Pinal Mountain K9 is located east of Phoenix in Globe, Arizona. We are near the Tonto National Forest in shadow of El Capitain Mountain with a view of Pinal Mountain to the west. We are at an attitude of almost 5000 feet so we are enjoying much cooler temperatures then we had in the Valley.
Michael Wiederhold has been training dog professionally for 12 years. He is currently the K9 Commander for Pinal County Sheriff Office Search and Rescue Posse. He is a coordinator for the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR) SARTech II certification and a Canine Coordinator for Wilderness Area Search, Trailing and Human Remains Detection and certified as a Wilderness First Responder. He has served as the NASAR Canine Section Chairperson. He has also served as on the NASAR Canine Committee as the Education Chairperson. Michael is also an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. His search dog Wicca is certified in Human Remains Detection for the state of Arizona and nationally through NASAR. Wicca is also certified as an Operational Level Wilderness Search Dog for the state of Arizona and a K9 SARTech 2 wilderness through NASAR. In the year 2005 only 7 dogs were certified to Level 2 Wilderness for NASAR, Wicca was one of those 7. In 2006, Wicca was upgraded to a K9 SARTech 1 Wilderness under the new NASAR search dog typing and certified as a Type 3 Forensic and Type Other Cadaver canine. In May of 2008, she also certified as K9 Disaster Dog Responder for both live find and forensic human remains. His other dog Kalli is certified as a K9 SARTech 2 Wilderness and is currently training in Human Remains Detection. His third dog Willie is as a Type 3 Forensic Human Remains Detection dog as well as certified narcotics detection dog.
Willow Raven has been training dogs for several years personally as well in a volunteer capacity for not-for-profit no-kill animal shelters. Willow is currently a member of Pinal County Sheriff Office Search and Rescue Posse. She is certified as a SARTech II Evaluator for the National Association for Search and Rescue and is certified as a wilderness first responder. Her dog, Conner, is certified as a K9 SARTech 1 Wilderness through NASAR and is certified as an Wilderness Search Dog for the state of Arizona.