1 © Te Author(s) 2018 N. L. Richards (ed.), Using Detection Dogs to Monitor Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Protect Aquatic Resources, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77356-8_1 1 Water Search Overview: Searching with Dogs in an Aquatic Environment Debra Tirmenstein and Robert Freedline 1.1 Introduction Trained dogs have been used in search and rescue (SAR) for land and snow searches (avalanche) for decades if not centuries. However, as search profles go, water search utilizing canines is considered relatively ‘new’. Dogs were frst used to locate submerged bodies in the late 1960s and 1970s (Eisenhauer 1971; Richardson 1971; Bryson 1996). Te use of dogs to detect submerged and surface targets in rivers and other aquatic environments was pioneered by the United States Navy and Air Force during the Vietnam War era (i.e., 1955–1975). Tests (Projects Waterdog and Aquadog) were conducted in the Southeast (Florida and Lackland Air Force Base, Texas) and in Vietnam to determine if dogs could protect key assets by detecting enemy attack by surface, snorkel, and open-circuit SCUBA swimmers (Eisenhauer 1971; Richardson 1971; Osterkamp D. Tirmenstein (*) • R. Freedline Clarkfork-Bitterroot Search Dogs, Frenchtown, MT, USA e-mail: dtirmen@blackfoot.net; dtirmen@montana.com