Benefits of an AERIE K9 Certification

General Benefits of an AERIE K9 Certification Exam:

AERIE SAR Dog Certification Examinations are available to any candidate regardless of organizational membership or dog breed. The testing criteria are written by subject matter experts from across the United States, to the industry standards and are NIMS/ATMS compliant.

The Certification Exams (CE) have gone through extensive peer reviews, a consensus process and field BETA testing. Certification Examinations are conducted by Examiners from AERIE, and is, therefore, a source of outside validation for the team’s knowledge, skills and abilities at the level tested.

AERIE Chief Examiners and Examiners are selected based upon strict criteria. The requirements to apply are available for review by any individual or agency via the AERIE web site and are some of the most extensive in the industry. Each prospective Examiner must successfully complete a separate training and apprenticeship process to become an AERIE Examiner.

Benefit for Agencies Requesting the Services of K9 SAR Teams, agencies with their own existing teams, agencies forming teams and independent handlers:

Depending upon the size, duration or nature of a search, the agencies responsible for may need to rely upon resources from outside their own jurisdiction. It is impractical to expect an Emergency Manager, Incident Commander, Law Enforcement or any other command personnel to be familiar with the certification examinations and procedures for multiple teams. Candidates possessing an AERIE K9 certification are tested to the same known, stated and accepted standards and procedures regardless of the original test location. This allows a requesting agency to know that a handler team that possesses an AERIE K9 certification from an event in California was critiqued in the same manner and to the same level as a team in Arizona, Iowa or Texas. Thus, the same minimum knowledge, skills and abilities have been tested and demonstrated for the type of examination.

It is easier to defend an outside validation of knowledge, skills and abilities meets the industry standards for K9 SAR.  AERIE provides a cost effective way for external examinations by experts in their respective discipline(s).

Benefits to individual handlers beyond those stated for teams:

Outside validation for you of your knowledge, skills and ability by industry experts.
Increased confidence in your abilities through a fair but rigorous process.
May help limit your exposure to liability.