needs to do. physicalfitnessinpeople,aswellas briefedonthepreviousnightsHe also has a great on and off switch. training a dog, she said. Keep an eye findings,thechangesinweatherWhentheydrivelongdistances on yourself. Keep an eye on your dog. conditions,andanysignificantinci-together, Magnus naps with his head It is a philosophy she practices every dents.Anychangescouldinterfereon the center console. If we stop, he day,drawinglessonsfromtraining with Magnuss safety and his focus.maywakeup,lookatthepeople Magnus. Ifhesnappedandloweredhisaround him, then go back to sleep, tail, it meant that he had found a dis-said Imbaro. I couldnt ask for a bet- tracting odor, like food or a pet, saidter travel companion and soul mate. Imbaro. If he raised his tail, it meantTrainingforwhattheydoasa that hed found something hed beenteam continues every single day. Its trained on.not a one-and-done routine. You have Because they werent finding newto maintain it, said Imbaro. She sets survivors, Imbaro needed to find waysup real scenarios for Magnuss train- tokeepherdogsmotivationup.ing,whetheritstrailing,disasteror Adogwillfeelemotionallthenarcotics detection. way down the leash, she said.Trailingrequiresadogtocatch Once they completed searching aone individual human odor and track pile, they would perform exercises init through distractions, vast distances which a member of the team would goand over different terrains in order to hide somewhere. Imbaro would sendfind a lost person. Imbaro sets up a Magnus to find him.double blind in these scenarios so that Outsideofthoseexercises,she is training as well.MagnuswouldwatchImbaroassheIf I just train Magnus, Im never stood on a pile. He knew this was agoingtodeployproperly.Ihaveto signal that he had already probed theknow what to do, and how to respond areaandthatnosignsoflifewereto him as well. Imbaro has built enough strength detected.CarryingsmallplasticbagsWhenshewas18,Imbaro tobeabletocarryhereighty-four- inherpockets,ImbarostoredtheenrolledattheUniversityofNew pound dog in case of an emergency. personal effects that she came across:Brunswicktostudyforensicanthro- Shes learned to read his every gesture, photographs,childrenstoys,wallets,pology.AftervisitingFlorida,she fromhisbreathingpatternstothe passports. decided shed had enough of the cold movement of his tail.Whentheirassignmentatweather and moved to Key West. She The proper training of a K-9 dog ChamplainTowersSouthwasnottookajobatajewelrystorethat isntallthatdifferentfromthecare extended, Imbaro felt a sense of lossspecializedinshipwreckcoins,and withwhichofficerstreattheirguns. over an unfinished task. No more dogsalso became a personal trainer. You ensure your gun is cleaned and would be searching for the living.In her line of work now, to relax fine tuned each day for the fact that Imbaro approached different unitsand recharge from such intense physi- yourlifeisdependentuponit,she to ask how she could help. It was thencalandmentalstress,Imbarosaid, oncewroteinanarticleabout thatafirefightersseven-year-oldThe only thing that helps me is to the challenges of being a female dog daughter was found amid the rubble.work out. I run, lift weights and eat handler. You do the same with your Whenthemanwasnotified,hehealthy. K-9. wrapped the girl in his own jacket andWholeheartedlybelievingthat Asateam,itisimportantto laid a small flag over her body.exerciseisnotonlyasourceof Imbarothatsheneverdissociateher All the firefighters started to standstrength, but a means of empowering work from Magnuss. His safety always up, Imbaro said of their solemn pro-those around her, Imbaro incorporates comes first. On the pile at Champlain cession. It was too much to bear. U32 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com'