Kevin Sharp has been training dogs most of his life, including K-9 search and rescue

Kevin Sharp has been training dogs as a hobby since he was 19 years old.

"I wanted to be a professional dog trainer, but I just never followed through," he says. His love of dogs is what led him to eventually become a volunteer who trains local K-9 search and rescue units.

"I knew about training dogs for obedience, but search and rescue was new to me," he says.

Through a friend, Sharp got involved with a K-9 search and rescue team in Scott County in 2004.

"Within six months, I was given [the] leadership role [of training officer for the team]," says Sharp. "The team consists of both dogs and people [working with the dogs]."

Sharp has trained dogs in all three areas of search and rescue. including trailing, air scenting and human remains detection. Trailing dogs are taught to follow a subject's scent on the ground, whereas air scenting teaches dog to find a person's scent in the air or on the wind.

"With human remains detection, there is a good assumption that the person is deceased," says Sharp.

When looking for a dog to be trained in search and rescue, trainers like Sharp tend to use dogs from working and hunting breeds, but not always.

"I've seen people use poodles for search and rescue and I've trained pit bulls," says Sharp.

The key to finding a good candidate for search and rescue training is to choose a dog that's really motivated.

"[You look for a dog] with a lot of drive who will work hard for a reward and go until they drop and not give up," he says.

Sharp has been a volunteer trainer for search and rescue units in Scott County and Southern Illinois and also worked independently for awhile.

"I try to go to as many seminars as I can and have contacted networks of teams who have been [doing search and rescue with K-9s] longer than I have," he says.

He is currently taking a break from actively training dogs to further his own knowledge on the subject. He has turned in garage into a scent lab and has built equipment to do in-depth scent detection.

"I sort of feel like someone who has their bachelor's degree and is now working on their master's," he says.

It is Sharp's love of dogs that keeps him motivated.

"I just can't get enough of dogs," he says. "They are fascinating creatures and they have a lot more going on in their head than people realize. They are capable of doing amazing things."

Sharp, who is 52, works as a letter pressman in the printing division of Concord Publishing, where he has worked for the past 30 years.

"When I'm not working, I'm pretty much doing [work with K-9 search and rescue training]," he says.

He and his wife, Kiersten, have a daughter, McKena, who is 21.

The Sharps also have two dogs of their own, a greyhound named Murphy and a pit bull named Ozzie. While Murphy "pretty much lays around and sleeps all day," according to Sharp, he is still undecided about Ozzie doing search and rescue work.

"The jury is still out on whether Ozzie will be able to do search and rescue," says Sharp, who got Ozzie as a foster dog, got attached to him and decided to keep him. "I'm working with him and seeing what he can do."