Dog Talk: Up close with a dog hero named Dash

Dash putting on his professional face. Photos: Terrence Tan

Watching the dogs go over the recent Batang Kali landslide, sniffing out survivors and also helping to locate bodies so that their families can at least have a burial, was heart-wrenching. But it also brought home how much dogs help us.

The history of emergency dogs is unclear. Bloodhounds tracking escaping criminals have been used for at least a thousand years, possibly longer. What's interesting is that so many different types of dogs are used.